Procurement Risk:
Moderate
Score:
62/100
Government Policy
Q57
88/100
Does the country have legislation covering defence and security procurement with clauses specific to corruption risks, and are any items exempt from these laws?
View Question
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. Defence procurement is governed according to the type of procurement to be done. In…
Explore
The risk of corruption is recognised by the national legislation governing defence and security procurement. Article 80 of the Public procurement code of 2016…
Explore
The application of national legislation is ensured by the external controls performed from the Court of Auditors and the National Anticorruption Authority, which occurs…
Explore
Q58
83/100
Is the defence procurement cycle process, from assessment of needs, through contract implementation and sign-off, all the way to asset disposal, disclosed to the public?
View Question
The procurement cycle of defence equipment follows defined procedures, based on an assessment of needs [1]. The procedures for contract implementation and sign-off are…
Explore
Procedures are formalised by the relevant laws and they are publicly available [1].The public becomes aware of the procurement planning when the Minister of…
Explore
Procedures on implementation steps are detailed [1] [2] [3] [4] and generally followed. When not, the competent authorities can deny the advancements of the…
Explore
Q59
100/100
Are defence procurement oversight mechanisms in place and are these oversight mechanisms active and transparent?
View Question
Procurement oversight mechanism are regulated by legislative decree 123/2011 [1] and law 20/1994 [2]. They are performed by the department of general accountancy of…
Explore
The department of general accountancy of the State has the ability to collect information and requests explanations when necessary. It can also reject putting…
Explore
The activities of the oversight organs are published on the respective websites through reports. Reports can be on specific procurements – in this case,…
Explore
According to Law 244/2012 [1] the Ministry of Defence has to annually present a Multiannual Programmatic Document (Documento Programmatico Pluriennale, DPP), in which all…
Explore
On the website of the Ministry [1] and on those of each armed forces [2] is possible to access a webpage with information on…
Explore
Information on actual defence purchases is made public on the website of the Ministry and most of the time includes item, winning bidder, beneficial…
Explore
Data is released in an accessible format, but comparison, particularly on the number of contracts awarded to the same company, is difficult (no xls…
Explore
Capability Gap and Requirements Definition
Q62
88/100
What procedures and standards are companies required to have – such as compliance programmes and business conduct programmes – in order to be able to bid for work for the Ministry of Defence or armed forces?
View Question
Decision 72/2013 of the National Anticorruption Agency [1] set the legal basis for the national anticorruption plan. According to the plan, the observance of…
Explore
The observance of policies and laws is ensured by the controls the administration carries out before the allocation of the contract. On the website…
Explore
Q63
83/100
Are procurement requirements derived from a national defence and security strategy, and are procurement decisions well-audited? Are defence purchases based on clearly identified and quantified requirements?
View Question
The strategic and financial planning of the Ministry of Defence derives from the “official guidelines” (atto di indirizzo) of the Minister of Defence [1]…
Explore
According to art. 536 of the Code of the military system [1], the Minister of Defence, by the 30 of April of each year,…
Explore
Requirements for each purchase are specified in the tenders [1] and reported in the contracts [2]. Moreover, contracts are justified in terms of the…
Explore
Tender Solicitation, Assessment and Contract Award
Q64
50/100
Is defence procurement generally conducted as open competition or is there a significant element of single-sourcing (that is, without competition)?
View Question
Public procurement is periodically scrutinised by the Court of Auditors. Its last report, from June 2020 [1], analyses the procurement of the Ministry of…
Explore
Regardless of the type of procedure, there is a preventive control on the administrative and accounting regularity of the acts, as regulated by legislative…
Explore
Q65
81/100
Are tender boards subject to regulations and codes of conduct and are their decisions subject to independent audit to ensure due process and fairness?
View Question
The Italian legislation forbids the presence of any conflict of interest in any phase of tenders. Article 42 of the Code for Public Procurement…
Explore
Trails of administrative, judicial and economic aspects of contracts are performed by the analysis service of industrial and benchmarking costs according to art. 84…
Explore
Information on the code of conduct of members of the tender boards is publicly available. Nonetheless, given the fact that different legislations apply, one…
Explore
Administrative and accounting controls have to be performed for all acts generating financial effects for the budget of the State, as regulated by art.…
Explore
Q66
81/100
Does the country have legislation in place to discourage and punish collusion between bidders for defence and security contracts?
