Abstract

Italy’s below threshold amounts procurement was regulated by the 2016 Public Procurement Code, which covers all public procurement, both above and below the EU thresholds. It was intended to increase the flexibility of procurement rules below the EU thresholds, while ensuring rigorous control over them. In an effort to simplify and increase the effectiveness of procurement procedures below the European quota thresholds, solutions were introduced to ensure simplicity and speed, while respecting the principles of transparency and impartiality. However, this regulation reveals objective difficulties in reconciling the two contradictory trends in the creation of a system for this type of procurement. The first is an expression of the desire to simplify the award procedures as much as possible, by providing for the possibility of direct transactions in the absence of formalised procedures, while the second seeks to incorporate them into at least a general framework of rules designed to ensure the protection of the public interest in the spending of public funds.