Overview of e-Procurement Reference Guide - World Bank
4676140-5051308821602000088216?e-Procurement Reference Guidee-Procurement (e-GP), which is procurement of goods, works and services through internet-based information technologies is emerging worldwide with the potential to drive procurement reform, increase competition and promote integrity in public procurement. When properly designed, it can drastically reduce costs, facilitate information accessibility and reduce opportunities for corruption.This e-Procurement Reference Guide was created for the governments that are trying to embark on e-Procurement implementation?agenda. ?This on-line resource is a compilation of the most useful publicly available on-line materials that cover various issues of e-Procurement implementationContents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Overview of e-Procurement Reference Guide PAGEREF _Toc327449322 \h 2I. THE SCOPE OF THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDE PAGEREF _Toc327449323 \h 2II. WHO IS IT FOR PAGEREF _Toc327449324 \h 2III. THE MATERIALS USED IN THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDE PAGEREF _Toc327449325 \h 2IV. HOW THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDE WORKS PAGEREF _Toc327449326 \h 2V. OVERVIEW OF EACH SECTION PAGEREF _Toc327449327 \h 2e-Procurement as a Tool for Promoting Transparency, Competition and Efficiency PAGEREF _Toc327449328 \h 4I. THE ROLE OF E-PROCUREMENT IN PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY, COMPETITION AND EFFICIENCY PAGEREF _Toc327449329 \h 4II. BENEFITS FROM E-PROCUREMENT INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc327449330 \h 4III. CHALLENGES OF E-PROCUREMENT IMPLEMENTATION PAGEREF _Toc327449331 \h 5Leadership, Change Management and Communications Strategy PAGEREF _Toc327449332 \h 6I. THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP PAGEREF _Toc327449333 \h 6II. THE NEED FOR CHANGE MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449334 \h 6III. DESIGNING A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: A NEW COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE PAGEREF _Toc327449335 \h 7Planning for e-Procurement Implementation PAGEREF _Toc327449336 \h 9I. THE RECOMMENDED STEPS PAGEREF _Toc327449337 \h 9II. DEVELOPMENT OF E-GP IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY PAGEREF _Toc327449338 \h 10III. THE NEED TO PLAN FOR BUYER AND SUPPLIER ACTIVATION PAGEREF _Toc327449339 \h 10IV. THE CHANGING NATURE OF E-PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449340 \h 11Estimating Costs of e-Procurement implementation PAGEREF _Toc327449341 \h 12I. COSTING METHODOLOGIES PAGEREF _Toc327449342 \h 12II. EXAMPLES OF COST REDUCTIONS PAGEREF _Toc327449343 \h 13Business Models for e-Procurement Implementation PAGEREF _Toc327449344 \h 16I. MAIN TYPES OF BUSINESS MODELS USED PAGEREF _Toc327449345 \h 16II.? EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT BUSINESS MODELS PAGEREF _Toc327449346 \h 17Legislation, Regulation and Policy PAGEREF _Toc327449347 \h 18I. PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAWS OVERVIEW PAGEREF _Toc327449348 \h 18II. LEGAL TREATEMENT OF ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION AND E-SIGNATURES PAGEREF _Toc327449349 \h 18III. CHANGES IN DIGITAL SIGNATURES REQUIREMENTS PAGEREF _Toc327449350 \h 19IV.?THE EU POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ELECTRONIC PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449351 \h 19V.?REGULATORY FRAMEWORK EXAMPLES FROM COUNTRIES PAGEREF _Toc327449352 \h 20Functional and Non-Functional Requirements PAGEREF _Toc327449353 \h 21I. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION PHASES AS DEFINED BY MDB PAGEREF _Toc327449354 \h 21II. NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS PAGEREF _Toc327449355 \h 21III. OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE EU FRAMEWORK PAGEREF _Toc327449356 \h 22Technologies and Applications PAGEREF _Toc327449357 \h 23I. E-PROCUREMENT APPLICATIONS AND SYSTEMS: A QUICK OVERVIEW PAGEREF _Toc327449358 \h 23II. THE RESULTS OF E-GP RESEARCH BY MDB'S WORKING GROUP PAGEREF _Toc327449359 \h 23III.? TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS PAGEREF _Toc327449360 \h 24IV.? ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE PAGEREF _Toc327449361 \h 24V.? RISK MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS PAGEREF _Toc327449362 \h 25VI. SECURITY ISSUES PAGEREF _Toc327449363 \h 25VII. OVERVIEW OF AUTHENTICATION TECHNIQUES PAGEREF _Toc327449364 \h 26VIII. DIGITAL SIGNATURES, PKI AND CERTIFICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS PAGEREF _Toc327449365 \h 27Standards PAGEREF _Toc327449366 \h 28I. OVERVIEW OF STANDARDS PAGEREF _Toc327449367 \h 28II.? E-CATALOGUES STANDARDS PAGEREF _Toc327449368 \h 28III. COMMON PROCUREMENT VOCABULARY (CPV) PAGEREF _Toc327449369 \h 29IV.?UNSPSC GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCT CODE PAGEREF _Toc327449370 \h 29V. E-BUSINESS STANDARTIZATION BODIES PAGEREF _Toc327449371 \h 30EU's e-Procurement Initiatives PAGEREF _Toc327449372 \h 32I. OVERVIEW PAGEREF _Toc327449373 \h 32II. E-PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES AS PER THE EU PROCUREMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS PAGEREF _Toc327449374 \h 33III. THE E-PROCUREMENT ON-LINE FORUM: SHARING AND LEARNING FROM OTHERS PAGEREF _Toc327449375 \h 33IV.? PEPPOL: A PAN-EUROPEAN PILOT AIMED TO FACILITATE THE EU-WIDE INTEROPERABLE PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449376 \h 34V.? THE NEW CHALLENGES POSED BY THE TRANSITION TO E-PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449377 \h 35Overview of e-Procurement Efforts in Various Countries PAGEREF _Toc327449378 \h 36I. REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF E-PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449379 \h 36II.? COUNTRY SPECIFIC OVERVIEW OF E-PROCUREMENT PAGEREF _Toc327449380 \h 36III. ADAPTING KONEPS SYSTEM TO OTHER COUNTRIES PAGEREF _Toc327449381 \h 37Lessons Learned PAGEREF _Toc327449382 \h 38Training Resources Available through the World Bank Group PAGEREF _Toc327449383 \h 41I. OVERVIEW OF TRAINING FOCUS AREAS PAGEREF _Toc327449384 \h 41II. THE WORLD BANK INSTITUTE: DISTANCE LEARNING TRAINING RESOURCES PAGEREF _Toc327449385 \h 41III. THE E-DEVELOPMENT THEMATIC GROUP:??DISTANCE LEARNING TRAINING RESOURCES PAGEREF _Toc327449386 \h 41IV. ICT TOOLKIT DEVELOPED BY THE WORLD BANK PAGEREF _Toc327449387 \h 41Overview of e-Procurement Reference GuideI. THE SCOPE OF THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDEThis on-line e-Procurement Reference Guide attempts to summarize and reference the materials in the area of e-Procurement that are publicly available on-line. The Guide offers a mechanism to easily search and access the information on a particular e-Procurement subject in 15 areas.??II. WHO IS IT FOR?The principal audience is the practitioners in the developing countries who are either embarking or already implementing e-Procurement solutions in their countries. ?The audience may also include some who have little background in e-Procurement and who need to be better informed. ?A secondary audience is the staff members working in the project implementation units [and borrowers / beneficiaries] to provide them with a primer on good practice in order that they might better prepare for and monitor e-Procurement components.?III. THE MATERIALS USED IN THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDE?The reference materials used in this Guide include the research materials developed by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDB’s) working group on e-Procurement as well as their e-Procurement assessment methodology. ?It also refers to the numerous documents that describe the experience of e-Procurement development in the European Union countries, documents developed by the PEPPOL and the e-Procurement Community of Practice members under EU ePractice.eu. ?The e-Procurement Reference Guide also references to numerous training materials developed as part of the distance learning series on e-Procurement organized by the World Bank institute in 2009 and 2010. Additionally, it links to country specific presentations made at various e-Procurement conferences around the world. ?These country presentations should not be viewed as a suggestion to follow the same path of or consider being the best practice.?IV. HOW THIS E-PROCUREMENT REFERENCE GUIDE WORKS?Each of the 15 sections presents an overview of a particular subject matter and is aimed to outline the summary of the main issues. ?The main text provides links to the reference materials that were selected to provide more information and insights. ?The reader is taken to a particular portion of the document that either presents a chart, table or more details on a subject. ???V. OVERVIEW OF EACH SECTION?1. Overview of the e-Procurement Reference GuideThis section provides an overview as well as a one paragraph description of each section.?2. E-Procurement as a Tool for Promoting Transparency, Competition and EfficiencyThis section describes the role of e-procurement in promoting transparency, competition and efficiency. It also talks about the benefits and challenges of e-procurement introduction.?3. Leadership, Change Management and Communications StrategyThis section talks about the importance of leadership as one of the key components for the successful e-procurement implementation. It also presents practical