In-house award of concession contracts: Assessment of economic and social adequacy

Abstract

The Directive 2014/23/EU established the principle of free administration by national, regional and local authorities in conformity with national and the European Union law. According to the principle, the authorities can decide how to manage the works or services to ensure a high level of quality, safety, affordability, equal opportunity access and user rights. This principle allows an in-house award of concession contracts that requires an economic assessment of the adequacy of the offer and the benefits of the chosen management for the community. Given the complexity of the assessment, the scientific literature requires an address to define economic fairness and the benefits of the chosen management for the community. The paper aims to define an approach useful for establishing the economic congruity and community benefits for direct awards to in-house companies. This paper conducts a systematic legislation review of a European country, Italy. This research reviews the main Italian legislation following the systematic review proposed by Tranfield et al. (2003), which is one of the most recognized, tested and validated methods for literature review used in scientific studies. The results highlight an integrated approach for establishing and reporting the economic adequacy and benefits of the chosen management as well as for comparing the pricing and benefits of the works or services directly awarded. The study gives a practical contribution to public authorities developing a guideline useful for an integrated assessment of the economic congruity and community benefits for direct awards to in-house companies; furthermore, this study supports the scientific literature through a framework that summarizes the main legislation.