La cooperazione tra pubbliche amministrazioni come alternativa alle procedure ad evidenza pubblica

The paper examines the issue of cooperation between public administrations, also referred to as horizontal cooperation, as an alternative to public procedures. The essay first analyses the rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU, which anticipated the regulation of horizontal cooperation in the Public Procurement Directive, transposed in Article 5(6) of Legislative Decree No. 50 of 2016, focusing on the pronouncements of administrative jurisprudence that have specified the conditions under which there is genuine cooperation between public administrations and not a disguised contract in violation of competition rules. Legislative Decree No. 36 of 2023 places outsourcing and horizontal cooperation on an equal footing, which makes it necessary to examine the issue in the context of the principles set forth therein and, in particular, in the light of the results principle. Finally, the article addresses the issue of the possibility of unilateral termination of the agreement, which concerns the executive phase of the relationship.