Digitalization of Public Administration and Public-Private Partnership

The need for digital transformation as a national goal determines the search for various ways to ensure its implementation, among which public-private partnership stands out. Being a way to attract private investment, public-private partnership enables to create a legal and financial model in which it is possible to take into account legislative restrictions on the design, creation, operation and transfer of individual public property objects to private ownership. The purpose of the study is to identify the features in the development of the institute of public–private partnership in implementing IT projects in the public sector. Materials and methods. The research used data from «Rosinfra», «Electronic Budget» and the National Center for Public-Private Partnership platforms using statistical methods (graphical, sampling, time series analysis) for data processing, visualization and interpretation. Research results. A large scale and branching of public administration system in Russia, delimitation of authoritative powers and property between the federal center, regional state authorities and local governments, combined with different financial capabilities and investment attractiveness, have led to digital inequality of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The object of the agreement, likelihood of legal risks during its creation, authoritative powers and property rights of the public partner influence the choice of the agreement form within the framework of public-private partnership on projects aimed at digitalization of the public sector. Regional IT projects in the public sector are of the same type, the developer applies a market capture strategy, fully financing the development. The implemented IT projects at the federal level are unique and are characterized by a high proportion of budget investments. A significant proportion of projects are aimed at creating a data collection system (education, sports, transport). Conclusions. Digital transformation of the public sector is heterogeneous, the main drivers at the regional level are projects in sports and education, and those at the federal level are in the transport sector. Digitalization using public-private partnership mechanisms mainly affects collecting background information for public administration purposes. Digitalization of government functions with the involvement of private capital results in the risk of loosing the country's digital sovereignty. Two strategies to implement the projects within the framework of public-private partnership have been identified, while the first is related to promotion of a ready-made product in different regions, and the second is aimed at developing unique solutions for a specific problem. Since public services are poorly commercialized, implementation of IT projects in culture, healthcare, and social protection is almost not observed.