On the second day of Forum PA 2023, a conference organized by Formez PA was held on the topic of Small Municipalities, paths of change. A reflection on the contents, methods, tools in defining paths and valorising good practices, which emerged from the experience of Formez PA.
Il core of the talk was dedicated to how to determine the need for specific professional skills for the implementation of the projects envisaged by the PNRR and to support the skills necessary for its implementation. In fact, it was underlined that the possibility for administrations to transform projects into something concrete passes through the capacity of project management, simplification and execution. Much of the success or failure of the PNRR lies in 70% of Italian municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants. Formez PA intervenes with a complex and broad action through the projects Fast Small Municipalities e Public work.
Clelia Fusco, project Manager Small Municipalities e Elvira Roccaproject Manager Public work of Formez PA, attended the talk together with Maurizio Decastri of the University of Tor Vergata, illustrating the actions put in place by our Institute in synergy with the Department of Public Administration in support of the digital, administrative and organizational transition for the implementation of the PNRR projects.
Clelia Fusco intervened by presenting the activity and the progress of the project “Fast Piccoli Comuni – Providing coaching and support for the digital and administrative transition of small municipalities” which is aimed at Municipalities with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants, 70% of the total number of Italian municipalities. Its action supports administrations in the implementation of projects and digital solutions, also by exporting good practices and proposing tested and successful models. Fast supports local Municipalities with specialized task forces of experts. Fusco recalled that the project is entirely dedicated to Small Municipalities whose residents are about 10 million, in addition to 16% of the population, “the PNRR has taken care to invest precisely in the Municipalities, identifying in them the lever for the realization of the planned projects. Decree 44 of 2023 also underlines the role of Formez PA, which it is called to play, with a particular action in support of Municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants”- he continued by saying that “Fast is a very complex project also due to the type of the administrations it involves, for its territorial action in all regions and latitudes using a methodological approach that takes into account, not only the common elements in the analysis of needs, but also the differences between them”.
The action of the project has the characteristic of acting on the territory alongside the Municipalities through an action to accompany the digital and administrative transition, supporting the appropriate skills, and providing useful tools for the implementation of projects including the definition of digital transition and personalized work on a local scale for administrative simplification and the management of administrative acts, using certain IT technologies.
FAST therefore aims to implement digital transition plans on a local scale, strengthen the capacity of small Municipalities in the field of administrative simplification, improve the drafting of administrative acts using information technology. It was recalled that there are over 1000 applications (individual or aggregated) for the expression of interest, of which 285 have been selected for the area dedicated to the digital transition, 250 for the area dedicated to administrative transition and 434 have been admitted for the area dedicated to the use of information technology. Access to the Platform for Municipalities, designed to improve the ability to draw up administrative documents with IT methods, has in fact been extended to all the audience that applied. The information portal is one of the tools made available to the Municipalities, where documents and links are available. Through the platform it will be possible to make personalized searches and, through artificial intelligence, it will give other useful proposals to the user. The Legal dekstop represents an important national, regional and municipal archive “because by dematerializing and digitizing the deeds of small Municipalities it facilitates the drafting of individual deeds” underlined the manager of the FAST project.
Elvira Rocca he illustrated how the project “Lavoropubblico.gov – Tools, information systems and accompanying actions for strategic management of human resources” contributes to supporting Small Municipalities, in recognizing the needs of specific professional skills necessary for the implementation of the PNRR. Supporting the governance of public policies on human resources, the digitization of personnel management services and procedures are important levers for the success of change. The digitization of personnel management services and procedures are important levers for the success of change. In particular, the activities of the Lavoropubblico.gov.it portal were highlighted, which offers tools and services to support the innovation and digitization of the governance of the human capital management policies of the PAs. It was also illustrated Database of Opinionsan operational tool useful for Administrations and civil servants to learn about the regulatory evolution and the guidelines of the Department of Public Administration on the subject of public employment, which to date collects over 400 opinions, circulars and directives.
Also presented was the Lavoropubblico.gov.it (https://www.lavoropubblico.gov.it/), the portal of the Department of Public Function – with 6477 Administrations registered to date – a platform which, thanks to the specialized Formez PA help desk, supports the Administrations in the implementation of administrative processes and enhancement of public personnel. A reference tool enriched by specific applications designed to meet the needs of PA personnel, facilitate access and improve the user experience.
Elvira Rocca also examined the activity aimed at the recruitment needs of Municipalities with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants with particular regard to PNRR projects. Formez PA has supported the Department of Public Administration through the recognition of the needs of specific professional skills necessary for the implementation of the PNRR and support for access to funding for the recruitment of fixed-term personnel, allowing: greater knowledge of the demand and the public job offer; an improvement in the allocation of human resources in the PPAA; a reduction in administrative time.
Rocca concluded by recalling that “760 of the Municipalities supported had access to the fund of 30 million euros for the overall hiring of 1026 employees for the success of the PNRR projects”.
Maurizio Decastri finally underlined how Formez PA is working effectively “creating wealth and public value” and how both projects work in support of small Italian municipalities on the issues of simplification and digitization, issues that imply the fundamental role of administrative law, IT skills and digital, and of the organizational dimension. “Simplification is not done only with the first two elements but “we need to know well how human behavior works”. These three elements cross the tools, methodologies and skills which are in turn strengthened, thanks to the action of accompaniment and support to the Municipalities of Formez PA.