steps and recommendations for development of an effective Communications Strategy that is based on the principle that e-procurement are a part of the broader procurement reform agenda.?4. Planning for e-Procurement ImplementationThis section is based on the materials developed by the MDB’s working group. It presents the recommended sequence and steps for the e-procurement implementation, including 1) Preparation/Readiness Assessment; 2) e-Tendering; 3) e-Comprehensive Contract Management; 4) e-Purchasing. This section also describes critical success factors that are generally found in any successful e-GP strategy and highlights the importance of having a plan to create a marketplace by activating the Buyers and Suppliers.?5. Estimating the costs of e-Procurement ImplementationThis section presents a methodology that can be applied in order to cost e-procurement solutions. It also provides links to the detailed costing tables that can be used as a basis for costing exercise. This section also provides links to the power point presentations made by the countries that demonstrate the cost savings from e-procurement implementation.?6. Business Models for e-Procurement implementationThis section provides information about the main business models used to implement e-procurement systems. The models vary from complete in-house solutions to various types of third-party partnerships. It is not intended to recommend one model vs. other but to present an overview of what others have done.?7. Legislation, Regulations and PolicyThis section provides an overview of the legal and regulatory issues that pertain to e-procurement. The section’s primarily focus is the issues of legal treatment of electronic authentication and e-signatures in the European context.?8. Functional and Non-Functional RequirementsThis sub-section is designed to provide the responsible decision makers on what functions or qualities they could seek from the eGP system that is either developed by an agency or purchased as a solution or implemented through a third party provider. This section describes specifications of the desirable systems that are defined in terms of functional requirements and the systems qualities are defined in terms of non-functional requirements.?9. Technologies and ApplicationsThis section presents an overview of the e-procurement applications and systems, technology platforms, digital signatures and authentication techniques, the underlying security issues and technical specifications. It is followed by risk management analysis and concludes with the presentation of findings from the survey of e-procurement systems done by the MDBs in jurisdictions of Asia/Oceania, South America and Europe.?10. StandardsThis section provides an overview of Standards as it pertains to e-procurement, including the standards for e-catalogues and Common Procurement Vocabulary. It also includes a list of business standardization bodies.?11. EU’s e-Procurement Initiatives in EuropeThe countries of European Union have implemented numerous projects and initiatives in Europe in the area of eProcurement. This section attempts to summarize these initiatives that tackle different subjects, issues or aspects of modernizing public procurement and are targeted at speeding up the uptake of e-procurement, promotion of interoperability and cross-border cooperation. The text provides links to guiding documents, summaries and major studies undertaken in the last few years that are found to be useful for any practitioner. ?It also provides the explanation for the contract types in accordance with the EU rules and regulations including for Individual contracts (open procedure and restricted procedure), repetitive contracts (dynamic purchasing systems, and framework agreements) and extensions (electronic auctions).?12. Overview of e-Procurement Efforts in Various CountriesThis section presents the selected case studies from various countries. Where available, the case study presents the information about the location (country and city), responsible government agency, implementation period, current status of the case study, business model used, number of staff members working on this project, technology choice, funding sources and implementation costs as well as description of the main results, benefits and impacts and lessons learned.?13. Industry SolutionsThis section points the user to the e-procurement vendors, their proposed e-procurement solutions and the costs. In addition, it describes the available demonstrators which is a special tool developed in open source that could serve as a prototype interface of the actual e-procurement system.?14. Lessons LearnedThis section documents a number of lessons learned from e-procurement