(by Michele Leone, Digital Media Specialist and Aidr partner) PTA or "Advanced territorial poles". It will be a concentrate of technology enclosed in decentralized and Data driven structures, with specific areas for public competitions, with co-working spaces and offices for videoconferencing and agile work for the “new” Public Administration.
This tells us in the hearing in the Chamber on Recovery Funds the Minister of the PA, Fabiana Dadone, confirming that 150 of these "advanced territorial poles" will be born in Italy and will be structures to be divided among the Regions with the aim, also, of hosting the numerous public competitions with a view to decentralization and digitization of examination procedures, by virtue of the large numbers of places, more than a thousand, made available by central and local PA only in the last months of 2020. These advanced territorial poles will therefore be "Wired" with the necessary technological infrastructure and IT equipment to allow, hopefully, the execution of the selection procedures quickly and digitally by default, in line with the reform measures dedicated to recruitment, which in times of Covid is always most necessary.
The Pta, this is the acronym, will be developed by recovering disused buildings and spaces in the various local contexts, and will be identified, continues the Minister, also through agreements with the State Property Agency and the National Agency for Administration and Destination assets seized and confiscated from organized crime. The focus is on the use of Recovery Funds to innovate the PA and its processes also thanks to partnerships and collaborations with Research Bodies and Universities and with the private sector. These spaces must allow constant interaction with the citizen in a "new" open and dynamic place for the development of digital skills and innovation, where the Public Administration addresses the citizen and shares with him the spaces, as well as skills and knowledge . A PA that is therefore closer to the urban context, which places the citizen at the center of this complex system as the final user of the service provided by public offices.
I seem to review the distinctive features of the Madia reform of the PA, where pursuant to the new Article 19 bis of Legislative Decree 150/2009, introduced by Legislative Decree 74/2017, citizens participate in the process of measuring organizational performance and for the online services provided. Digital public services that from 28 February 2021 will have to be accessible exclusively through the SPID digital identity or with an electronic identity card. Europe had already thought about it and has implemented policies that allow the interoperability of European digital identity systems recognized on the basis of EU Regulation No. 910/2014 on eIDAS digital identity (electronic IDentification Authentication and Signature). In Italy, on the other hand, there is the eIDAS node (https://www.eid.gov.it/) which makes the online services of Italian PAs accessible also to European citizens through their respective digital identities.
This path that the PA is taking to align itself with European and international standards is positive, also with these new PTAs expanding the ways of working in smart working, which are more dynamic, respectful of the time of the worker, characterized by greater objectives to be achieved. It seems like centuries, but a few years have passed since that video of a CCTV camera that recorded the “crafty tag” in his underwear while he was stamping, and stamping for himself and his colleagues. A PA that a few years ago wanted to introduce fingerprints to "mark" the presence and avert the era of scams, as it was defined. Presence in the office that today can no longer be the yardstick, and I supported it even before SARS-CoV-2, but that at the center of the PA's effort there is the goal of "increasing the efficiency of administrations in relation to that of the corresponding offices and services of the countries of the European Union, also through the coordinated development of public information systems "as required by article 1 of Legislative Decree 15/2001.
Now we have to think about the positive and constantly growing data that the Smart Working Observatory shows us on the projects developed in agile working mode, also through the adoption of the tools of the POLA (Operational Plan for Agile Work) which provides for by January 31st each year the allocation of human resources that the Administrations will have to include in the Smart working plan. The POLA must therefore allow at least 60 percent of the personnel who carry out activities falling within this working mode to make use of the institute, ensuring that the same workers are not penalized for the purposes of recognition of professionalism and career progression.
Now let's think of the Next Generation EU, a new 750 billion euro recovery tool that will strengthen the EU budget, and of Italy, with new funding raised on the financial markets for the period 2021-2024. In Italy we continue to develop innovative projects such as PTAs, to improve "strategic digital capabilities", including Artificial Intelligence, IT security, data and Cloud infrastructures, 5G and 6G networks, supercomputers, Quantum and the Blockchain. We must insist on the need to give priority to digital investments to bridge the cultural and digital skills gap in Europe which in this period of crisis has become even more evident to become the country of "digital excellence", as recalled by a project by which I was part of that had the purpose of combining the wonderful 3 Fs of Made in Italy (Food, Fashion, Furniture) with elements of innovation 4.0.
The road is therefore marked, and will we have the courage to pursue these inclusive and digital choices?