Collaudo statico – qualificazione giuridica

A procedure was launched for the assignment of the static testing service of a reinforced concrete work, using the criterion for awarding the lowest price.

In the face of the formulation of an offer exceeding the anomaly threshold by the competitor ranked first in the ranking, the contracting authority requested technical support. Having examined the matter, the following conclusions were reached:

Static testing must be traced back to “engineering and architecture services”, in accordance with the relevant definition contained in art. 3, lett. vvvv) of the Code (services reserved for engineers and architects, such as economic operators exercising a regulated profession).

This is because, for the purposes of the legal qualification of the service to be entrusted, the following are important:

art. 7 of Law 5 November 1971, n. 1086, which provides that the reinforced concrete works are subject to static testing by an engineer or an architect, enrolled in the register for at least ten years, who has not intervened in any way in the design, management and execution of the work;
art. 7 of the D.M. June 17, 2016 (approving the tables of the fees commensurate with the quality level of the design performance, adopted pursuant to art.24, paragraph 8, of Legislative Decree no.50 of 2016), which includes testing among the activities relevant, as well as the item “QdI.03 – Static testing” contained on page 9 of the table attached to the same Ministerial Decree, which expressly refers to the detailed performance of the static test dictated by the D.M. January 14, 2008, chapter 9.

For the assignment of these services, art. 95, paragraph 3, lett. b) of the Legislative Decree n. 50/2016 mandatorily requires the adoption of the criterion for awarding the most economically advantageous offer identified on the basis of the best value for money, if for an amount equal to or greater than € 40,000 (see the term “are awarded exclusively …”).

The motivated cancellation of the tender documents was therefore ordered and a new procedure was launched governed by the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer based on the best value for money.