Impact of Italy’s “Corrective Decree” on project finance: key pros and cons #ItalyFinance

“Simplifications have been made regarding the required documentation to avoid excessive burdens on companies.”

Notably, promoters can submit to the awarding body preliminary expression of interest to request information and data necessary for the preparation of a proposal. Simplifications have been made regarding the required documentation to avoid excessive burdens on companies and help them present their proposals by providing for a “reduced content” feasibility project which must contain an indication of the promoter’s requirements.

The most obvious change, relates to the stages following the proposal’s submission, defined in a new procedural segment by the legislator to ensure greater transparency, publicity and competition among companies.

The new procedural phase

The rule provides that after verifying the public interest of a proposal submitted by a promoter, the awarding body will publish the submission on its official website and set a deadline for the submission by other economic operators to submit proposals relating to the same project.

Once the deadline has passed, the awarding body will identify one or more proposals from among those received to be progressed to a subsequent “evaluation procedure” to select the most suitable one to be put out to tender.

If, at the end of the public tender procedure, the subject whose proposal was selected by the awarding body at the end of the evaluation process is not awarded the contract, they may exercise the right of first refusal within 15 days from the announcement award. To be a successful bidder, they must declare their commitment to fulfill the contractual obligations on the same terms as those offered by the successful bidder.

A “new” project finance

It is encouraging to note that the new provisions are more in line with the basic principles of public procurement, in particular:

• the principle of market access and maximum participation in public procedures; and
• the outcome principle, to which several key factors contribute, such as competition among enterprises at the final stage and technical improvement of the promoter’s initial proposal.

Another element favourable to companies is the introduction of simplifications to the documentation process allowing for the inclusion in the proposal of a feasibility project with a reduced content compared to what was previously required (with all that entails in terms of cost and preparation time).

There are also potential critiques of certain aspects of the new regulatory framework, especially as regards to promoters.