Outsourcing public administration activities on purchasing goods and services and on managing real estate in the Italian public sector

The Italian public administration has adopted typical private sector management models since the last decade of 20th century. The turn to outsourcing for both public utilities and administrative functions has become more and more important to rationalise and control public expenditures. In this context, the paper aims to pay attention on two relevant cases: the public administrations' goods and services purchase and the management of public real estate. Firstly, the traditional model based on just a unique place of purchasing and expenditures, called Provveditorato Generale dello Stato, has been replaced by a system consists of CONSIP and many regional supply points. This new network aims to harmonise the different local plans for the public expenditures' rationalisation and to achieve synergies in the use of tools for the procurement of goods and services. About the management of public real estate, the spread of the facility management introduced significant opportunities for organizational innovation and a valuable reduction of public expenditure, although it still shows critical aspects. Both experiences show that, in order to support a process of real modernisation of the Italian administrative action, outsourcing should be fully considered as a relevant tool of retraining and reorganising the central and local public administration. It responds efficiently and effectively to the needs generated by strategical process of managerial innovation.