Milan-Cortina tenders, the Viminale gives the green light to over 1,300 companies

In the last year, 1,373 Italian companies (four are foreign) have asked for and obtained the green light to enter the white list of the Viminale's Anti-Mafia Prevention Structure: they will be able to participate in the 3.6 billion euro orders for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics. If it is also extended to companies interested in post-earthquake reconstruction, the number rises to 17,000. But the advantage of going through this preliminary screening by the ministerial structure, with the registration in the Register of Executors, goes even further: it allows for an all-round anti-mafia certification, which can be used both in general in dealings with all public administrations and in business relations with other private companies, considering that it acts as a 'certificate of reliability'. The structure's director, Prefect Paolo Canaparo, explained to Il Sole 24 Ore that 'today the Anagrafe represents a prevention tool of national scope, due to the fact that it is being populated by more and more companies throughout the country. In this direction, it increasingly constitutes a list of reliable economic operators that administrations can use not only with reference to works for which registration is expressly envisaged (Milan-Cortina and post-earthquake, ed.), but also for all contracts stipulated during the period in which registration is effective'. He adds: 'At the same time, it also responds to a need for simplification, ensuring the streamlining of assessment methods without compromising safety and transparency. It is therefore a 'self-monitoring' mechanism that benefits not only the public administrations, but also the companies themselves, strengthening mutual trust between institutions and the business system'. Enrolment In order to be enrolled in the Registry and participate in the tender, the company must meet two conditions: there must be no grounds for disqualification, suspension or prohibition provided for by the Anti-Mafia Code; there must be no evidence of attempts to infiltrate the company by organised crime, according to the detection indexes (so-called 'spy crimes'). According to the Viminale's re-elaborations, out of a total of 1,373 companies involved in contracts for the Olympics, 222 are from Lombardy, 177 from Lazio and 174 from Campania (see details in the graph). Under anti-mafia monitoring, on the other hand, there are 217 companies. The registered companies are subject to periodic checks by the Structure to ascertain that they maintain their anti-mafia requirements. Controls at construction sites The directive signed by Minister Matteo Piantedosi for Milan-Cortina specifies that the need is to "combine the need for accurate controls to protect the huge public investments with that of respecting the timeframes envisaged for the completion of the works". According to the document, a fundamental element is represented by inspections at construction sites: they are 'a deterrent against possible intimidation actions as well as a valid contribution to implement the perception of safety of economic operators and workers engaged in construction activities'. The wealth of information acquired, both that relating to inspections and surveillance, will then be made available by the Viminal Structure to the entire network of controls, starting with the prefectures, which at the territorial level will ensure that the prevention strategy responds to 'criteria of efficiency, timeliness and adequacy to the territorial contexts of reference and capacity' to cope with 'the levels of infiltration by criminal organisations'. Countdown Countdown is on for the Milan-Cortina Olympic and infrastructural works. Everything will obviously have to be ready by February 2026, when the Winter Games will start, but testing will have to begin as early as the autumn of 2025. It will not be easy to keep to the timetable, and something is already given up for 'lost', in the sense that it will be postponed until 2026, while some works are unavoidable. Among those considered most 'iconic' is the bobsleigh track in Cortina, which the Pizzarotti company is building in a simplified version.
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