Political risk in public procurement
Journal title ECONOMIA PUBBLICA
Author/s Giovanni Cocco
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/3
Language Italian Pages 17 P. 383-399 File size 109 KB
DOI 10.3280/EP2025-003003
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The article analyzes the concept of political risk not in the general sense in which the expression is used, but with specific reference to public contracts, and therefore focusing on the choices of the delegated legislator in the 2023 Code of Contracts (Legislative Decree 36/2023) and their impact. In particular, two disciplinary profiles are examined: the raising of the thresholds for direct award and the introduction of cascading subcontracting. The increase in the thresholds for direct award (up to €150,000 for works and up to €140,000 for services and supplies) obviously involves lower participatory and competitive costs that also have an impact on procurement costs. This negative factor is also highlighted by ANAC surveys, which find a reduction in discounts and a lack of savings, while recognizing the advantages of speed and simplification related to greater speed in the choice and faster and more immediate interventions. To mitigate the risks of preferential assignments, there is the strengthening of the principle of rotation, to which the prevailing jurisprudential orientation is also addressed. The second profile examined in the article, the socalled cascade subcontracting, formalizes a previously prohibited practice, acknowledging the calls coming from the EU, but raises concerns not only for the difficulty of supervision and control that it entails (so as to facilitate the possibility of criminal infiltration), but also because it could pose serious problems of coordination both for the contracting authority, and for the foster carer. A strong reference to the principles of result and trust, which act as the cornerstone of the new Code and could, if correctly applied, offer a solid basis to the innovations introduced and, above all, to the actions of the contracting authorities, could be valid as a counterbalance to the risk factors considered.
Keywords: political risk, public contracts, direct award, subcontracting, contracts code
Jel codes: H57, K23, D73
Giovanni Cocco, Il rischio politico nei contratti pubblici in "ECONOMIA PUBBLICA " 3/2025, pp 383-399, DOI: 10.3280/EP2025-003003