Pursuant to article 56 of the Third Sector Code "Public administrations ... can sign agreements with voluntary organizations and social promotion associations, which have been registered for at least six months in the Single National Register of the Third Sector, aimed at carrying out third parties of activities or social services of general interest if more favorable than recourse to the market"..
In the course of a judgment instituted at the Campania Regional Administrative Court, the illegitimacy of an investigation notice had been raised which had provided for the direct assignment in the agreement pursuant to art. 56 without verifying the greater convenience compared to the market.
However, the TAR observed, in compliance with the recent Guidelines on the relationship between public administrations and third sector entities , that "direct awarding as a priority ... does not require a prior comparison of greater favor than the market" since "the Administration it is only required to verify, also through deeds and measures of a general nature, but without the need for in-depth motivation on the point, the existence of the conditions indicated by the law so that the service can be legitimately assigned directly and as a priority". In particular, the administrative court specified that the greater convenience compared to the market "does not at all refer to mere economic convenience, but depends on the greater benefits achievable for the community in terms of greater ability of the system to implement the principles of universality, solidarity, accessibility, efficiency, economy and adequacy, already taken into consideration upstream in the favorable derogatory legislation".
