Checking a partner before a public tender: RTI/ATI, avvalimento, consortium

In short: if you take part in a public tender with a partner, Legislative Decree 36/2023 (D.Lgs. 36/2023, the Italian Public Procurement Code) ties you to them: in the temporary grouping (the former ATI, now RTI, Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Imprese) the members are jointly and severally liable (art. 68); in avvalimento you are jointly and severally liable with the auxiliary company (art. 104); the permanent consortium remains jointly and severally liable (art. 67). Before signing, it is advisable to check the partner's public data.

Why does the partner matter more in a public tender than in a private contract?

Because the requirements with which you take part, and your liability towards the contracting authority, also depend on them. A partner's problem discovered once the tender is under way can call into question the admission of the bid or the performance of the contract; discovered before signing, it is solved by choosing another partner.

The regulations cited are those of Legislative Decree 36/2023 in the text in force consulted on Normattiva (the official Italian legislation database) in October 2026, after the corrective decree Legislative Decree 209/2024. They change over time: for a specific tender, the applicable version and the tender notice are what matter.

What does a temporary grouping (RTI, formerly ATI) entail?

The members of the grouping are jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority, and the law requires that all of them possess the general requirements. Article 68 of Legislative Decree 36/2023 governs temporary groupings and ordinary consortia of bidders.

• Joint and several liability (art. 68, paragraph 9): the bid of the grouped or consortium operators makes them jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority, and also towards the subcontractor and the suppliers. If one fails to perform, the contracting authority may also turn to the others.
• General requirements of all (paragraph 13): each participant must possess the general requirements of arts. 94 and 95, that is, not be in a ground for exclusion.
• Overall requirements (paragraph 11): the grouping is qualified if the members together possess the economic-financial and technical requirements, and each executor possesses those for its own share.
• Withdrawal (paragraph 17): a member may withdraw only if those who remain have the requirements for the services still to be performed.
• Autonomy (paragraph 8): the grouping does not create a new entity; each company remains autonomous for management, tax and social security obligations.

The practical risk: if a partner gets into difficulty or loses its requirements, the others must still guarantee the contract, and withdrawal is possible only if those who have the requirements remain.

What does avvalimento entail?

In avvalimento an auxiliary company makes requirements and resources available to you, and you and the auxiliary company are jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority. This is art. 104 of Legislative Decree 36/2023, which requires a written contract under penalty of nullity, specifying the resources made available.

• Joint and several liability (paragraph 7): the bidder and the auxiliary company are jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority for the services that are the subject of the contract.
• Declarations of the auxiliary company (paragraph 4): the auxiliary company declares that it has the general requirements and that it makes the resources available for the entire duration of the contract.
• Checks and substitution (paragraphs 5 and 6): the contracting authority verifies the auxiliary company's requirements, and the bidder may be required to replace it if it does not have them or if a ground for exclusion applies.
• Checks during performance (paragraph 9): the contracting authority verifies that the resources are actually deployed.

With avvalimento your participation rests on another company: if the auxiliary company has problems, the bid is affected.

And if you take part through a consortium?

It depends on the type of consortium. The Code distinguishes, in art. 65, cooperative consortia and consortia between artisan enterprises, permanent consortia (at least three entities operating together in public contracts for at least five years) and ordinary consortia of bidders, the latter governed like groupings under art. 68.

For consortia that are not mandatory, art. 67 provides that the general requirements (arts. 94 and 95) must be possessed both by the executing consortium members and by those that make the requirements available. The permanent consortium may perform with its own structure or through consortium members named in the tender, and remains jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority. Whoever relies on a consortium must therefore also look at the consortium members designated.

What should you check on the partner before signing?

Check what is public and can change the outcome: financial position, ongoing proceedings, who controls the company and who it is related to. These checks complement those required by the tender.

• Filed financial statements: net equity, share capital, date of the financial statements. A partner that cannot sustain its financial share puts everyone at risk, because liability is joint and several.
• Protests and insolvency proceedings: art. 94 lists among the grounds for exclusion the judicial liquidation procedures and similar, or their pendency, subject to the measures provided; checking them beforehand avoids surprises. Protests are a sign of cash strain, not a ground for exclusion in themselves.
• Beneficial owner, shareholders and directors: who really holds control and whether the directors have recently changed. The general requirements also concern natural persons within the company structure (art. 94, paragraph 3).
• Company relationships: art. 95, paragraph 1, letter d), provides for exclusion if there are significant indications that the bids are attributable to a single decision-making centre through agreements with other bidders in the same tender; knowing who a company is related to helps establish whether partners and other bidders are linked.
• Registered property and reclassified financial statements: they help assess the asset soundness on which joint and several liability rests.

For the subcontractor case, where the requirements to verify are different, read the economic-financial requirements for admitting a subcontractor to a tender. If the partner is already on site, see how to verify its solvency and the consequences of its bankruptcy.

Does Veryfy replace the verification of tender requirements?

No. Veryfy does not replace the verification of tender requirements and does not attest possession of the requirements of law: it reads the public data on the partner, as of a given date, and presents it with its source. Admission to the tender depends on the documentation the partner submits and on the checks of the contracting authority.

Among these is the virtual dossier of the economic operator (FVOE, fascicolo virtuale dell'operatore economico), provided for by art. 24 of Legislative Decree 36/2023 at the National Database of Public Contracts of ANAC (National Anti-Corruption Authority), to verify the absence of grounds for exclusion (arts. 94 and 95) and the requirements uploaded by the operator. Veryfy is neither a substitute for the FVOE nor for the tender declarations. Nor is it legal advice: drafting the avvalimento contract or the grouping deed requires a professional.