The Digitalization of the Public Procurement Life Cycle: The National eProcurement Ecosystem Between Innovation and Critical Issues

One of the most far-reaching innovations introduced by Legislative Decree no. 36/2023 concerns the digitalization of all the phases that make up the life cycle of public contracts, from design to execution (art. 21 of Decree-Law no. 36/2023), and not only the phase of the award procedures. In fact, the complete digitalization of public procurement would lead to greater speed and flexibility of procedures, greater transparency and therefore a lower risk of corruption and criminal infiltration, as well as a more general simplification of administrative action by reducing the burden on contracting authorities, ensuring greater completeness of data and streamlining access procedures. This is a rather ambitious project, the implementation of which requires the cooperation of the contracting authorities, in particular with the National Anti-Corruption Authority and the Agency for Digital Italy. In fact, the new Public Procurement Code, in the absence of a clear regulatory framework, has put into positive terms the principles established by the caselaw, constituting a fundamental piece for the establishment of a “rule of technology” aimed at guaranteeing the protection of the legal rights and interests of the subjects of modern society.