implementation around the world. These are not intended to be comprehensive but indicative of what other practitioners found of a value and shared.?15. Training Resources Available Through the World Bank GroupThis section describes the training provided by the World Bank Institute and the World Bank’s e-thematic group in the area of e-procurement. It also provides links to the ICT toolkit that is intended to be a practical guide for the task managers in preparing for and supervising the implementation of ICT projects and components.e-Procurement as a Tool for Promoting Transparency, Competition and EfficiencyI. THE ROLE OF E-PROCUREMENT IN PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY, COMPETITION AND EFFICIENCY ??e-Procurement, which is procurement of goods, works and services through internet-based information technologies is emerging worldwide with the potential to reform processes, promote competition, promote integrity in public procurement, enhance transparency and accountability. It is also believed to be a driver of procurement reform. The European Commission refers to it as “high impact e-service” () that is highly desirable.?It is important to understand that e-Procurement is not simply the application of a new technology to existing processes, but a reform process in itself that requires in many instances, that traditional processes be modified or abolished - that management processes, protocols and procedures be standardized, reformatted and often simplified, all of which are conducive to greater transparency. e-Procurement also requires new training both of the procurement officials and business stakeholders, and even a public awareness programme to develop civil oversight.??When properly designed, e-Procurement can drastically reduce the cost of information while at the same time it can facilitate the information accessibility. The strength of e-Procurement in the anti-corruption agenda arises from this capacity to greatly reduce the cost and increase the accessibility of information without having to go through human channels.?Well-designed and implemented e-Procurement methodologies and applications can strengthen oversight and reduce opportunities for the improper exercise of discretion. Thus, e-Procurement is emerging as a tool for promoting transparency, competition, efficiency and a mechanism to reduce corruption.?This research?() recently published in the Journal for International Policy Solutions presents how implementation of Brazil’s e-Procurement system COMPRASNET created a relatively successful system for battling corruption.?Additionally, mandating the use of electronic auctions under Brazil’s COMPRASNET resulted in a substantial?increase of SMEs participation (), starting from R$ 108.4million on 2004, and go to R$464.4 million in 2005 and R$ 822 million in 2006. ??Objectives of efficiency, transparency, enhanced policy-making capacity and greater competition are the major driving forces for e-Procurement. e-procurement can also be a catalyst for the accelerated take-up of new technologies into the economy generally.??A presentation on this subject was made by Jose Edgardo Campos on ?March 24th 2010 as part distance learning series, (). ?Another useful presentation describing ChileCompra’s agenda for reforming the state and reducing corruption opportunities is presented?here (é-Miguel-de-la-Cuadra-Public-ProcurementPolicy2.pdf). It was delivered by José Miguel de la Cuadra, Head of Public Procurement Division of ChileCompra, Ministry of Finance in Washington, in April 2010.?II. BENEFITS FROM E-PROCUREMENT INTRODUCTION?MDB’s e-Procurement working group identified significant potential outcomes from the introduction of e-Procurement capabilities and applications. While there has yet to be a definitive study to quantify the impact of technology on procurement corruption, research made by the MDBs has revealed some supporting information. ??Specifically, the study by the Curtin University of Technology, sponsored by the MDBs, has reported the experiences from 14 countries from Europe, Asia-Oceania and South America. ?The comments from respondent countries have been provided in terms of the providers of the procurement services and systems (Providers) as well as for the buyers and suppliers that use the services and systems (Users).?Reported benefits of e-Procurement from this sample are listed in this?Table 3 (). This Table, summarizing the benefits of using the system, demonstrates that the providers of e-Procurement services ranked greater transparency as its most significant benefit while users (suppliers) also gave this a high ranking. Both providers and users also identified greater competition as a significant outcome which also has a counter-corruption