Public-Private Partnership Projects: The Possibility of a Greater Adaptation of the Albanian PSU System to the European Union Criteria through Certain Instruments of the Italian Contracts Code. The proposal for an integrated model.

The research project concerns the so-called "unsolicited proposals" (USPs) in the context of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), with reference to the policies of simplification and acceleration of public procurement procedures, in line with the reforms promoted by the Next Generation EU, aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of public resources. USPs are a potentially innovative tool for the realisation of infrastructure and services of public interest, however little used in EU legal systems. The research aims to explore how USPs can stimulate economic growth and improve the efficiency of public procurement procedures in order to stimulate the participation of private initiative. The main objective of the study is to verify whether and to what extent the USP model can constitute a faster and more effective alternative to the traditional public tender, albeit in the modalities of the competitive dialogue and the negotiated procedure; this alternative, on the other hand, must not consume the indecisive latitudes proper to transparency and competitiveness, promoted through a rigorous qualification system of both contracting authorities and private economic operators, while at the same time maintaining high standards of protection of the public interest responding to the requirements of simplification and innovation. This is an even more relevant objective, since it is aimed at favouring, through the use of simplified and innovative procedures, the achievement of the "result", a goal expressly indicated as a principle of public contracting in the Italian legal system, the pursuit of which implies the reduction of the exclusively bureaucratic moment, supplemented and partly replaced by forms of public-private collaboration that are more dynamic and oriented towardsthe common objectives of the public administration and the private operator. In this sense, it is particularly important to identify best practices that enable the role of USPs in PPP that guarantee both the protection of the public interest and the transparency of the collaboration between the various actors involved in such a way as to prevent the occurrence of any corrupt phenomena. The research will undertake a comparative analysis between the Italian and Albanian USP models useful for considering the appropriateness of adopting an integrated model that draws from the best practices of both countries for the improvement of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Unsolicited Proposals (USPs)