The 2016 Report from the Italian Association of Contractors shows that international construction projects are a big portion of their revenues. The Report highlights also that this is a trend which involves not only the big companies but also the SME companies.

The analysis of the domestic and international revenues has been conducted on 38 Italian companies (with turnover between €50 Million and above  €500 Million) and clearly shows an increase in international construction projects and at the same time a decrease of the revenues generated domestically. 

In mid-big sized projects, it is a crucial to understand how to subcontract part of the works especially in an international construction project. The various issues involved in subcontracting part of the works can determine the success or the failure of a project and/or can massively increase the financial risks and/or losses for either the Employer or the Contractor.

In international construction projects, the Employer (and certainly the Contractor) may suffer the consequences of a wrong selection of the Subcontractor and this may have an impact on the timing for completion or on the quality of works executed.

A letter of patronage can be considered either as a mere declaration of courtesy to looking at them, on the one hand, as binding guarantees ("fidejussione") or, on the other hand, as an undertaking to fulfil the obligations of a third party.