influence. ?As expected both groups were also able to cite various forms of efficiency gains, which in turn also promote competition. ?This study has further reported a significant reduction in supplier complaints since the introduction of e-procurement.?Other effects of e-Procurement that also enhance transparency are that it acts as a catalyst for the standardization of documentation, tendering templates, tendering rules, policies and procedures and enhances supplier and civil access to the oversight of procurement processes. These effects are evident in the responses listed in this?Table 4 (), which summarizes the ability of the e-Procurement systems to support the integrity and transparency processes.?Similarly,?Table 5 (), which presents a summary of the technology driven reform, suggests that e-Procurement is in fact a catalyst for significant reform of traditional procurement. ?This is encouraging, given the fact that there has sometimes been a tendency for authorities to regard e-Procurement as simply a technical matter.?Chapter 3 on The potential of new technologies to prevent bribery in procurement () from “Fighting bribery fighting bribery in public procurement in Asia-Pacific”, prepared by as part of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific Report by Paul Schapper of Curtin University of Technology, talks about the potential of teh new technologies to prevent bribery in procurement - electronic media have the potential to contribute to reducing bribery risks in public procurement.?While more studies are needed, these results seem to support the proposition that e-Procurement can be a significant influence in the reform of procurement and in the anti-corruption agenda.?III. CHALLENGES OF E-PROCUREMENT IMPLEMENTATION?Implementation of e-Procurement can present significant challenges. Some of the stumbling blocks identified during the eGP Research undertaken by the MDB working group in 2007 include the following:?- ? ? ? ? ?Lack of leadership- ? ? ? ? ?Lack of Strategy or systematic planning- ? ? ? ? ?Adopting the idea of the ‘big bang’ solution- ? ? ? ? ?Inadequate expertise applied to the task or lack of existing expertise- ? ? ? ? ?Reinventing the wheel- ? ? ? ? ?A focus on technology over process management- ? ? ? ? ?Vendor-driven e-GP solutions- ? ? ? ? ?Consultants that seek to modify government to match the technology- ? ? ? ? ?Absence or insufficiency of policies, regulations and procedures- ? ? ? ? ?Unsustainable business case?An overview of opportunities and challenges can also be found in?this presentation?by Sanjay Pradhan (), Vice President, World Bank Institute, which he made at the e-Procurement knowledge sharing event that took place in December 2008.Leadership, Change Management and Communications StrategyI. THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP?An essential element for successful e-Procurement implementation is government leadership, which will deliver the sponsorship, endorsement and authority for the vital ingredients of:A vision and objectives for e-ProcurementLead agency role definition and coordinationProcurement management reform and implementationStakeholder activation and commitment (government, business, community)Resource support (funding & expertise) for implementation and sustainability of e-Procurement?The effective operational translation of this leadership is crucial and the government will need to nominate a lead agency to implement its policy and manage the risks. A suitable agency may already exist (State Procurement Agency, for example, may be the most appropriate). Lead agency endorsement identifies an authority to lead and manage the development and operation of the transformations required for government e-Procurement.?The lead agency will define the need for management and technical expertise and funding as well as coordination and collaboration across government. The Cabinet-level sign-off and lead agency establishment are important first steps to establish leadership, coordination and effective outcomes as well as the mechanism by which the requisite expertise can be assembled. The lead agency will require resources and expertise not just in technical areas but also to undertake change management.?An e-Procurement strategy will be strengthened by:A change management strategy that builds awareness and ownership amongst procurement personnelProfessional procurement development and retraining at manager and officer levelAccess to high-level policy, management and technical adviceRestructuring to recognize the higher skill levels that result from e-Procurement reform?II. THE NEED FOR CHANGE MANAGEMENT??The technology is not difficult to use – it is the change management and ensuring sustainability