694 Int. J. Grid and Utility Computing, Vol. 10, No. 6, 2019 Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. A cloud-based approach to dynamically manage service contracts for local public transportation Antonella Longo, Marco Zappatore* and Mario A. Bochicchio Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via Monteroni sn, 73100, Lecce, Italy Email: antonella.longo@unisalento.it Email: marcosalvatore.zappatore@unisalento.it Email: mario.bochicchio@unisalento.it *Corresponding author Abstract: Public contracts regulate how public services are managed by the stakeholders. However, the current technological trend is creating a significant bias between the pace at which service data are produced and that at which contracts change. This increased availability of service data can be exploited in public procurement processes by fostering novel approaches to manage contracts, making them more dynamic and improving the Quality of Service (QoS) delivered to customers. In this paper, a cloud-based approach for assessing the QoS in Local Transportation Services (LTSs) in Apulia Region (Southern Italy) is proposed. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between providers and the Regional Authority, as well as the minimal guaranteed QoS levels between providers and passengers, are modelled as contracts enacted via a cloud-based system, which gathers data from sensors and passengers. In this way, changes in contract conditions for improving the perceived and delivered QoS can be fastened and facilitated based on data. In order to validate the pilot case, a set of quality indicators and service levels grounded in European and Italian regulatory frameworks has been considered. Keywords: public contracts; cloud computing; quality of service; quality of experience; local public transportation. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Longo, A., Zappatore, M. and Bochicchio, M.A. (2019) ‘A cloud-based approach to dynamically manage service contracts for local public transportation’, Int. J. Grid and Utility Computing, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp.694–707. Biographical notes: Antonella Longo graduated in Computer Engineering in 1998; she received the PhD in Information Engineering in 2004 at University of Salento. Since 2008, she has been serving as Assistant Professor at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Salento, where she teaches Database and Data Management classes at Computer Engineering and Management Engineering master courses. Her research interests deal with information systems and databases, service-oriented architectures design for cloud infrastructure, technology-enhanced learning and citizen science. Her current research activity focuses on big data management and exploration of cloud architecture integration with edge computing in smartcities. On these topics, she published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conference proceedings. She carries out her research activity at the Software Engineering and Telemedia Laboratory (SET- Lab) at University of Salento, where she coordinates the research activities about service modelling and computing and the applications in smartcities. Marco Zappatore received his Master degree in Telecommunication Engineering in 2008 from the University of Salento and the PhD in Information Engineering in 2012 from the same university, where he currently collaborates with the SET-Lab. His research interests focus on data and knowledge management, mobile crowd sensing, wireless propagation estimation. He is co-author of more than 70 scientific publications in national and international conferences and journals. Mario A. Bochicchio is associate professor of database at the School of Information Engineering (University of Salento). He received his degree in electronic engineering from Bari Polytechnic in 1991, his PhD from Bari Polytechnic in 1995 and habilitated at University of Lecce at 1997. He is co-author of more than 90 publications and he has more than 16-year experience in technology-enhanced learning, in applied informatics and in databases, more than 20-year experience in teaching informatics, databases, information systems, conceptual modelling, remote engineering, online labs. He was and is involved in more than 15 EU- and national projects in eLearning as project leader or as collaborator, including FP6, Leonardo-Youth joint project, FIRB, FISR, PON, PO-FESR etc. He is the national coordinator of the Digital Health