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The Observatory on Public Contracts and Sustainability Will Monitor Next Generation EU Funds

, by Fabio Todesco
Public and private sectors will have to learn how to behave in an environment where Next Generation EU funds, to be allocated through public tenders, will have to be used to support digitalization and sustainability

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the Italian plan for the use of the Next Generation EU funds, has led to the establishment of an Observatory on Public Procurement and Sustainability, within GREEN, the Bocconi Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks.

Environmental sustainability and new technologies are, in fact, among the pillars of the NRRP. The European funds will be, moreover, spent by public administrations through public procedures (not yet specified in detail) of tender. "The challenge of the next few years will be to put our national system in a position to obtain these funds quickly," explains Fabrizio Fracchia, the Professor of Administrative Law who heads the Observatory.

"The Observatory brings together professors of law, economics and engineering, but also the corresponding professionals, starting with magistrates and representatives of the supervisory authorities," explains Marco Percoco, Director of GREEN.

An efficient allocation of European resources requires the refinement of important skills both by the public and private sectors. "On the one hand," says Miriam Allena, Associate Professor of Administrative Law and a member of the Observatory's Executive Committee, "digitization requires the State to be able to select the most suitable technology companies for this purpose; on the other hand, companies not necessarily accustomed to public tenders need to understand how to approach them."

While Professors Fracchia and Allena have already been heard in the Senate on issues related to the NRRP, the Observatory will publish policy briefs aimed at deepening the dialogue with policy makers, and it will put itself at the service of companies through contract research on green and sustainability issues.

"The green theme is destined to become highly topical even among businesses when the process of amending the Constitution to include environmental protection is completed," Professor Allena says.

The first event (in Italian) organized by the Observatory, on June 28 at 5.30 pm, will be an online conference on the so-called Simplification Decree, which adapts the Italian procurement system to the rules dictated by Europe for tenders related to Next Generation EU. CLICK HERE for program and registration.

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