Consip S.p.A. is a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...

, set up in 1997, held by the Italian Ministry of economy and finance (MEF), which is the sole shareholder. The company operates in keeping with the MEF’s strategic goals, working exclusively to serve the Public Administration sector. Consip is a member of the Procurement G6, an informal group leading the use of framework agreements and

e-procurement E-procurement (electronic procurement, sometimes also known as supplier exchange) is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as ...

instruments in public procurement.

Corporate profile

Consip’s mission is to make the use of public resources more efficient and transparent, by providing tools and skills to

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

. The goal is to allow them to perform public purchases and at the same time stimulate a competitive participation of enterprises to public tenders. Consip obtained the ISO 9001:2008 quality certification for the “design, implementation and launching of

framework A framework is a generic term commonly referring to an essential supporting structure which other things are built on top of. Framework may refer to: Computing * Application framework, used to implement the structure of an application for an op ...

contracts and e-marketplaces for the

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or s ...

of public Goods and Services, in its role as a central purchasing body”.

History

Consip, under the original name of CON.S.I.P. “Concessionaria Servizi Informativi Pubblici”, was founded in 1997 for the purpose of bringing about changes in IT management for the former Italian Ministry of the treasury, budget, and economic planning. Through Legislative Decree n. 414 of 19 November 1997, Consip was assigned with ICT activities for Italy’s national

in the areas of finance and accounting. Subsequently, through the Decrees of the Ministry of the treasury of 22 December 1997 and 17 June 1998, the company was put in charge of managing and developing ICT services for said Ministry. Two years later, Consip was assigned with launching the “Programme for the rationalization of public administration purchases”. In fact, in enforcing the 2000 Budget law, through the Ministerial Decree of 24 February 2000, the Ministry of economy and finance put Consip in charge of assisting the public administrations with their procurement of goods and services. Over the years, many projects have influenced the development of activities assigned to the company. Today, Consip operates as Italy’s central purchasing body, providing support for individual PAs, and carrying out new tasks assigned through legal provisions and/or administrative acts.

Main activities

The company carries out activities in consulting, assistance, and support in procuring goods and services for Public Administrations (PAs). Consip’s activities involve three main areas: * as central purchasing body, it runs the Programme for the rationalisation of public administration purchases, through the use of ICT and innovative procurement tools: framework contracts, e-marketplace for public administration, framework agreements, dynamic purchasing system, ASP tenders (Central

Procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or s ...

Area). * based on specific agreements, it supports the individual PAs in all areas throughout the procurement process (Vertical

Area). * through legal provisions and/or administrative acts, it develops programmes that make use of its know-how in the area of procurement, as well as its ability to manage complex and innovative projects in the sphere of Public Administration (Other Initiatives Area).

Methodology

Consip offers

consultancy A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

and project-design services, having developed, over time, technical, legal and project

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

skills. Consip is a competence centre specialized in all phases of the procurement value chain; it stands beside public administrations both in the procurement

strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the s ...

phase and in the real purchasing phase, by providing e-procurement tools, assistance, and consultancy. Consip relies on about 340 staff members, with an average age of 43 years. 83% of the employees are university graduates and 51% of them are women.

Board of directors

Consip's board of directors chronology:

Acknowledgements

Best Practice in Public Assets Award – 6th year, 2015.European Energy Service Award - Category “Best European Energy Service Promoter”, 2014.Ambrogio Lorenzetti Award for Corporate Governance, 2014.European European eGovernment Award, 2009.European Public Service Award, 2009.

References

External links

*
Ministry of economy and financeConsip e-procurement platform
{{authority control Government-owned companies of Italy Companies based in Rome Italian companies established in 1997 Public eProcurement