L’articolo analizza l’evoluzione dell’esternalizzazione nelle amministrazioni pubbliche, il meccanismo di tipo mercato più utilizzato nei Paesi OCSE, attraverso una duplice prospettiva: (a) l’evoluzione dei principali approcci teorici; (b) alcuni casi studio (Regno Unito, Stati Uniti e Canada). L’analisi mette in rilievo alcune caratteristiche evolutive comuni con riferimento all’oggetto dell’esternalizzazione (dai servizi di supporto e le attività amministrative di back office, a vere e proprie attività di core business); alle modalità di identificazione delle attività da sottoporre a gara ed esternalizzare (non più per legge e in maniera uniforme, ma autonomamente da ciascuna amministrazione pubblica); al rapporto tra le amministrazioni e le aziende fornitrici (da una concezione di gioco a somma zero, a logiche di partnership); ai criteri di scelta, non solo tra make or buy, ma tra le numerose alternative a disposizione dei decisori pubblici (dalla minimizzazione del costo alla massimizzazione del valore pubblico creato per i cittadini/utenti, in un’ottica di lungo periodo). Tali esperienze possono costituire un utile riferimento per l’Italia, in cui si verifica un quadro normativo e gestionale in evoluzione e non ancora compiuto, con riferimento all’esternalizzazione.
The research aims at developing an interpretative framework of the evolution of contracting out in public administrations in the past decades. It includes a review of the main theoretical approaches and an empirical analysis of three country case studies (United Kingdom, United States and Canada) afterwards compared to Italy. Some clear patterns of evolution refer to the expansion of the services outsourced (blue collar support services, professional services ancillary to the core mission and core government functions); the identification of the services/activities to be contracted out (devolved to each public administration, discarding a top-down approach); the relationship between government and private sector providers (from a zero-sum game to long-term partnerships); the decision-making criteria (the make or buy comparison including other important alternatives such as public/public partnerships and cost reduction is accompanied by the consideration of other dimensions such as quality and the public value created). The main implications for Italy refer to the approach in regulating contracting out in public administrations.
The research aims at developing an interpretative framework of the evolution of contracting out in public administrations in the past decades. It includes a review of the main theoretical approaches and an empirical analysis of three country case studies (United Kingdom, United States and Canada) afterwards compared to Italy. Some clear patterns of evolution refer to the expansion of the services outsourced (blue collar support services, professional services ancillary to the core mission and core government functions); the identification of the services/activities to be contracted out (devolved to each public administration, discarding a top-down approach); the relationship between government and private sector providers (from a zero-sum game to long-term partnerships); the decision-making criteria (the make or buy comparison including other important alternatives such as public/public partnerships and cost reduction is accompanied by the consideration of other dimensions such as quality and the public value created). The main implications for Italy refer to the approach in regulating contracting out in public administrations.
