Introduction

SAPIENS Early Stage Researcher Natalia Spataru has recently presented her work at the Birmingham Law School Seminar Series.  On the 8th of February, Natalia delivered a presentation entitled ‘Sustainability and national public procurement objectives: the case of Italy’ on the results of her research during her secondment at the University of Turin (Italy). This dissemination opportunity was a great chance for her to get valuable feedback from a wide variety of researchers from the Birmingham Law School.

Natalia’s presentation introduced the underpinning principles of the Italian public procurement (PP) system and their evolution after the transposition of the EU PP Directives. The analysis was conducted using a legal-historical methodology, which allowed looking into the Italian PP principles; tracking the main changes brought by the numerous reforms before and after the transposition of the EU Directives; and identifying the finalities of its evolution.

Methodology

Natalia introduced the first Italian PP regulation that dates to a very distant era – the 19^th century after the unification of Italy. She examined the objectives of the Italian PP and the instruments through which these objectives have been achieved. This analysis served two purposes, first – to determine ‘purely national’ PP goals and to investigate whether the Italian PP system incorporated sustainability considerations. Second – it served as a reference point against which to evaluate the impact of EU principles on the objectives of the national PP system.

The second aim of her research was to provide a framework for understanding the modifications brought by the EU PP law to the Italian PP system. She examined the national laws implementing the 1970s-1990s EU PP directives given the novel focus of their legal provisions as compared to the national PP system. The analysis looked at the formation of national PP systems based on EU PP principles.

By examining the impact of the EU PP system on national legislation, Natalia set the foundation for the analysis (in the following chapters of her Ph.D) of FTA procurement chapters’ impact on national legislation. This will allow the examination of whether FTAs can be regarded as instruments for promoting sustainability in procurement and inform their development in the future, as they represent international legal instruments that impact the domestic regulation of PP.

Findings

After having analysed the ends and instruments of PP regulation in Italy since its unification, the findings of her research suggest that the key objectives of the PP system before the implementation of the EU PP directives have been the achieving of value for money and probity (preventing corruption). In the 1970s, the Italian legislator continued to focus on achieving value for money and probity and implemented new measures to promote national industries of low-developed regions. The UN 2030 Agenda classifies the prevention of corruption (SDG 16.5) and aid to low-developed regions (SDG 1.3; SDG 8) as sustainable development goals. Hence Italy had its own national sustainability goals in procurement legislation.

Starting with the 1990s, the EU Directives, both in their detailed rules and through the development of general principles, considerably and increasingly limited Italy’s discretion in regulating its PP legal framework. The EU rules on prohibiting discrimination, implementing transparency, and removing barriers to access started translating into Italy’s PP regime. Accordingly, when determining how to achieve its national PP objectives, Italian legislator must have had regard for opening its PP markets to intra-EU trade.

In line with this, it is argued that the focus of the Italian PP system since unification has been twofold: 1) to promote ‘traditional’ PP objectives similar to many national systems – value for money and probity 2)to harness the PP power to promote sustainability considerations nationally. As a consequence of the transposition of the EU PP Directives nationally, the Italian PP system has aimed to open up its procurement market to tenderers from other Member States.