that takes time.?This presentation () made by Ashish Bhateja, Senior Procurement Specialist, OPCS, World Bank as part of 2010 eGP e-learning series provides an overview of the key drivers of changes (Policy,?Process?and?Platform) as well as presents a case of e-Procurement in Karnataka State of India and the use of performance indicators. Below are examples of how change management was handled in various countries:?PARAGUAY: Change Management and e-GP planning, a presentation by Juan Max Rejalaga, National Director,Contrataciones Públicas, Presidencia de la República, Government of Paraguay ()CHILE: e-Procurement transformation – planning and change management under ChileCompra,?made in November 2009 by Ivan Braga of?ChileCompra. ()?III. DESIGNING A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: A NEW COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE?The advocates of e-Procurement implementation in the country need to think of how to build support for e-Procurement implementation as part of the wider Procurement Reform and design the Communications Strategy accordingly. ?The Communications Strategy needs to first plan for the necessary pieces of legislation passed. One might consider using a decision-making tool called?Five Communication Management Decisions (). The decision tool shows the framework for the five decisions to be made in respect to 1) audience; 2) desired behavior; 3) message; 4) channels of communication and evaluation. This simple tool could be used by the champions to brainstorm and shape up the Communications Strategy as well as take decisions on the most appropriate approaches to achieve specific objectives.??When designing a communications strategy, the following needs to be kept in mind:Focus on stakeholders’ needsTarget stakeholder’s beliefs and opinionsBe culturally sensitiveAnswer the stakeholder’s question: what does this have to do with me?Make the message memorable: simple, focused and concise?1. THE AUDIENCE: MAPPING THE STAKEHOLDERSIt is important to clearly identify and map your main stakeholders and audience. One way of segmenting or differentiating your audience for communication activities is to identify primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. In most countries, for procurement reform they are:?PRIMARY AUDIENCE – consists of the legislators, because these are the people whose specific action/behavior is critical to passing the new legislation;SECONDARY AUDIENCE – consists of the groups who exert influence on the action of the legislators, the primary audience. ?In most countries, the legislators need to be convinced that the executive the branch of the government are supportive of the new procurement reform agenda;TERTIARY AUDIENCE – includes the civil society, the business sector and the media. These groups have a voice in the debate and can influence the policy decisions on procurement reform.2. POWER INTEREST MATRIX?Another approach to audience segmentation is by understanding the power-interest matrix.?It’s a 2 x 2 matrix?() where one needs to analyze levels of power over a reform issue and interest.The?Players?are the groups that are highly interested and have high power to support or block reform.?The?Advocates?are the reform champions that have high interest but possibly low power. Their role is to deepen understanding of legislators of the value and benefits of the new procurement law/reform. ?Context setters?are usually the general media practitioners – radio, TV, print, who are not deeply involved with procurement reform but could play a critical role in increasing the awareness of the general public about procurement reform. ?They also include CSOs involved in other issues aside from procurement reform or business groups who were on the “periphery” of the procurement reform processes.Finally, the?crowd?– consists of those groups often called the “general public” whose interests and attention were focused on other things – such as making a daily living.One can segment the potential audiences using this matrix, and seek to understand “who is who”, what are the priorities on their agenda, what are the “rules of the game” that each of these groups operate under and what message would get their attention ? ? and make the decision makers to take on the cudgels of procurement reform over other development issues.?3. ?VARIOUS TARGET STRATEGIES?Another way of segmenting audiences is to define audiences along a continuum: from those who strongly oppose reform to those who are the committed supporters. This approach is used extensively in political campaigns – where a candidate’s opponents and supporters are identified. See?this graph () listing potential groups that can represent unmovable opponents, opponents, uncommitted