The Gotti athletics field passes from the hands of Edera Atletica to those of Libertas which will manage it for the next 3 years, renewable for another 3. This is the effect of the ruling of the Council of State which accepted the Municipality’s appeal, completely overturning the sentence of the TAR of Bologna. After more than twenty years, therefore, with the ruling of the judges of Palazzo Spada, Edera’s management of the municipal sports facility in via Campo di Marte ceases, putting an end to a long dispute between the two companies. In the decision, the highest body of administrative justice therefore clearly contradicted the line adopted by the Bolognese TAR which had accused the Forlì municipal administration of not having canceled the tender procedure for the management of the Gotti in light of the legal extension on the management of the plants introduced from the Milleproroghe decree at the end of 2022. The fifth section of the judges of the Council of State also declared unfounded, one by one, all the other objections that Edera Forlì, through its lawyer, had made against the municipal administrative action: no conflict of interests held by the president of Libertas Atletica Forlì for her role as municipal councilor, full legitimacy in the assignment of the scores of the technical offer which had seen Libertas’ proposals rewarded and recognition of the management experiences gained by the Libertas group to be able to manage the sports facility. «Already last year – explains the lawyer Christian Zovico, of the Vicenza Bar, who has been assisting Libertas Atletica Forlì for three years in the long conflict with Edera – we had expressed strong skepticism about how the TAR of Bologna in all its decisions of the era, regardless of any circumstances, had chosen to reward all plant managers without distinction with the legal extension to the end of 2022. We had in fact ordered the Municipality of Forlì to propose the appeal to the Council of State precisely for the same reasons on which today the same highest administrative justice body fully agreed with the municipal administrative action”.
The lawyer then goes into detail about the legal matter: «The second degree administrative judges recognized that there was a tender largely underway and – what is even more serious – Edera had implicitly renounced the legal extension dictated by the “Milleproroghe Decree” by filing the application for participation nine days after its entry into force. The appeal decision also recognizes how Edera’s appeal to the Regional Administrative Court had only been made following the outcome of the tender where the commission had judged Libertas’ management project very positively and had heavily rejected Edera’s application which appeared deficient in many respects from sight, it almost seems more like a draft than a project complete with notes characterized by different colours”.
Ivy athletics, the historic manager of the facility, in its technical proposal had in fact not exceeded the barrier threshold foreseen in terms of scores. Having won the victory, the Municipality will now have to issue a provision that finalizes the handover between the two companies regarding the management of 3 years, renewable for the same period of time, for an annual amount of approximately 33 thousand euros.
