CEF eDelivery is tearing down barriers in European public procurement

Why was the project setup?

The last five years have seen a steady rise in the uptake of electronic procurement across Europe as public administrations have embarked on their digital transformation journeys. As a result, contracting authorities (federal, regional and local) and businesses have access to multiple online procurement services to participate in and manage the tendering process electronically. The aim of electronic procurement is to provide cost savings, shorten and simplify processes, reduce red-tape and administrative burdens, increase innovation and provide new business opportunities for SME’s. e-Procurement is listed as one of five highly prioritised cross-border digital public services of vital importance for the Digital Single Market.

A recent Commission study showed that despite the fact that public calls for tender from across Europe are aggregated into a single platform TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), direct cross-border procurement accounted for only 3.5% of the total value of contracts between 2009 and 2015. How can we explain such a low number? Well, if we take a closer look, there are a number of reasons including language, local regulation, knowledge of local markets but also we can see that the digitization of procurement has actually created new barriers for cross-border procurement.

Take the case of a German supplier who has invested in an electronic procurement system. They receive a notification from TED, that a tender has been published by a Dutch contracting authority. They are interested in making a proposal, unfortunately, the German suppliers eProcurement system is not connected or compatible with the Dutch TenderNed system the Dutch public entity uses to manage its procurement process.

The need to tackle these challenges in the European procurement domain led to a series of pilots launched by the eSENS project. The team was challenged to work out how existing eProcurement systems could work together by connecting contracting authorities and businesses across Europe.

What are the benefits of the project? 

Standardising the way eProcurement systems communicate has made life easier for both suppliers and contracting authorities who can now exchange information and messages throughout the procurement process while using their own systems. It is opening up the European public procurement market by creating a more competitive landscape which leads to better quality and better prices for contracting authorities and taxpayers. Introducing a standard to ensure eProcurement systems are interoperable creates new business opportunities for start-ups and SME’s who can develop and market specific services for industries with tailored interfaces and business models. 

How do the CEF building blocks fit in?

In order to enable system-to-system communication across a wide range of eProcurement systems, a standardized messaging infrastructure was crucial. The team opted to use CEF eDelivery, a technology agnostic solution based on AS4. AS4 gateways make it possible to exchange tender information between the different eProcurement systems securely. The German supplier can now use its own eProcurement service to handle the submission process whilst the Dutch contracting authority can handle their end of the process through TenderNed. Each party has the freedom to use their own preferred system while being connected to other eProcurement services. 

How was the project implemented?

The eSENS team started in 2016 with use case methodology to identify, clarify and organize all requirements necessary to connect the different eProcurement systems.  They engaged with companies and contracting authorities to understand the needs of each party. Getting all parties around one table resulted in a community of both commercial suppliers and Member States, which is called OpenPEPPOL. 

What's next?

New CEF Telecom funded projects will be launched in April 2018. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany & the Netherlands will implement use cases that eSENS developed, piloted and tested. Besides that, participating project members can launch new projects under the CEF calls in which they can implement and integrate other CEF Building Blocks such as eInvoicing, eID, eSignature or eTranslation. 

What are the results?

The eSENS project is recognized as a European success story that has had an important impact on the eProcurement market. The team succeeded in building the foundation on which future eProcurement innovation can happen by defining a set of use cases and agreements to connect eProcurement services across borders. Thanks in part to the CEF eDelivery Building Block, contracting authorities and companies can use their preferred service and exchange messages with other eProcurement systems. The eSENS team secured the future of a connected European procurement market and is another step towards realising the Digital Single Market. 

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