Norway coordinates EU wide eProcurement project

Peppol-logo

The European Commission has given Norway the task to coordinate a project that shall make it easier for public sector entities in all European countries to conduct cross border procurement. The project - Pan European Public Procurement OnLine (PEPPOL) is a key project to develop the inner market in the EU, and is part of the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) in the EU Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP).

- It is an acknowledgement that Norway is in the lead of development of electronic public services. Last year the MyPage portal won an European eAward. We have been among the leading players in Europe for a longer period on the area of electronic public procurement through our Doffin and Ehandel.no initiatives. That we now have been given such a role is something we should be proud of, says Minister Heidi Grande Røys of the Ministry of Government administration and reform.

It is the newly established Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI) that shall coordinate the project on behalf of Norway.

Makes us better

The entry ticket to participation in this type of EU-project is to have well functioning national solutions and the willingness to adapt them for EU wide interoperability. DIFI have as starting point our experience from the Ehandel.no initiative and participation in international standardisation work in the area of eprocurement through NES and CEN/ISSS WS BII. We shall now use the opportunities that follow from the project to make Norwegian eProcurement solutions better. We will sit behind the wheel in a project that shall develop solutions for cross boarder public procurement where suppliers can prepare tenders and do business electronically with public sector entities across Europe, says Director General in DIFI Hans Christian Holte.

The project

Acting Head of Department André Hoddevik in DIFI will operate as Project Director.

-In PEPPOL, Norway coordinates the efforts of an international consortium with participants from seven other European countries; Denmark, Finland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Hungary and France. Additionally 13 countries have reported interest through participation in a reference group. The objective of the project is to connect national solutions for electronic signature; information on suppliers in a virtual company dossier; electronic product catalogues; electronic ordering and invoicing through a common interoperability layer. The solutions developed under the project shall be freely available under the EUPL licence for open source software. Through these solutions we will be able to offer European industry, SMEs included, more uniform processes for sale to the public sector, says André Hoddevik.

EU press release: Electronic Procurement in the EU opens doors to cross-border business

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