The FORUM PA 2006 e-Government conference and exhibition opened today, at 10 a.m., at the Fiera di Roma trade fair grounds in Rome.

 

The opening Conference was introduced by the Chairman of Federcomin and Fita, Mr. Alberto Tripi, who said, among other things, that:

 

“Based on a recent study conducted by the European Commission, Italy spends only 13 euros per capita per annum on e-Government, as compared to 101 by Sweden, 89 by Denmark, 57 by the UK and 32 by France”.

 

Mr. Tripi then highlighted the practice, found only in Italy, of establishing so-called “in house” companies (i.e. public sector companies that are awarded most procurement contracts at local level), the number of which has increased considerably in recent years and which currently account for 40% of the e-Government market.

 

“This – Mr. Tripi said – might appear an important result, but it does not help the industry”.

 

“Direct (in-house) awarding of contracts, i.e. without tendering – he added – has a negative impact on both demand and supply. On the former, because the levels of efficiency of in-house activities are far removed from those of private-sector companies; on the latter, because such a system robs the industry of precious resources which, as we have seen, are becoming increasingly scarce, and it would be better for all stakeholders to encourage an extension of public procurement tendering to enhance market competition. It would also be necessary to immediately prohibit participation in the tendering process of the providers of public services operating under a directly awarded contract”.

 

Mr. Tripi concluded his speech speaking of 4th generation e-Government which, he said, “must be the result of the joint application of ICT solutions and human capital reorganization models, pursuing the goal of improving Government, in connection with the creation of a cutting-edge services economy ".