SIOPE+ is the new infrastructure that will enable general government entities and banks that provide treasury services to exchange information with the objective of improving the quality of the data used for monitoring government expenditure and tracking the payment times to firms that supply general government entities. The complete dematerialization of information flows between general government entities and banks providing treasury services and the standardization of the protocol governing the exchange of such information will boost the level of digitalization of the individual government bodies and enhance the efficiency of the public sector payments system.
The SIOPE+ infrastructure was developed by the Bank of Italy on behalf of the State Accounting Office. Pursuant to Article 1(533) of Law 11/2016, general government bodies must submit collection and payment orders to their treasury or cash management service providers in exclusively digital form, in compliance with the standard set by the Agency for Digital Italy (Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale, AgID) and transmitted through SIOPE+.
SIOPE+ responds to the following needs:
- Availability of detailed information on payments made by general government bodies without burdening the entities involved in the flow of outlays and collections. This will make it easier to obtain information on the payments of trade receivables and, more broadly, to monitor public sector financial flows in real time.
- Standardization of information exchange between government bodies and treasury service providers by adopting a single digital standard (Ordinativo Informatico di Pagamento e Incasso) in lieu of the previous local standard (Ordinativo Informatico Locale), with a view to raising the quality of treasury services, facilitating further integration between the accounting systems of the entities and between payment processes, and supporting the development of electronic payments services.
Following consultation with representatives of general government bodies and treasury service providers, AgID issued the single national standard (Ordinativo di Pagamento e Incasso), and continues, in coordination with the Bank of Italy and the State Accounting Office, to assist general government bodies and treasury service providers in interpreting and updating the relevant technical rules.
The State Accounting Office, the Bank of Italy and AgID have jointly laid out rules for information exchange governing the payment and information flows contained in the OPI standard and submitted through the SIOPE+ platform.
On 3 July 2017 the Bank of Italy, in close cooperation with the State Accounting Office and AgID, began trialling the new infrastructure; so far, there have been two stages (July and October) involving 30 general government entities and 17 treasury service providers. The infrastructure has been fully operational since 8 September and has started to receive payment flows.
Starting 1 January 2018, all tiers of local government (Regions, Provinces, Metropolitan Cities, and Municipalities) and local health authorities will gradually join the infrastructure; following that and pursuant to decrees to be issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the system will be extended to all general government bodies.
