The procurement market in Tuscany: public works, PNRR, and reform of the Public Contracts Code

The work was supervised by Giuseppe Francesco Gori, IRPET researcher, and coordinated by Patrizia Lattarulo, Head of the Public Economics Department at IRPET.

The following individuals collaborated on behalf of the Regional Public Contracts Observatory: Andrea Bertocchini (Head of the Information System of the Regional Public Contracts Observatory and the Regional Section of the National Anti-Corruption Authority Observatory), Barbara Lasagni (Regional Public Contracts Observatory Official), and Ivana Malvaso (Contracts Sector Manager).

The current two-year period 2022-2023 is particularly important for the analysis of the procurement market, especially that of public works. The economic dynamics and structural characteristics of the market are influenced, on the one hand, by the concrete launch of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and, on the other, by the introduction of the new Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023). While the effects of the Code will be largely quantifiable from 2024 onwards, the effects of the NRRP are already widely appreciable. In this sense, the performance of the public procurement market provides feedback on the activity of contracting authorities, which also allows the impact of NRRP resources to be appropriately contextualized. Furthermore, an initial indication of the progress of projects eligible for NRRP/PNC funding comes precisely from the analysis of the public procurement procedures related to them. In this report, we address both issues: paragraph 1 provides a detailed overview of the public procurement market, with a particular focus on the public works sector, while paragraph 2 focuses mainly on the PNRR and the volume of contracts launched.