APPRENTISSAGE ET CONTRATS DANS LA COMMANDE PUBLIQUE D'INFRASTRUCTURE

Ezio Micelli Dipartimento di Analisi Economica e Sociale del Territorio - Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia micelli@iuav.unive.it SUMMARY The paper discusses some of the major contributions of the vast literature on procurement, with reference to two case studies, the Storebælt fixed link in Denmark and the High Speed Train project in Italy. The paper argues that the approach based on the economics of the uncertainty leads to significant solutions to just a part of the problem administrations have to deal with: the asymmetrical distribution of information related to the costs of the potential contractors and of the true effort carried on by these last ones. The goal of efficiency can be pursued not only working on the contracts and on their implementation, but through a process of learning in which the contractors are not only mere executors but also co-designers. The forms and the limits of such a relational approach in procurement are discussed with reference to the most recent management literature developed on this subject.