Data-driven anti-corruption compliance in public administrations: a perspective from Italy

Law 190/2012 requires Italian public administrations to annually adopt a three-year Corruption Prevention and Transparency Plan (PTPCT). As provided for compliance programs adopted by private companies, PTPCTs must include both a preliminary assessment of the individual entity’s level of exposure to the risk of corruption (risk-assessment) and detailed organizational measures and procedures aimed at preventing that risk (risk- management), as well as procedures and tools for monitoring compliance with internal protocols and rules. In the 2019 National Anticorruption Plan, the National Anticorruption Authority (ANAC) suggested to public administrations that the monitoring of the implementation of anti-corruption measures, adopted as part of the PTPCT, may be carried out “through IT systems that allow the traceability of the process and immediate verification of the progress”. The aim of the paper is therefore to understand how AI and emergent technologies can be used by Italian public administrations for the purpose of anti-corruption compliance (PTPCT) and more broadly to ensure integrity in the disbursement and use of public funds (especially NRRP). To this end, the paper will draw on existing literature on the topic of data-driven compliance programs in the private sector and try to understand to what extent such measures can be “exported” to the public sector (also in light of similar suggestions coming from the EU Parliament or the World Bank, to name a few). The second part of the paper will instead focus on the risks associated with the adoption of digital compliance tools by public administrations and outline the necessary safeguards (e.g. explainability, proportionality, prohibition of surveillance of workers and citizens). Finally, the third part of the paper will seek to understand how digital compliance by public administrations can contribute to (or possibly even jeopardize) the goal of sustainability, as outlined in particular by UN SDG 16.