«Technical professions effectively perform a service of public interest and must be placed in a position to carry out their role with conscience and guarantee of a framework of certain rules based on fair remuneration for the services they provide». The Order of Engineers of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani joins the chorus of the National Council by commenting on the observations contained in the ANAC Annual Report presented in Parliament. Fair compensation applies to assignments regulated by the Code and competition is enhanced on the qualitative values of economic operators, who can also compete on the cost-effectiveness of the service, leveraging more efficient organizational proposals that allow reductions in expenses related to compensation. For engineers, therefore, the recognition of fair compensation for those who design does not alter the economic framework of public works.
«The economic frameworks of public works are not different due to the application of Fair Compensation – they explain – As is known to anyone who works in the public works sector, the economic frameworks are prepared with reference to the calculation of technical expenses according to the decree parameters and any reductions, however conceived, can only arise following the assignment phase. ANAC itself has repeatedly ruled on the illegitimacy of the inclusion of preventive reductions in tender notices, a practice which is not permitted by the art. 41 of the Code. The economic framework of the works, whether they fall within the scope of the PNRR or ordinary financing, have therefore not changed even by a cent since the application of the Fair Compensation”.
Equally important is the guarantee of the inclusion of young professionals in the field of public works. Often young people, being penalized in terms of the quality of the offer due to their limited CV, are forced to offer humiliating discounts, even estimated at around 90% of the fees. Thanks to the provisions of the new Code and the law on fair compensation, a young professional can now be entrusted with a public task through a direct assignment, compensated according to ministerial parameters.
«The civil and public works sector is experiencing an increasingly worrying shortage of technicians – they explain in a note from the Order – as a result of the enormous reduction in enrollments in the preparatory university courses. We must understand that legislative measures that have followed one another over the years have made the profession, both free and within the public administration, increasingly less attractive, due to economic prospects that are certainly not rewarding”.
