L’affidamento degli appalti secondo le World Bank Procurement Regulations

Abstract

As is well known, international procurements are excluded from the scope of national law of individual states and are regulated by international sources.
In particular, the international community has regulated this matter in different ways.
For example, so-called model laws have been adopted (such as the UNCITRAL Model law on Public Procurement, in its latest version of 2011), bilateral agreements have been signed (such as the recent Free Trade Agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union in the aftermath of the so-called Brexit) as well as multilateral agreements (such as the Government Procurement Agreement concluded within the World Trade Organization). Furthermore, international organizations have been created with the function, among others, of organizing and awarding public contracts according to their own rules; for instance, the World Bank which, among the various functions attributed to it by the States, can finance the implementation of public contracts, which will be awarded according to rules of international law provided by the World Bank itself.

This paper, part of a broader study on public contracts awarded according to the rules of international law, focuses, in particular, on examining the rules and principles governing the awarding of contracts by the World Bank, emphasizing that the choice of the private contractor does not take place "iure privatorum," but follows a procedure that is, in any case, governed by public-law rules and principles.