and uninvolved, uncommitted and involved, allies and hard core allies.In designing the communications strategy it is always important to systematically assess and seek to understand the motivations, perceptions and interests of various groups.?In most of the cases the communication resources are often spent to talk to those who already understand the rationale for reform – donors, NGOs who are part of the reform movement, grassroots organizations working directly with beneficiaries. ?The champions?also talk to the opposition in order to manage and try to minimize the possible negative media publicity. ?It is extremely important?to pay a special attention to the swing constituencies – “the convincibles” and “the persuadables” and to be able to effectively communicate in order to gain their trust and support.?4. CONCLUSIONSFirst, the reformers need to undertake the analysis to better understand the “what” (pathologies), “who” (the target audience) and the “why” (rules of the game).Second, they need an effective communication strategy that would help various groups that are critical to the success of procurement reform to play their part and play their role in the reform process.?Third, the drivers of the procurement reform need to implement communication activities that build understanding and support for governance reform among multiple stakeholders. ?Some of these communication activities will use?mass media channels () – radio, TV, print, simple screen savers. ?Some of this communication would take place behind closed doors, among representatives of critical stakeholders – government, media, business groups, and civil society.Planning for e-Procurement ImplementationI. THE RECOMMENDED STEPS?The implementation of e-Procurement has four consecutive steps as outlined in the?Roadmap developed by the MDB working group on e-Procurement. The snapshot of the Roadmap is presented here. ?The Roadmap is a tool that will have to be adapted to fit the specific conditions, strengths and weaknesses, and prior level of development of e-Procurement in each individual case in order to be applied in all countries, regions, and municipalities. The recommended steps are as follows:?STEP 1: THE PLANNING/READINESS ASSESSMENTBefore the country starts implementing the e-Procurement, it is important to determine the level of readiness to embrace the e-Procurement in a sustainable manner. The MDB working group has developed an?e-GP Readiness Assessment (), which is intended to assist a jurisdiction to conduct a high level review of its procurement environment. Conducting a current assessment is usually one of the key initial steps for developing an implementation plan for e-Procurement. The objective of this stage is to achieve three basic start-up pre-requisites: what (the vision); Who (institutional framework and leadership); How (Action Plan).?The Assessment addresses the?strategic foundations () of e-Procurement by examining the components that are the basis for planning the transition to e-Procurement, as shown in this?table (). They are institutional capacity, governance, business functionality and standards, third party involvement and application of technology. It is intended that the Assessment be voluntary and completed by people who are positive to procurement reform.??The four stages of readiness, The four stages of readiness, which are “Level 1- None,” “Level 2- Small Degree, “Level 3- Some Degree” and “Level 4-Adequate Degree”?are described in this?table ().?The specific activities should be around the following:1.1.?Establish institutional framework and coordination system ()1.2.?Prepare general assessment and strategic e-Procurement Plan ()1.3.?Prepare Connectivity Plan and Internet Assessment ()?STEP 2: E-TENDERING?(High Value Low Volume contracts for goods, services and infrastructure sometimes known as e-Bidding)?The objective of this phase is to carry out tendering processes in a much shorter period, at a lower cost for both supplier and the government, with total transparency, and with a high impact on development. The specific activities should be around the following:2.1.?Posting of tendering opportunities and contract-awarded information on a SINGLE internet site. ()2.2.?Customized Information () (once all basic information on tendering process is found on a single web site, now tailored to specific interest of each party).2.3.?Open access to all bidding document via internet. ()2.4.?Electronic Bid submission. ()?STEP 3: E-COMPREHENSIVE CONTRACT MANAGEMENTThe objective is to achieve transparency, economy and efficiency in the procurement processes. The specific activities should be around the following:3.1.?Contact execution management ()3.2.?Contract Capacity consolidation ()?STEP 4: E-PURCHASING?