Training Course “Procedures for the assignment of social services and other models for managing relations between local authorities and Third Sector Organisations”

Context and Objectives

In managing services provided to the community — particularly those directed at individuals — local authorities must pay close attention to certain specific features of these activities, which have concrete implications for the choice of management models. This is why ANAC (through guidelines and opinions), administrative case law (in recent rulings), and the Competition Authority (AGCM, especially regarding the management of cultural services) have repeatedly urged administrations to develop appropriate selection procedures.
Legislative Decree No. 117/2017 has redefined the regulatory framework governing relations between public administrations (notably local authorities and bodies of the National Health Service) and Third Sector organisations, setting out the distinctive elements of these entities and the instruments available for cooperation.
However, the new provisions have not clarified the relationship between the Third Sector Code and Legislative Decree No. 50/2016, leaving significant uncertainties regarding the applicable procedures for assigning services. Moreover, the Public Procurement Code itself has undergone amendments resulting in a specific regime for social service contracts.
With regard to relations between Public Administrations and Third Sector organisations, the Council of State — prompted by ANAC — has issued two important interpretative decisions, particularly concerning special procedures and the conventions governed by Article 56 of Legislative Decree 117/2017. More recently, the Constitutional Court, in Judgment No. 131/2020 (further confirmed by Judgment No. 255/2020), has redefined the scope of the provisions on co-planning, co-design and accreditation under Article 55 of the same Decree, highlighting the “special nature” of these forms of cooperation and their exclusion from the rules applicable to public procurement.

Programme

• Personal social services: elements for their classification and main critical issues in assignment procedures;

• The relationship between the Third Sector Code and the Public Procurement Code in the assignment of personal social services;

• Tender procedures for the assignment of personal social services: procedural and substantive specificities;

• Focus on issues arising from the Covid-19 emergency.