ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement

DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission

Putting the “e” in public procurement: state of play, challenges and ways

forward

ePractice Workshop: eProcurement in the time of economic crisis -

25/5/2011

Changing procurement drives e-proc

• More centralisation, collaborative purchasing and aggregation (17% of purchasing done on behalf of another authority);

• CPBs and specialised agencies will be the hubs of European e-procurement infrastructure;

• But ….. austerity and budget cuts reduce resources for building e-proc capacity – need to show short-term pay-back.

e-proc becomes more commonplace

% of companies using e-proc for public tenders (2009)

21,1

15,8

9,3

0 5 10 15 20 25

Large

Medium

Small

Eurostat: 2011

Some MS are fully converted or on way to full conversion (PORT, CYP, LITH);

Others make rapid strides (AUS, SW, IT).

230 platforms and portals across EU;

Host many purchasers and suppliers;

Increasingly sophisticated range of services/possibilities;

considerable variation in operating models and systems

BUT: Limited cross-border participation; 5% of registered suppliers from other Member States

EU policy objectives

1. Support transition to e-procurement:

2. Ensure e-procurement systems are open to suppliers

Support transition to e-procurement (1)

• Barriers to be overcome:– Inertia and fear– Onerous technical

requirements– Technical complexity &

legal uncertainties– Lack of resources +

unproven business case– Security concerns;– SME supplier capacity to

‘tool up’.

• Possible solutions:– Demonstrate success,

best and worst practice

– Clarify legal environment to remove uncertainty and optimise e-proc solutions;

– Provide off the shelf/plug-in solutions (e-PRIOR);

– Support investment and training;

– Impose use of e-procurement (for some purchases, purchasers, processes)

Mandatory e-procurement:Responses to Green Paper

• 53% of respondents favour making e-Procurement mandatory at EU level.

• 50% of public authorities against.

Open EU e-procurement marketplace (1)

• Suppliers can identify and respond to public procurement opportunities across the EU.

• Barriers and causes of fragmentation:– Lack of standards– No mutual recognition of national solutions for e-signatures– Access barriers between first-movers & slow-starters– Language barriers– Differences across Member States

• 85% of respondents favour EU action to reduce cross-border barriers.

• 4 main actions proposed (by order of frequency):1. Ensure mutual recognition of authentication/identification solutions

2. Enhance interoperability through standardisation of key requirements;

3. Clarify core requirements and principles for e-procurement systems;

4. Standardise certificates and requirements

Authentication/identification solutions

• 6 options identified reflecting current approaches.

• Preferred solution = login + password and e-signatures.

What next: 1) Options for improving legislation

• 76% of GP respondents favour changes to EU law. Almost all ask for changes on e-Signatures and DPS.– Provide visibility and access to documents (>threshold);

– facilitate use of e-proc solutions (catalogues, DPS);

– solve current e-signature deadlock;

– Allow reference to standardised/proven solutions;

– Define role & responsibilities of CPBs/e-proc platforms;

– Minimise and codify evidence problems;

Proposal for legislative revision = end-2011:

What next: 2) Options for non-legislative action

• Build common view on desired functional design, business processes & supplier interfaces (expert group);

• promote demonstrated solutions (incl PEPPOL);

• Make COM-built solutions available (e-PRIOR);

• Use standardisation to frame stable specs

• Develop reference KPIs +benchmarking.

Road-map to capitalise on new legislative opportunities – early 2012