Il mercato elettronico della P.A.

1
The Italian Public eProcurement System Consips
Best Practice
Angela Russo International Relations Consip SpA
2
Consip SpA
Consip is a public stock company, created in 1997
by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), its
sole stockholder. Consip has no profit goals and
it deals with two main fields of action.
MEF
PAs
1997 management and development
of ICT services for the MEF
2000 Eprocurement for Public Administrations
Consultancy on Technical and Organizational Proje
cts
Set up, diffusion and support of Eprocurement
system tools
3
Public eProcurement System Goals
Process simplification
Transparency
Reduce procurement time simplifying the entire
procurement process
Guarantee transparency and public communication
on tender procedures and awarding criteria,
enhancing competition and competitiveness
Public Spending Optimization
Quality
Innovation
Develop innovation procurement tools encouraging
change management among public officials and
suppliers EPROCUREMENT
Improve the ratio between cost and quality of the
goods and services offered to PA
4
Eprocurement Platform
www.acquistinretepa.it
Frame contracts
eshops
eMarketplace
On line tenders

• Purchases within frame contracts
• Direct Purchases
• Many-to-one approach
• Need for
• Large volumes
• Demand aggregation
• Standardized goods
• Low price volatility
• Slow obsolescence

• Development of Frame contracts or ASP towards
  other administrations
• Lowest or most advantageous bid
• Need for
• Large volumes
• Demand aggregation
• Or Specialized goods
• High price volatility
• Rapid obsolescence

• Direct order or RFQ
• Many-to-Many approach
• Supplier defined e-Catalogue
• Need for
• Low cost goods
• Spot purchasing
• Highly fragmented offer

Above and Below EU Threshold
Below EU Threshold
5
Framework Contracts the phases
Feasibility study and definition of procurement
strategy
Supplier selection and contract award
Service Level monitoring
Framework Contract management
Tender documentation deliverable
Service level inspection
Support to administrations during purchasing
phases
Demand analysis and market analysis Opportunity
identification and Feasibility Study deliverable
Authority opinion acquisition
Surveys analysis
Tracking of orders issued and remaining
product/service availability
Tender documentation publication
Complaint analysis
Contract unit/quantity extension (if necessary)
Procurement strategy deliverable
Framework Contract signing
Corrective measures
Contract time extension (if necessary)

• Legal
• Sourcing
• Research Unit

• Account Management
• Legal
• Sourcing

• Account Management
• Legal
• Sourcing
• Research Unit
• Strategic Marketing

• Acct. Management
• Legal
• Sourcing
• Supply Monitoring Unit

6
The Fall-Out of eProcurement
ICT technologies - used to their potential - can
be an important tool to rationalize and improve
the relationship between suppliers and public
administrations
attention to SME, tender participation
requirements, rules on groupings, ...
Advantages for Suppliers
PA demand analysis
Supply Monitoring
Procurement strategies and supplier selection
Payment cycle
Logistics
Supplier market analysis
Advantages for PA
Time saving, Cost saving, Transparency, .
Consips Focus
7
The Public eProcurement Model
8
Process simplification
The process for the purchase of goods and services
Consips activities
Demand analysis
Supplier Selection
Contract and Tender documentation
Delivery of goods and services
Possible litigation w/suppliers
Payment
Contract award
On-line or Fax order
Reduction of administrative procedures for both
the P.A. and Supply Market
The demand analysis is made in cooperation with
Consip and MEF
9
SMEs in the EU
Relevant data on SMEs in the European Union
In the EU-27, almost 20 mln enterprises are
active in the non-financial sector. Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises play a crucial role in
the European Economy
Number of enterprises in the EU-27 ()

• 19,6 million of Small and Medium Enterprises in
  Europe provide jobs to almost 85 million people
• By contrast, there are only about 40.000 Large
  enterprises which account for only 0,20 of all
  enterprises
• The vast majority of enterprises in Europe are
  SMEs (99,80 )
• Among SMEs, over 91 are Micro enterprises, each
  of them employing less than 10 employees

0,20
1,07
6,87
91,85
Micro (1-9 people employed)
Small (10-49 people employed)
Medium (50-249 people employed)
Large (250 or more people employed)
An efficient Public Procurement system should
pay attention to the involvement of SMEs
Source Eurostat, Statistic in Focus, n.
31/2008. On data EU-27 (2005).
10
Fostering the use of eprocurement tools
Actions undertaken by Consip to support SMEs

• Permanent working tables with suppliers
  institutional representatives

• Training events

• Supplier Training Desks (Sportelli in Rete)

• Marketplace for goods and services (Mepa)
• spot purchases below EU threshold
• today compulsory for PAs
• suited for territorial and local markets (SMEs)
• cuts SMEs selling costs
• increases SMEs visibility vs. Public
  Administrations

2008

• 90 of enterprises registered to MEPA are SMEs
• 50 of the SMEs are micro enterprises (7
  employees)
• more than 60 of the value of orders transacted
  was handled by SMEs
• with 1to 14 employees

11
Actions undertaken by Consip to support
SMEs Sportelli in Rete (Supplier Training Desks)
Since 2004 Consip has strengthened its
cooperation with the suppliers institutional
representatives by setting up Supplier Training
Desks, at the enterprises Associations
territorial offices, that supply training and
assistance to local enterprises on the use of
electronic procurement tools.
Description

• Overcome the initial resistance of SMEs in the
  use of ICT tools
• increase the participation of SME in Consips
  activities, especially at the local and regional
  level and to support them in the use of
  eProcurement tools
• Training on the use of the emarketplace and on
  the opportunities it offers (multiplication
  effect)
• Support SMEs during their first use of the
  emarketplace (registration to the platform,
  eCatalogue creations, reply to a RfQ)

Goals
Today 130 desks in 19 Regions
Over 25 of enterprises using the MEPA have been
trained by the Desks
12
Conclusions
EUROPEAN CODE OF BEST PRACTICES

• Section Ensuring access to relevant information
  and training
• Information centers
• Best practices at a national level
• Italy
• In Italy, the central purchasing body (CONSIP)
  is developing a project called Sportelli in
  Rete aimed at creating, in co-operation with
  partners, local desks and structures that help
  enterprises, particularly SMEs, to increase their
  participation in award procedures and to improve
  their familiarity with e-procurement tools

Source EU code of best practices facilitating
access by SMEs to public procurement contracts-
June 2008
13
Key Success FactorsLesson Learnt

• Highly skilled and professional human resources
• Re-engineering of procurement processes
• Advanced e-procurement technologies

Innovation

• Target oriented approach
• Positive and pro-active approach towards new
  challenges
• Capitalize on best practices (repetition, if
  possible)
• Learn from errors

Efficiency

• Institutional/political support
• Appropriate legal framework
• Sharing of the goals with stakeholders
• Acceptation and cooperation from PA e suppliers

Sponsorship
14
Conclusions
The Public Sector is going through a time of
great change, and our efforts should be targeted
towards the total stability of an economic system
characterized by several stakeholders
Networking between purchasing organizations (also
on an international level) is useful and
necessary in order to strengthen cooperation and
best practices sharing