The Public Administration Electronic Market is a digital marketplace,

created in 2002 and managed by Consip S.p.A., the Italian central purchasing

body, on behalf of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Through the

Ministry, registered authorities can purchase goods and services offered by

suppliers that have been vetted and authorised to post their catalogues on the

system for values below the European threshold.

This system of purchase of goods, services and maintenance works is part of

the public contracts because the purchaser is the Public Administration; it changes

the purchasing system but not the subjects.

The Public Administration Electronic Market is part of the eProcurement, namely

the procurement of goods, services and maintenance works through new telematic procedures

and it is a Business to Government (B2G) tool as the offer consists of

companies that sell goods or provide services to the Public Administration.

The advantages of a system such as the Public Administration Electronic

Market and, in general, of the eProcurement are so numerous that the European

Commission, during the Interministerial Conference on eGovernment

"Transforming Public Services" in 2005, stressed the need of the

Public Administration to provide quality services designed on the needs of

users. In this context, eProcurement has been recognized as one of the priority

objectives [1].

The legislator sets out the electronic market as "a purchasing and bargaining tool that allows electronic purchases for

amounts below the threshold European level based on a system that implements

procedures for the selection of the contractor entirely managed electronically"

through the letter bbbb) of paragraph 1 of article 3 of Legislative Decree 50

of 2016, the Code of public contracts.

The article 36 of the same Code deals with contracts below the threshold: the

most interesting aspect is that paragraph 6 provides that they can also be

carried out through the electronic market tool and that "the Ministry of Economy and Finance, through

CONSIP S.p.A. makes the electronic market of public administrations available

to the contracting authorities" [2].

The legislator did not deem to bring innovations to the Public

Administration Electronic Market; he reconfirmed the law, line of decisions and

practice that had been established up to that moment.

The Stability Law of 2016 introduced

the possibility to make competitive biddings for maintenance works.

The Public Administration Electronic Market represents the future of public

contracts; in fact, the use of eProcurement platforms by economic operators is becoming

increasingly frequent. Since 2002 there has been a continuous increase in the

use of electronic platforms, both in Italy and abroad, considering the fact

that they allow time to be saved, thanks to the simplification of procedures in

the purchase of goods, services and maintenance works without sacrificing the

need for transparency, which is fundamental in the field of public contracts [3].

There is complete transparency in eProcurement electronic systems. This is

the case due to the publication of all the documents that can be easily consulted,

excepting the reserved ones. Another significant aspect is that the Public

Administration Electronic Market also allows small and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs) to participate in numerous competitive biddings, with positive effects

on the economy.

This system allows public administrations to obtain customised products

through their own tools, while, at the same time, pursuing significant savings

in public spending. The purchase procedures on the Public Administration

Electronic Market, entirely dematerialised, have a positive impact on the

environment. In conclusion, through the Public Administration Electronic Market

in Italy and the various European eProcurement systems, the need for speed,

transparency, simplification and containment of public spending, once

considered divergent, are now combined, allowing the purchase of different products

according to the requirements of the Public Administration.

Endnotes:

[1]BERTINI - VIDONI, Il Mercato

Elettronico della Pubblica Amministrazione - MEPA, Scenario, funzionalità e

linee di tendenza, in Quaderni Consip VI, 2007

[2]

See the Legislative Decree No. 50 of 18 April 2016

[3]CONSIP

S.P.A., I numeri del programma - Anni precedenti, acquistinretepa.it