Operating instructions to Contracting Authorities pending the revision of standard tenders.

23/06/2015 – Company safety costs and deficiency remedies. These issues were tackled by the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) with the press release on 27 May 2015 to provide operating guidelines to the Contracting Authorities.
The operating guidelines concern Type II tenders for the award of public works for an amount exceeding EUR 150,000 in the ordinary sectors.

Company safety costs
Regulatory and legal actions require the standard tender to be updated. In the meantime, ANAC explained that, in general, company safety costs can be indicated at the time of making the bid, but also at a later stage, during consistency checks.
Given that sentence 3/2015 of the Council of State stated that the failure to specify the internal safety costs at the time of bidding constitutes non-fulfilment of the requirements indicated in the Procurement Code, ANAC asked the Contracting Authorities to include the obligation in the tender notice. Therefore, tender notices must include notice that «The declaration must also include an indication of the costs relating to safety pursuant to Art. 87, paragraph 4, of the Code.».
For procedures in progress, in relation to which the deadline for the submission of bids has not yet expired, ANAC recommends that the Contracting Authorities insert clarification in the project owner’s profile, specifying that the bidders must expressly indicate the safety-related costs at the time of bidding. In such cases, the contracting authority may consider extending the deadline for the submission of bids.

Deficiency remedies
As regards deficiency remedies, ANAC explained that the contracting authorities must coordinate the standard tender with the new regulations on deficiency remedies introduced by Art. 39, paragraph 1, of the ‘Simplification Decree’ (Legislative Decree 90/2014). Bidders may thus only be excluded after the unsuccessful regularization request by the contracting authority.