Ehandel.no to support procure to pay electronic public procurement
eSourcing services available by the end of 2007
As from 1 December this year, public procurers will have access to framework agreements on eSourcing services for carrying out procurement processes. The Ministry of Government Administration and Reform and the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) have conducted a tender process which resulted in two eSourcing framework agreements signed on 3 July 2007. The agreements will be available for public sector entities and their suppliers from 1 December 2007, after a thorough test- and approval period starting medio August. The agreements will result in easy and affordable access for public procurers to a tool box of electronic means that will enable them to implement safer, better documented and more efficient procurement processes. Their suppliers can use the service for preparation and submission of tenders etc. for free.
Two tools will be available through parallel framework agreements with two suppliers:
- MSS (Mercell Sourcing Service) provided by Mercell Holding AS)
- CTM (CompleteTender Management) provided by Visma Unique AS (via EU-supply)
Current or prospective users of the Norwegian Electronic Public Procurement Portal Ehandel.no will have the opportunity to choose amongst these two suppliers through reopening of competition based on their more specified needs.
Through the introduction of eSourcing tools, the eProcurement Secretariat seeks to provide a full range of procure to pay services, and to promote the use of electronic means throughout the entire chain of procurement activities.. The new EU-based set of public procurement rules that entered into force in Norway on 1 January 2007 paves the way for use of electronic means throughout the entire procurement process including use of electronic auctions. The eProcurement Secretariat already provides Doffin.no as a national Internet-based portal for handling of tender notices, integrated with OJEU. The existing services on the Ehandel.no portal consists of an e-business platform and tools for ordering and invoice handling that make it possible to implement efficient, electronic routines.
The aims
The aims for the eSourcing tool project of the eProcurement Secretariat are to:- Provide public procurers and their suppliers with easy, affordable access to Internet-based tools for conducting procurement processes within the framework of the Ehandel.no portal.
- Promote simplified performance of procurement processes by creating a basis for standardization and re-use of information.
- Facilitate compliance with the legislation relating to public procurement and establish a framework for taking advantage of the opportunity this provides for conducting electronic competitive bidding processes.
- Ensure that the broadest possible range of services is available for the many potential users throughout the entire agreement period so that the complete solutions for electronic business processes can be introduced between the public procurers and the supplier market.
To meet different needs
“We decided to create framework agreements with two suppliers in this competition primarily because we want to satisfy the different needs of public entities,” states Mr. André Hoddevik, head of the eProcurement Secretariat. “It is our experience that the needs and wishes of these entities vary widely. Some of them are interested in guidance to perform legally correct tendering processes, to be sure that the quality of the process complies with the current standard and to ensure proper documentation of the competition. A lot of attention is being focused on corruption and a lack of procurement competence, and electronic tools will be a means of ensuring more reliable and verifiable processes. The simplest form of these services should satisfy the following criteria:
- Main focus on electronic submission of bids and requests for participation in the tendering competition.
- Providing the public procurer with guidance in how to comply with public procurement rules and create a framework for meeting the rules for documentation satisfactorily.
- A low threshold for users (i.e. affordable, simple and easy to use).
André Hoddevik, head of the eProcurement secretariat.
The professional users
Mr. Hoddevik goes on to emphasize that the more advanced users have other additional demands for functionality, for example in the case of those who are already competent in procurement procedures. These procurers seek tools that help to generate more effective processes, that improve purchasing and that promote rationalization of working methods. An example is functionality for conducting e-auctions, functionality for evaluating the bids – with the capacity to automate all or part of the evaluation. In other words, these represent services for “professional users”. “We hope these type of users will find the two tools provided under our framework agreement relevant” says Mr Hoddevik.
The ability to re-use information is another important aspect of the application of e-tools in a procurement process. This implies considerable efficiency gains. The “professional edition”, as defined by the eProcurement Secretariat, is characterized by:
- Establishing a framework for extensive re-use of information through use of “end-to-end” electronic basis for qualification and competition, structured, electronic bids and support for both automatised and judgement-based evaluation.
- Requirements regarding the will / capability of the public entities to restructure and think along new lines in the implementation of their own procurement processes to take full advantage of the services.
- Being typically designed for “professional users” – understood as users who have the handling of procurement processes as a vital part of their activities.
The handling of eSignatures
Ideally, it should be possible for economic operators in any European country to utilise the eID and eSignatures of their own choice when submitting offers electronically to any European public sector awarding entity. The goal for the Norwegian eSourcing project are to recognise eSignatures from suppliers in the entire EU area. The complexities of this are to be handled by a validation authority service provided by DNV, providing the eSourcing services and thus the awarding entities with a uniform and simple interface for handling of eSignatures.
The DNV Validation Authority initiative suggests the use of an independent Validation Authority (VA) service that can answer for validity of eSignatures and eIDs regardless of eID issuer. Two Web Services are defined (XML structures to be proposed as standards) for signature verification (signed document sent to the VA) and certificate validation (eID sent to the VA). Quality and legal status (according to the issuer's national rules) of eIDs are returned, as well as quality of eSignatures (determined by eID quality and cryptographic quality). An interface for historical validation/verification will also be provided.
