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Contracting Agile Developments for the Public Sector: The Italian Case

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Proceedings of 5th International Conference in Software Engineering for Defence Applications (SEDA 2016)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 717))

Abstract

Even if Agile is a well established software development paradigm, major concerns rise when it comes to contracting issues. How to contractualize the Agile production of software, especially for security and mission critical public organizations, is a major concern. In literature, little has been done, from a foundational point of view regarding the formalization of such contracts. Especially when the development is outsourced to a different organization, the management of the contractual life is difficult. This happens because the interests of the two parties are not aligned. Software houses strive for the minimization of the effort, while the customer expects high quality artifacts. This structural asymmetry can hardly be overcome with traditional “Waterfall” contracts. We propose a foundational approach to the law and economics of Agile contracts. Moreover, we explore the key elements of the Italian procurement law and outline a suitable solution to merge some basic legal constraints with Agile requirements. This is a first framework to start building Agile contracts for the Italian public sector.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://alistair.cockburn.us/Agile+contracts.

  2. 2.

    http://www1.interno.gov.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/assets/files/22/0011_disciplinare_di_gara.pdf.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Col. Franco Cotugno—SEGREDIFESA/DNA, for the initial idea at the basis of this paper. We also thank for their partial support: the Italian Ministry of Defense with the PNRM AMINSEP (Agile Methodology Implementation for a New Software Engineering Paradigm definition) project; the Italian Interuniversity Consortium for Informatics (CINI), and the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Bologna, Mura Anteo Zamboni 7, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Daniel Russo & Paolo Ciancarini

  2. Department of Law, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Gerolamo Taccogna

Authors
  1. Daniel Russo
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  2. Gerolamo Taccogna
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  3. Paolo Ciancarini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Ciancarini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Paolo Ciancarini

  2. ‎Innopolis University, ‎Innopolis, Russia

    Stanislav Litvinov

  3. Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia

    Angelo Messina

  4. Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia

    Alberto Sillitti

  5. Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia

    Giancarlo Succi

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Russo, D., Taccogna, G., Ciancarini, P. (2018). Contracting Agile Developments for the Public Sector: The Italian Case. In: Ciancarini, P., Litvinov, S., Messina, A., Sillitti, A., Succi, G. (eds) Proceedings of 5th International Conference in Software Engineering for Defence Applications. SEDA 2016. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 717. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70578-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70578-1_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70577-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70578-1

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