04. August 2015
On 17 -18 June, Danish Standards hosted the first Europe-wide meeting about the process on electronic procurement. The objective is to build the European electronic structures to ensure that everyone involved in future electronic tendering and procurement processes are able to handle the tasks in a simple manner, exchange data and secure their logs.
There was an overwhelming interest in participating in the process. 50 participants from 12 countries and representatives from the European Commission attended and several of them have already enrolled in the working groups that will participate in developing the standards.
Søren Jensen, Chief Advisor at Danish Standards says: “Besides the overall positive and constructive work in the two days in Copenhagen we want to thank all the participants for their contributions to make this a good kick off with high consensus. Comments from the participants indicate the great importance of this work, but also point out the possible consequences if we don’t succeed. Countries rely on this work in the implementation of the European directive on public procurement.”
Danish Standards found that it could be interesting to ask some of the participants about their reasons for participating in the first meeting.
Why do you participate in the process of e-procurement?
European Commission: We will provide guidance and input
CEN/PC 440 will carry out standardisation work in the e-procurement domain, which is one of the priority areas identified by the European Commission in the 2015 Rolling Plan for ICT standardisation. DG GROW and the relevant Commission services therefore are willing to assist CEN/PC 440 and to provide appropriate guidance and input that will help to achieve successful results. CEN/PC 440 is expected to produce European standards, technical specifications, and other standardisation deliverables that will support the implementation of the legislation on public procurement.
Antonio Conte - Project Manager - European Commission
ASRO - Romanian Standards Association: Our members have focus on the implementation of e-procurement
We decided to participate in the work of CEN/PC 440 because of the interest of our National Standardization Body members in the implementation of e-procurement based on a series of fair and well-done standards in the light of the new public procurement directive.
We expect that standards for electronic public procurement will provide means for savings in procurement expenditure, faster and transparent cross-border trade, increased participation of SMEs in tendering by reducing the costs of participation and an eco-approach by saving the forests.
Florin NEACŞU - Technical Officer – ASRO
State Office for Central Procurement: E-procurement is an important issue in Croatia
The main reason to participate in the work of CEN/PC 440 is the fact that at the moment e-procurement is an important issue in Croatia.
According to the Public Procurement Act, the State Office for Central Procurement (Central purchasing body carrying out task of central procurement for central state administration bodies) has the obligation as of 1 January 2015 to accept only tenders submitted by electronic means through the platform of Electronic Public Procurement Classifieds of the Republic of Croatia.
Other contracting entities are still in a transmission period where they can accept both paper and electronic tenders, but as of July 2016, they will also be obligated to accept only electronic tenders. Consequently, the State Office, where I work, is very interested to participate in further development of e-procurement and to keep up with the latest news on this issue at EU level.
Danijela Pazur Ivancic - Head of Sector for Key Users and Procurement Categories Management – State Office for Central Procurement
Publications Office of the European Union : We expect valuable insights into the needs of all
The Publications Office of the European Union is in charge of publishing public procurement notices from contracting authorities across Europe above the thresholds as defined in the European public procurement directives. We have decided to participate in the work of CEN/PC 440 because we feel that we can contribute to achieve public procurement interoperability across Europe. Efficient public procurement interoperability will be beneficial to all concerned such as contracting authorities/entities from the European Union or third countries, service providers and economic operators. We expect that the work of the committee can give valuable insight into the needs of all, will ensure respect of technical and legal requirements both above and below the European thresholds and by centralising the work in one committee duplication of work will be avoided.
Natalie MURIC – Coordinator - Public Procurement Data Standardisation- Publications Office of the European Union
