The slimming down of Italy’s governmental apparatus has stood the test of time, keeping us below the OECD average, even if the consequent containment of staff costs has been offset in part by an increase in expenditure for the purchase of goods and services (consultancies, offices of direct collaboration, outsourcing, etc.). Variable results – but, all in all, short of expectations – have come from the project, contained in the 1997 enabling law, with the aim of rethinking and redra wing the perimeter of public intervention and public services, by focusing public administrations on its “core business” and systematic outsourcing.