National Strategic Pole: what is it and how does it change Italy?
In recent days, the National Strategic Pole has attracted the attention of the national media. The reason is the publication, which took place on January 28, 2022, of the call for proposals for the National Strategic Pole which has begun to ‘give shape’ to an innovative and strategic infrastructure.
The National Strategic Pole aims to support and accelerate the Cloud PA migration process: its function will be to host the critical and strategic data and services of central administrations (about 200), ASLs (Local Health Authorities), and the main local administrations (Regions, Metropolitan Cities, and Municipalities with over 250,000 inhabitants).
We are therefore talking about a crucial infrastructure with a direct impact on Italian society. For this reason, we have decided to create the following vademecum, a kind of “PSN forum” made up of 10 questions and as many practical answers.
National Strategic Pole: what is it?
The National Strategic Pole is one of the three pillars of the Cloud Italy Strategy, developed by the Department for Digital Transformation and by the National Cybersecurity Agency and defined on 7 September 2021 by Minister Colao in the “Summary document of strategic direction for the implementation and control of the Cloud PA “.
The other two assets included in the Cloud Italy Strategy are the classification of data and related services managed by the Public Administration and the definition of qualified PA cloud.
Speaking of PA data classification, here are the three categories:
- Strategic = essential for national security and cohesion (for example justice or defense services).
- Critical = relevant to society (e.g. welfare and public health).
- Ordinary = not incident on the vulnerability of essential services (for example institutional sites).
In light of this premise, we can thus answer the question “What is the National Strategic Pole?”: The PSN is an infrastructure capable of offering qualified services for the processing of data and services classified as critical and strategic, in compliance with the standards of higher security.
When was the PSN National Strategic Pole born?
In the Three-Year Plan for Public Information Technology (2017-2019) reference was made for the first time to the National Strategic Pole. Since February 2020, the project has taken on more defined contours with a view to the independence of the cloud PA and digital sovereignty over critical and strategic data.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Strategic Pole was included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which dedicates a total investment of 900 million euros to digital infrastructures for PA cloud migration (M1C1.1- Investment 1.1: Digital infrastructure).
What is “Cloud First”?
The digital transformation of the PA is one of the priority missions included in the PNRR. Within this mission, the focal goal is to promote and support cloud PA migration following the principle of “Cloud First“.
This objective has a quantitative and temporal milestone: by 2026, 75% of the Public Administration will have to use the cloud infrastructures and then continue until 100% is reached. While obviously the strategy will continue even further to achieve the optimization of Cloud PA processes and infrastructures.
Which entities does the National Strategic Pole PSN involve?
The PSN Cloud has a perimeter that includes the migration of data and services of a total of 280 public bodies and administrations:
- Central administrations (about 200);
- Local Health Authorities (selected);
- Local administrations (Regions, metropolitan cities, and municipalities with more than 250,000 inhabitants).
How is cloud PA migration scaled?
The entities and public administrations outlined in the perimeter and suitable for migrating to the PSN Cloud have been organized into 3 groups, depending on the priority of the migration:
- Group 1 = 95 central public administrations Class B (AgID classification) + 80 ASL (identified by the PNRR). This group includes PAs to be migrated urgently as they operate through the cloud and digital infrastructures considered insecure and critical.
- Group 2 = 13 central public administrations of category A (AgID classification). These are entities that operate with sufficiently secure digital and IT infrastructures and which can therefore provide strategic services independently.
- Group 3 = 93 central public administrations of category B (AgID classification) + main local administrations, with non-significant and / or non-urgent needs for IT infrastructures.
Why will Cloud PA migration change citizens’ lives?
Let’s imagine Cloud technology as a rainbow connecting two or more clouds. Each administration included in the Cloud PA will be connected with the others, to the benefit of citizens. In fact, the latter will not have to transmit the same data and the same information several times to different public bodies, because the principle of “once-only” simplification will apply: only once will be enough to make the data necessary to complete a file accessible to the connected PAs or to start a bureaucratic process.
What does the Call for the National Strategic Pole say?
As we have mentioned, the PSN Call was published on January 28, 2022. The drafting of the call for tenders is based on the proposal for the creation and management of the National Strategic Pole presented by the consortium Tim, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CdP), Sogei, and Leonardo.
The corporate group was identified by the Department for Digital Transformation, headed by MITD (Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition), in December 2021 after three different mixed groups of companies (Aruba-Almaviva, Engineering-Fastweb, and TIM-Leonardo-Sogei-CdP) had presented their respective proposals on “what the PSN could be like”.
The PSN project documentation signed by TIM-Leonardo-Sogei-CdP was chosen for the drafting of the call for tenders. This element introduces a novelty in public tender procedures, making the communication and dialogue process between potential suppliers and the State for the drafting of a tender transparent.
If the tender is awarded, the consortium will set up a new company organized as follows: 10% stake held by Sogei, 20% stake by CdP, 25% stake by Leonardo, 45% stake by TIM.
The PSN call in a nutshell
Here is what you need to know about the Call for the National Strategic Pole:
- The promoter, in the event of the award of the tender, undertakes to set up a NewCo.
- The deadline for submitting offers is next March 16th.
- The NewCo will be subject to the Golden Power discipline according to the public-private partnership model.
- The agreement will have a duration of 13 years and will not be renewable.
Download the National Strategic Polo call here (in Italian).
How much does it cost to build the PSN?
900 million euros were allocated to the construction of the National Strategic Pole, which is part of the PNRR investment for “Digital Infrastructures“, included in Mission 1, Component 1, Scope 1 (PA Digitization).
How does the National Strategic Pole work?
But what is the PSN in practice, or how will the National Strategic Pole work? Let’s start by saying that the development and coordination activities for the new PA cloud migration hub are the responsibility of the Digital Transformation Department. Once completed, the infrastructure will be managed by the operator selected through the Call referred to in point 7.
In particular, the winning NewCo of the tender will have to build and manage the National Strategic Pole, which will be located on the Italian territory and must be suitable for hosting public digital data and services classified as critical and/or strategic. The infrastructure must also ensure continuity in delivery, maximum security, and high reliability.
A brief mention of the technical aspects allows you to understand how the PSN will be structured and what is the chosen cloud PA architecture. The National Strategic Pole will support three different clouding models: housing model, hosting model, and hybrid model based on private cloud and public cloud provided by the 3 CSPs (Cloud Service Providers) Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. While the supported cloud PA architectures will be:
- BaaS = Backend as a Service
- CaaS = Container as a Service
- IaaS = Infrastructure as a Service
- PaaS = Platform as a Service
- SaaS = Software as a Service
What is the 2022-2026 roadmap for building the PSN?
At what point is the planning of the National Strategic Pole? The announcement of January 28, 2022, has set the first stone for the next construction, which is in any case marked by precise steps indicated on the government roadmap:
- 2022 Possible start of work for PSN construction within the second half of the year and in any case full operation of the project by December 2022.
- 2023-2026 Migration of the PAs delimited in the perimeter to the new infrastructure with an intermediate stage of at least 100 PAs migrated to the National Strategic Pole (out of a total of 280 interested) by September 2024 and the remaining by June 2026.
