he paper deals with one of the main pro-competitive models, typical of public procurement award procedures: the reliance agreement (“avvalimento” contract). The analysis primarily focuses on the substitute mechanisms involv-ing the so-called auxiliary undertaking, which lacks the requirements to enter into the contract, and which are characterized by multiple aporias, including those of a practical nature. In such a scenario, in the presence of a general prohibition of “contagion,” it is necessary to identify appropriate “counterweights” and to avoid improper delays in the conduct of the procedure, as well as infringements of the principle of equal treatment among bidders. A useful contribution may derive from the principles developed by the national legislator and characteristic of the most recent codification (namely: results, trust, and access to the market), also in light of the expressly recognized interpretative and norm-generating function attributed to them. From this emerges a specific perspective of inquiry: to articulate the principles as sources and to derive the rule for the concrete case.
Il contributo afferisce ad uno dei principali modelli proconcorrenziali, tipico delle procedure di affidamento delle commesse pubbliche: il contratto di avvalimento. L’analisi verte prioritariamente sui meccanismi sostitutivi dell’impresa c.d. ausiliaria priva dei requisiti per contrarre, connotati da molteplici aporie, anche di rilievo pratico. In siffata ipotesi, a fronte di un generalizzato divieto di contagio, occorre individuare opportuni “contrappesi” ed evitare impropri rallentamenti nell’espletamento della procedura oltre che lesioni della parità di trattamento dei concorrenti. Un proficuo contributo può derivare dai principi elaborati dal Legislatore nazionale e peculiari della codificazione di ultima generazione (ea est: risultato, fiducia e accesso al mercato), anche in ragione della funzione ermeneutica e nomogenetica ad essi espressamente riconosciuta. Se ne desume una peculiare prospettiva di inda-gine: declinare i principi-fonti e indicare la regola del caso concreto
Il contratto di avvalimento: qualificazione e premialità per relationem, tra fluidi meccanismi sostitutivi e tecniche modali
Francesco ARMENANTE
2026
Abstract
he paper deals with one of the main pro-competitive models, typical of public procurement award procedures: the reliance agreement (“avvalimento” contract). The analysis primarily focuses on the substitute mechanisms involv-ing the so-called auxiliary undertaking, which lacks the requirements to enter into the contract, and which are characterized by multiple aporias, including those of a practical nature. In such a scenario, in the presence of a general prohibition of “contagion,” it is necessary to identify appropriate “counterweights” and to avoid improper delays in the conduct of the procedure, as well as infringements of the principle of equal treatment among bidders. A useful contribution may derive from the principles developed by the national legislator and characteristic of the most recent codification (namely: results, trust, and access to the market), also in light of the expressly recognized interpretative and norm-generating function attributed to them. From this emerges a specific perspective of inquiry: to articulate the principles as sources and to derive the rule for the concrete case.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.


