Context
The aim of the inPA Portal project is to strengthen the administrative capacity of the Italian public administration by overcoming the main problems of recruitment processes,such as long timeframes, fragmentation of procedures, and difficulties in ensuring a clear and simple experience for candidates during all stages of competitions. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has made even more evident the need for centralised digital tools capable of ensuring business continuity, speed, and transparency in public recruitment processes. Before the inPA Portal became live, the application process for a selective procedure was often managed through paper-based methods or, where digitised, with different methods according to the individual recruiting administrations.
In this context, the inPA Portal is a digital meeting point – in line with the category Innovating Government, Governance and Policies – between actors in the public sector market, public administrations, and candidates, becoming a focal point between the supply of and demand for public employment to intercept the best professional profiles.
The portal is now unique in the European panorama, as the only telematic channel of reference not only for the publication of notices but also for the management of the selective procedure.
Objectives
The endemic shortage of staff in public administration, as well as the progressive increase in the average age of civil servants as a consequence of a more than 10-year turnover freeze, has been a major problem in the national context, producing a significant imbalance between the skills required by the labour market and the resources available. These issues have become particularly urgent in the emergency context of the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring an acceleration of public administration reform and digitalisation processes.
The inPA project aims to simplify, accelerate, and make public recruitment more effective, promoting merit and helping to increase the attractiveness of public work to younger generations.
In addition to the objectives of reducing selection timeframes, attracting technical and specialised expertise, and strengthening gender equality safeguards and protections for specific categories, the project also aims to standardise procedures at national level.
The achievement of these objectives was instrumental to the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza – PNRR). In this regard, the portal represents a national milestone, as it is among the first PNRR projects implemented in Italy.
With the inPA Portal, recruitment procedures have been fully digitalised and simplified, with significant impacts on administrations and users.
Implementation
InPA was launched in August 2021 with funding from the Complementary Operational Programme to the 2014–2020 National Operational Programme (Programma Operativo Nazionale – PON). It was subsequently included under Investment 2.1 of the PNRR and was among the first PNRR projects to be fully implemented in Italy. Following the completion of the PNRR project phase, it continued to be financed through national funds, becoming a benchmark for the management of other PNRR projects.
The management of the portal requires a participatory governance model involving the more than 8000 accredited administrations which, although autonomous in managing their own selection procedures, require uniform guidelines as well as technical assistance, not only for the onboarding phase but also for the ongoing technical support necessary for the use of the platform.
In this sense, the Office for Competitions and Recruitment of the Department of public administration coordinates activities by supporting the administrations technically and administratively.
Continuous stakeholder consultation is also ensured through the support service, which enables citizens and administrations to submit feedback and propose improvements regarding the use of the portal.