E pluribus unum? An evaluation of the Italian national procurement Body

In this paper we examine the birth, development and issues that were raised in the past decade of the Italian Public procurement policy in the light of the experience of the central purchasing body Consip Ltd. in the context of the EU developments. We show how the success of a public procurement policy depends critically on the internalization of the events that occur within the industrial context of the economy and within the political arena in which such policies are undertaken. Once those constraints have been incorporated, the policy action has to include a strong degree of coordination between the central purchasing body and at least three institutions: competition regulators, fiscal policy decision-makers and auditors of public spending. Once such actors are included the possibility of a successful public procurement national strategy vastly improves.