View Question
There is not a specific legislation regulating collusion between bidders for security and defence contracts, but national legislation applies. In particular, the code for…
Explore
Collusion can result in sanction or imprisonment, according to the gravity of the committed crime. Embezzlement is punished with imprisonment from 4 to 10…
Explore
The National Anticorruption Authority has the power to investigate and appeal against acts on public procurement, should the tender procedure be not in line…
Explore
The National anticorruption plan and the three-year anti-corruption plan of the Ministry of Defence identify the procurement sector as a role subject to high…
Explore
Contract Delivery and In-Service Support
Q67
88/100
Are there mechanisms and procedures that ensure that contractors meet their obligations on reporting and delivery?
View Question
According to the national Code for public procurement, legislative decree n. 50/2016, all contracts shall ensure the right performance of the service/provision of the…
Explore
On the website of the contracting authorities it is possible to access information on contracts [1]. For contracts exceeding the value of 1 milion…
Explore
According to a report of the Court of Auditors [1] on the public procurement of the Ministry of Defence, monitoring activities on the good…
Explore
In the period of investigation of the Court of Auditors over the management of public contracts of the Ministry of Defence, 14 cases of…
Explore
Q68
83/100
Are there mechanisms in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement, and are companies protected from discrimination when they use these mechanisms?
View Question
Companies that participated in a selection procedure can complain about perceived malpractice in procurement, according to the code of public procurement [1] and address…
Explore
In case of judicial remedy, companies need to pay a “single contribution” (contributo unificato) that varies according to the value of the contract. The…
Explore
According to an interviewed defence company, there is no perception that one will incur any discrimination in future procurements, due to complains [1]. This…
Explore
The Italian legislation outlines different cases of corruption activities of a supplier. Should the corrupt activity be performed during the tender procedure, for example…
Explore
According to the information available on the website of the Ministry of Defence, there seems to have been no recent exclusion of companies from…
Explore
As indicated in the code of coduct of the personnel of the Ministry of Defence and in the three-year anticorruption plan [1] officials have…
Explore
Offset Contracts
Q70
25/100
When negotiating offset contracts, does the government specifically address corruption risk by imposing anti-corruption due diligence on contractors and third parties?
View Question
Offset contracts are generally not allowed in Italy, in accordance with the EU legislation on defence procurement. In practice, offset contracts in defence are…
Explore
It is not possible to assess the presence of due diligence and anti-corruption clauses in cases of offsets agreements, since offset contracts are generally…
Explore
Offset contracts are generally not allowed in Italy, in accordance with the EU legislation on defence procurement. Nonetheless, while Italy has no formal policies…
Explore
Online it is possible to access information on offset contracts even though a list of the contracts is not available and information is difficult…
Explore
There is not enough Information to score this indicator, as there is no available evidence online and in periodic reports to assess the effectiveness…
Explore
There is not enough Information to score this indicator. As part of government to government agreements, should an offset contract not be sufficiently completed,…
Explore
Offset contracts are officially forbidden in Italy as they prevent competition, but they can occur under the form of Government-to-Government (G2G) agreements, which are…
Explore
Agents / Brokers
Q73
0/100
How strongly does the government control the company’s use of agents and intermediaries in the procurement cycle?
View Question
There is no legislation limiting the use of intermediaries or agents. It is worth noting that, despite the absence of national legislation, the limitation…
Explore
This indicator has been marked ‘Not Applicable’, as there is no general prohibition or clear restrictions on the use of agents and intermediaries
Explore
Financing Package
Q74
25/100
Are the principal aspects of the financing package surrounding major arms deals, (such as payment timelines, interest rates, commercial loans or export credit agreements) made publicly available prior to the signing of contracts?
View Question
After the award of the contract, some information is published on the website of the Ministry of Defence, specifically on the budget and timeline…
Explore
Seller Influence
Q75
NS/100
How common is it for defence acquisition decisions to be based on political influence by selling nations?
View Question
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. It is difficult to assess what role the political influence of the selling nation…
Explore
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. Generally speaking, the acquisition process is guided by clear and justifiable military needs indicated…
Explore
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The Italian defence industry is well-developed and on several occasions it has been underlined…
Explore