Within the 'Empowered, digital & Open platform for Public Debt Management' public finance ecosystem, the programme for the development of the public debt management system aims at ensuring a greater efficiency of the entire monitoring process and fostering a collaborative approach focused on the sharing of data and information, according to a transversal logic. Specifically, the actions implemented by the Department of the Treasury of the MEF, aimed at improving the system, have pursued three fundamental targets:

– equipping the Department with tools ensuring the quality of the data in the system and its processing, thus guaranteeing its monitoring, validation and consolidation;

– improving the exchange of data, communications and documents with other institutions and administrations through technological solutions promoting collaboration;

The GEDI platform has been implemented in pursuit of these targets, thereby replacing several vertical applications for domestic and foreign public debt management such as GEDDEP, Sistema Previsionale, GPO, MTS, and Valutazione Specialisti, as well as the CEAM (Comunicazioni degli Enti locali e territoriali per il monitoraggio dell’indebitamento e l’accesso al mercato dei capitali – Local and Territorial Authorities' Communications for Debt Monitoring and Access to Capital Markets) system.

The new GEDI platform enhances the features of the previous applications and brings together the operations of individual offices, thus guaranteeing greater collaboration among users, thanks also to the sharing of data sources.

The innovations introduced with GEDI include:

–the adoption of the Java programming language for the management of the application components;

–the integration with the authentication and authorisation system of the DT portal for greater security and integration with enterprise solutions;

–new mathematical models for calculating the optimal portfolio mix in risk and cost management.

With its functional set-up, GEDI has enabled the MEF to considerably broaden the database processed, as it can now also monitor the debt contracted by Local Administrations, in order to have an overall view of the economic-financial trends and debt exposures of Public Administrations, without limiting it to central Administrations.

Indeed, thanks to GEDI, individual Administrations can directly input and update the descriptive data of the liabilities that compose the stock of debt of the Local Administrations, thereby allowing public debt managers of the Department of the Treasury to constantly monitor the exposures through a real-time, reliable and accurate scenario.

The expansion of the Public Debt monitoring and management system shows that the application of innovative solutions centred on Digital Transformation can not only improve analytical capabilities, but above all verify in real time the health of local community resources, which has a significant impact on the quality of life of millions of citizens. In short, having a more 'intelligent', powerful integrated monitoring and management system is an essential added value for the Italian public debt management process and a very useful tool when it comes to recovering from the health crisis and using PNRR funds.

With the carrying out of the 'Empowered Digital Public Financial Illicit Platform ' project, the Department aims at increasing the efficiency of the entire financial crime management and prevention process. The pursuit of this objective has also resulted in the constant development of the SiMEC application platform, with the extension of existing functionalities by means of new technological and business intelligence solutions.

SiMEC is the project system for the Central Means of Payment Antifraud Office (Ufficio Centrale Antifrode dei Mezzi di Pagamento, UCAMP) of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, which has more than 80,000 users and gathers in a single platform all the data useful for monitoring fraud and counterfeiting of cards and currency, thereby integrating and providing a unique point of connection between the private sector and the public administration.

The SiMEC, which has been in operation since 18 September 2017, integrates the pre-existing SIPAF and SIRFE systems and provides a single, consistent overview of data on unlawful phenomena. The objective of the evolution of the System is to increasingly raise the standards of countermeasures to illegal activities, thereby helping to ensure the integrity of the single currency and the security of those who use it.

The SiMEC was designed on the basis of the monitoring processes related to frauds and counterfeiting involving the Euro (Banknotes and Coins) and non-cash means of payment (Cards, ATMs, POSs), whilst its functionalities and monitoring areas were defined on the basis of the different organisational requirements of the Bodies involved, with a focus on banking system subjects, i.e., the main stakeholders of the project. For this reason, the system was integrated with the National Interbank Network (Rete Nazionale Interbancaria, RNI) in order to process the most precise data possible on the Cards Area.

In particular, the Cards Area of the System has the task of managing the Administrative Prevention of Fraud related to Payment Cards or other non-cash means (ATMs and POSs). Companies, banks and financial intermediaries that issue payment cards and manage commercial card acceptance networks participate in the prevention system by processing and distributing data on the phenomenon.

On the other hand, the Euro Area enables the fulfilment of the obligation for cash-handling Bodies to electronically transmit to the Central Means of Payment Antifraud Office of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance the technical data and information concerning the identification of suspected cases of counterfeit currency

The system also acquires the expert opinions of the competent bodies (Bank of Italy, the Italian Mint and the Polygraphic Institute) on individual reports.

In 2019, the definition and design of the new Business Intelligence system was launched, which in 2020 allowed the application platform to be enhanced by providing SIMEC with a knowledge system to strengthen the management and prevention of payment fraud.

