Corruption alarm from Anac: 'Insidious and elusive, licking the highest institutions'

The market for public contracts continues its run and hits a new high. In 2025, the total value of contracts with a value of EUR 40,000 or more stood at around EUR 309.7 billion, of which approximately EUR 20.8 billion related to contracts financed with NRP resources. This is the highest value in the historical series, with an increase of approximately 49.1% compared to 2021 and +13.9% compared to 2024, growth driven largely by high value contracts concentrated mainly in the supply and service sectors. But in Anac's report - the last of the Busìa era before the end of his term of office and which the president of Anac presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 21 April in the presence of the Head of State Sergio Mattarella - there are, as usual, the accounts of the procurement market, but also a strong reminder of the 'plague without a country', corruption. A phenomenon that, Busia warns, 'over time has become more insidious and elusive, to creep into every crevice of public life' and that 'does not just break the rules, but aims to rewrite them, privatising sovereignty'. And which 'sometimes even reaches the highest institutional levels', sinks the number one of the Authority.

But let us go in order. The economic dimension of procurement "is one of the most powerful tools for implementing public policies", but it is also the terrain where efficiency, transparency and the resilience of the system are measured. Inside the market record, however, the sectors are each playing their own game, with different results. Slowing down but not changing course is the fall in works, which in 2024 marked -39% and in 2025, with contracts worth 54.3 billion, stands at -10.6%. Services fly with 110 billion (+15.9%) and even more so supplies with 145.4 billion (+25.2%). Breaking down the numbers again, within supplies weighs pharmaceuticals, whose expenditure increased by 65.4% compared to the previous year, and those related to medical equipment, which recorded an increase in expenditure of 10.1% compared to 2024. For services, the largest expenditure was on social assistance services, even though they decreased by -20.7% compared to the previous year.

The most striking figure remains that on contract awards. And it confirms the push for procedures without tenders after the 2021-2024 run-up reported in Sole24Ore on 14 April. In 2025, direct contracts for services and supplies will reach almost 95% of total purchases (including small contracts), with a clear concentration just below the threshold, between 135 thousand and 140 thousand euro. A sharp jump: purchases in that range go from 1,549 in 2021 to 13,879 in 2025. This is where Anac turns on the spotlight. Behind this dynamic, Busia points out, 'often lurks waste, opportunism, artificial splitting, and sometimes even criminal infiltration'. The risk is twofold: compression of competition and greater exposure of administrations to undue pressure. For works, 86% of procedures do not involve tendering, for services 83%, and for supplies 61.3%. The Pnrr continues to weigh in, with over 20 billion tenders. But the Authority's reading remains critical. "A great deal has been done, but perhaps less than we could have achieved," observes Busia, who recalls "the delays - too many - of the implementation phase: illegitimate suspensions, misaligned times, deficient designs". The rush to spend, in several cases, has sacrificed quality and inclusion, with visible effects also on social clauses.

"We had promptly pointed out the gaps in protection that would be left by the repeal of the crime of abuse of office and the parallel downsizing of trafficking in unlawful influence,' Busìa explains. 'To compensate for the retreat of the criminal law, at least the administrative guarantees should have been strengthened. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened'. The call could not be clearer and goes straight to the government. The same reminder also applies to the so-called revolving door system, which allows political offices to pass directly into the gears of public participations and to the top management of the Pa. With the risk, stresses Anac, 'of encouraging the birth of new investee companies that are not functional to the public interest'. Busìa's alarm on the risks of corruption is clear and takes on new forms. "No longer just the traditional bribes, but a constellation of devious conduct: from fictitious consultancies to opaque sponsorships, from polluted competitions to the misappropriation of Union funds," Busia points out. It is a phenomenon that takes more sophisticated forms and exploits grey areas and regulatory changes. The Authority explicitly points out the gaps created by some recent choices, from the weakening of the rules on conflicts of interest and pantouflage to the absence of an organic discipline on lobbying. An area where "strategies for exerting pressure are becoming more devious and pervasive". Lastly, on the public machine front, the digitalisation operation will mark a clear milestone in 2025: 99% of tender procedures have abandoned paper and will travel on online platforms.