Italy hires Accenture to digitalise Italian voting system

The Italian Ministry of Interior has awarded Accenture a four year contract to develop applications for a new information system, as well as provide maintenance services for the country’s voting system. The value of the four year deal has not been disclosed.

The current Italian voting system is compared to other countries relatively new. The system was ratified in 2005, replacing the previous electoral laws from the 1990s. At the heart of the Electoral System lies a two-round system based on party-lists representation. The Italian Parliament builds on a so-called ‘bicameral’ approach, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies (divided into 26 constituencies) and the Senate of the Republic (which represent the regions) – both are equal in their powers.

In a bid to improve the underlying process that facilitates the voting mechanism, and further digitalise steps, the Italian Ministry of Interior hired Accenture to support a range of technology activities. The four year contract sees the consulting firm provide a range of services to the Italian government to help evolve evolve the SIEL (Sistemi Informativi Elettorali) voting system, as well as digital support services during national, regional and municipal elections, and during national referendums. The work also includes application development and maintenance services for a new information system to be deployed during coming elections in Italy.

“Accenture has significant experience working with public service clients around the world, helping them meet the challenges of managing large complex IT projects,” said Franco Turconi, who lead’s Accenture’s Health & Public Service business in Italy. “We are pleased to have been chosen for this project and will bring our local and global experience to enable technology performance excellence across the Ministry during peak election times.”

Accenture secured the contract following a European tender – the value of the four year deal has however not been disclosed. The project is not the first win for Accenture for the Ministry of Interior, having provided application development and IT maintenance services for the national register of Italian citizens living overseas project, titled eAIRE (Anagrafe Italiani Residenti all’estero), since 2012.