The Business Intelligence system was developed in two phases:

➔In PHASE 1, new functionalities were implemented for periodic and summary analyses based on the system information. In particular, the system developed in Phase 1 complemented an area dedicated to descriptive statistics and standard reporting with a new set of annual, semi-annual and monthly indicators.

➔In PHASE 2, an area dedicated to a set of innovative technologies typical of Machine Learning – Artificial Intelligence Engine and Investigation & Entities Behavior Analysis – was developed so that the system would be able to recognise, predict and report on occurrences, trends and characteristics of unlawful phenomena with increasing detail.
 

Therefore, the SiMEC is becoming a fundamental tool for management and control bodies, as it identifies unlawful phenomena and provides the Ministry and the banking system with a precise view of unlawful transactions, thereby making it possible to identify organisational and legislative solutions aimed at combating all types of illegal phenomena.

The system thus makes a direct contribution to the stability of the Italian financial and monetary market and is becoming an effective tool for protecting traders and citizens and their purchasing power, both physical and digital. This tool has become even more important in the year of the pandemic, in which digital transactions have increased exponentially along with attempts at fraud and phishing.

On 20 May 2021, a meeting dedicated to students was held at the LUISS Guido Carli Business School on the subject of 'Data and Governance in PA'. Among the various coordinated activities that took place in the training day, Michele Petrocelli – i.e., the Director of the IT Coordination Office of the Department of the Treasury – and representatives of SOGEI also illustrated to the students the DT Plus programme carried out by the Department of the Treasury, which is based on culture and the enhancement of data.

Within the framework of the Programme financed by the NOP on Governance, Michele Petrocelli specifically described the stream dedicated to asset management and the fundamental role of Data in the construction of a new property census model. Building on the digital transformation macro-objectives defined by the DT Programme, Petrocelli underlined that, after the year-long crisis generated by the pandemic, the enhancement of data processing capabilities has become crucial to redesigning the country's recovery and achieving the objectives set out in the RRP.

'Giving value to data and creating value through data' is the principle underlying the digital transformation project of the DT Plus Programme, which is designed to offer more reliable systems and services to the Ministry's stakeholders, with a greater capacity for forecasting and planning, and to improve the PA's ability to respond to emerging needs in various sectors of national life.

With regard to asset management, the new DT PLUS real estate management model was presented, thereby reflecting the approach that is guiding the Department of the Treasury in the implementation of the NOP. From a single data source, namely land registers, today's model has evolved by expanding the sources it covers. Indeed, the new DT PLUS model also collects and processes data from local and central administrations, in addition to cadastral data, thanks to an algorithm developed by SOGEI.

The extension of the monitoring system to these new databases enables the Ministry to go beyond the collection and mapping of properties so as to cross-reference their features and location with the needs of PA and local communities. This new model thus offers more useful information on the possibilities for using real estate assets, thereby also redefining the principles whereby public assets are made more efficient and significantly improving the ability to respond to the social needs emerging in the various Italian regions.

Within the DT Plus programme, the 'Empowered & Digital Public Asset Platform' project aims at strengthening the Public Administration's ability to manage assets at a central and local level through the creation of an asset management and enhancement system.

The Infographic thus compares the old cadastral model with the new one created thanks to the National Operational Programme on Governance. As can be seen from the diagram, the new DT Plus model increases the number of sources and processes it not only to map property, but also to have an overview of the social context in which it is inserted, thereby being able to redefine the destinations and functions of public sector real estate assets.

Therefore, the application of Business Intelligence tools to the public sector real estate portfolio shows that the increase in analysis capacity is not only fundamental for the management and transparency of the public system, but is also a valuable driver for promptly responding to the needs of citizens and local communities, thereby reducing the distance between emerging social needs and PA's responsiveness.

The “La spesa ICT nella PA italiana 2020”, report (2020 ICT spending in the Italian PA), which has reached its third edition, has accompanied the drafting of the 2020-2022 Three-Year Plan for IT, gathering and analysing data and information on a set of public administrations that collectively account for a large part of Italian public spending on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

“The analysis of as many as 629 ICT projects carried out by central and local administrations shows that investments in Infrastructure and Platforms hold the lion’s share in terms of expenditure – 41% and 33% respectively –, followed by investments for the implementation of Digital Services, which account for 19%.

The estimated 2020 ICT spending for the Italian Public Administration – based on a projection using the data that emerged from the panel analysis – is about 6.2 billion euros and shows a 7% yearly growth between 2017 and 2020, going from a total of about 2.2 billion euros to almost 2.7 billion euros, even though, as illustrated in the report, the trend is not uniform across the sectors of central and local administrations.”

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