Three-year plan for public administration IT. Brief guide to the 2024-2026 update

It also addresses the theme of artificial intelligence, which is only to be expected given the purpose for which it was created. We're talking about the Three-year plan for Public Administration IT, today the Reference guide for the digitalisation of the Italian Public Administration. A few weeks ago, the update was approved 2024-2026 which for the first time delves into the subject of’AI, providing general indications and principles that will need to be adopted by the administrations and clarified during the application phase.

But let's take a step back for a brief summary of the evolution over the years of this instrument created to promote the digital transformation of Italy and, in particular, of the Public Administration, providing operational guidance, in terms of objectives and expected results, to be used as guiding principles in the strategy to be adopted. Then, we will present one Summary table.

The three-year IT plan instrument has its roots in the 2016 Stability Law, which outlined its general characteristics. In fact, the first edition, operational in the 2017-2019 three-year period, focused mainly on’Strategic model introduction of information technology in public administration. In the subsequent period, the plan instead focused on detailing the’implementation from the model, to provide more operational support to Public Administrations involved in the digitalisation process. The triennial plans 2020-2022 and 2021-2023 have also moved in the same direction, both paying more attention to shares expected and to Results monitoring.The latest update, the Plan under consideration, however, marks a Turn, both in its structure and content, delving into specific topics – such as the AI we mentioned – to support public administrations not only in the implementation but also in the management of digital services. strategy at its core, it stems from the need to consider the new strategic levers upon which to base the planning of PA digitisation, taking into account all the actors involved in the country's digital transformation and the objectives set for 2030 by the path laid out by the European Commission for the Digital Decade, within which the Plan is situated.

Now let's briefly look at it. Structure and the highlights.

The Three-Year Plan 2024-2026 aims to 4 goals:

• provide tools for the Public Administration to deliver services exclusively in digital mode, making the processes of interaction with citizens, businesses and other public administrations more effective and faster;
• to favour the development of a digital society, where services place citizens and businesses at the centre, through the digitalisation of public administration;
• promote sustainable, ethical and inclusive development, through innovation and digitalisation at the service of people, communities and territories, with respect for environmental sustainability;
• contribute to the spread of new digital technologies within the Italian productive fabric, incentivising standardisation, innovation, and experimentation in the area of public services.

Maximum priority therefore to the Citizen-business-public administration relations characterises current society – Alessio Butti, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council, himself
with a mandate for technological innovation, in his introductory words about the tool he wanted to specify that “The Plan focuses on the effectiveness of administrative action, ensuring that every aspect of digitisation is geared towards improving public services and creating a more efficient and accessible system for all citizens.”.

Four objectives, we were saying, to achieve through a strategic model which proposes an organisational and technological architecture based on respect for the autonomy of the different levels institutional and on their collaboration, to provide an overall view of the digital public administration, starting from the “information system” of each individual entity and leading to the definition of relationships with services, platforms, and infrastructures provided at a central level.

Therefore, the organisational and technological challenges that administrations will have to face in the three macro-areas indicated by the Plan itself (processes, applications and technologies), and which are considered both in relation to the functioning of the information system of a single organisation and to the functioning of the overall public information system, must be addressed from the perspective of the principle cloud-first and of a polycentric and federated composition, but always with respect for Guiding principles valid for all levels. Here in detail, which ones:

1. Digital and mobile firstPublic administrations must deliver their public services digitally and make them accessible on mobile devices, considering alternatives only in a residual and justified manner, through the «structural and managerial reorganisation» of the body and also with «constant simplification and re-engineering of processes».
2. Cloud firstPublic administrations, when defining a new project and developing new services, adopt the cloud paradigm and exclusively use adequate digital infrastructures and qualified cloud services according to the criteria set by the ACN (National Cybersecurity Agency) and within the framework of the SPC (Shared Public Cloud).
3. Interoperable by design and by default (API-first)Public services must be designed to operate in an integrated manner and through collective digital processes, offering appropriate e-Services, regardless of the service delivery channels, which are identified logically and chronologically after the API interface design.
4. Exclusive access via digital identityPublic administrations must exclusively adopt digital identity systems defined by law.
5. Inclusive, accessible and user-centric servicespublic administrations must design public services that are inclusive and that cater to the diverse needs of people and of individual territories, providing agile modes of continuous improvement, starting from the user experience and based on the continuous measurement of performance and usage.
6. Public data a common good (open data by design and by default)The public administration's information heritage is a fundamental asset for the country's development and must be valued and made available to citizens and businesses, in an open and interoperable format.
7. Designed for the security and protection of personal data (data protection by design and by default)Public services must be designed and delivered securely, ensuring the protection of personal data.
8. Once conceived as cross-borderPublic administrations must avoid asking citizens and businesses for information they have already provided, must grant access to their digital files, and must make relevant public services available across borders.
9. Openness as the first optionPublic administrations must consider the need to prevent the risk of lock-in in their services, favour the use of open-source software or e-services, and, in the case of software developed on their behalf, the source code must be made available, as well as promoting open administration and the sharing of good administrative and technological practices.
10. Digital sustainabilitypublic administrations must consider the entire life cycle of their services and their economic, territorial, environmental, and social sustainability, including through forms of aggregation.
11. Subsidiarity, proportionality and appropriateness of digitalisationCoordinated and shared digitalisation processes for administrative action are undertaken according to the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality, and appropriateness of digitalisation. This means the State should only undertake digitalisation initiatives if they are more effective than those at the regional and local level, and based on the needs expressed by the administrations themselves. In other cases, it should limit itself to what is necessary for the IT coordination of data. At the same time, individual administrations must ensure the appropriateness of the digitalisation initiatives undertaken independently (i.e., not shared with other bodies) at the optimal territorial level with respect to the predominant needs of administrative action and public service users.

Finally, the Structure del Piano: the guide is structured into three parts (7 chapters and 5 instruments)

• Part one (Chapters 1 and 2) – Strategic components for digital transformationDescribe the strategic levers on which to invest to accelerate the digital transformation process of Public Administrations.
• Part two (chapters 3 to 7) – Technological components: delves into the technological components of the strategic model on Services, Platforms, Data and Artificial Intelligence, Infrastructure, Security.

A brief aside: each chapter maintains the same structure as previous editions: the Scenario, the Regulatory and Strategic Context, the Objectives and Expected Results sections, the Institutional Action Lines section, the Public Administration Action Lines section, Tools for Plan Implementation and Resources and Funding Sources.

• Part three – Tools (from 1 to 5): a continuously updated vertical section on the AGID website, in the pages on the Three-Year Plan, dedicated to the tools that administrations can refer to as support models, examples of good practices, Checklist to plan their interventions.

For an in-depth reading of the plan, please refer to the page: https://docs.italia.it/italia/piano-triennale-ict/pianotriennale-ict-doc/it/2024-2026/index.html