(HIGH VOLUME, LOW COST GOODS AND SERVICES UNDER SPECIFIED ARRANGEMENTS)?The objective is to create a transactional system in which all suppliers may offer their goods and services and all public entities may select online the best option among them, order the supply, receive it, incorporate it to the inventories and process the payment. The specific activities should be around the following ():4.1.?Define purchasing policies regarding the scope and orientation of the program4.2.?Supplier enablement through development of a set of market instruments4.3.?Posting of eligible bids on the internet4.4.?Organization of Public Sector Demand on the internet4.5.?Electronic processing of transactions4.6.?Personalized services, and supply-side incentives?II. DEVELOPMENT OF E-GP IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY?To perceive e-Procurement developments simply as technological issues is to misunderstand the consequences and relevance for policy, training, infrastructure, service governance, design, production and delivery, as well as technical literacy and awareness. ??MDB working group has developed a number of important documents that are intended to provide awareness of the issues and present critical success factors that will generally be found in any successful e-Procurement strategy. These are “Strategic Overview: an Introduction for Executives” () and “Strategic Planning Guide”( ). These documents provide an executive style briefing on the main issues to consider when planning for e-Procurement implementation.?To deliver the maximum impact, an e-Procurement implementation strategy will address the key elements common to many government reform programs that involve multiple agencies including:Political and executive leadership and authorityManagement procedures, regulations and legislation,Broad stakeholder involvementInfrastructureTechnologyMore questions in respect to Strategic Plan for e-Procurement are answered in?this presentation?() shared with the trainees of the distance learning series of the WBI that took place in Spring 2010. ?It explains the importance of setting the objective, bringing in the stakeholders and suggests the pillars of the Strategic Plan for e-Procurement Implementation that were applied to the case of Panama.??Key considerations for successful implementation are listed in?this presentation (é-Miguel-de-la-Cuadra-Public-ProcurementPolicy2.pdf) by José Miguel de la Cuadra, Head of Public Procurement Division of ChileCompra, Ministry of Finance made in Washington on April 28, 2010.?III. THE NEED TO PLAN FOR BUYER AND SUPPLIER ACTIVATION?A successful strategy for e-Procurement implementation should include a plan to create the creation of a marketplace. ?Many of the buyers and suppliers will have minimum, if any familiarity with the new e-Procurement technologies. Unless a significant number of them see benefits in changing to this method of doing business, there is a risk that the government investment in e-Procurement will fail to deliver its promise.??It is important for the governments to understand that in transition to e-Procurement,?both the buyers and suppliers will need to learn new job skills as well as understand how these changes would impact their business. ?The government needs to do whatever it takes to ensure this happens. This might mean qualifying suppliers in terms of what information they can provide electronically or, particularly in the case of small specialist suppliers, offering them training and even the technology to enable them to participate.?The MDB working group on e-Procurement developed a special?"Buyers and Suppliers Activation Guide" (); for the governments embarking on e-Procurement implementation. ??Summary Table for Buyer Activation Strategy ()Summary Table for Supplier Activation Strategy? ()?IV. THE CHANGING NATURE OF E-PROCUREMENT?This presentation () of May 2010 made by Jaoa N Veiga Malta, a Senior Procurement Specialist at the World Bank, places e-Procurement as part of a wider procurement reform agenda. It describes past approach to procurement reform and the?new trends (), the importance of using the?OECD indicators (), the?key issues to be addressed in the country Strategic Plans?() for e-Procurement, the importance of identifying and capitalizing on "quick gains" () and undertaking sector analysis. ?It also presents case studies from?Mexico (),?Peru (),?Panama ()?and?Costa Rica (). ?In this content it is also useful to review a power point presentation made by Paul Schapper of Curtin University of Technology, Australia on “E-GP as a key component of Procurement Reform.” () This was presented at the distance learning training series on eGP organized by the World Bank Institute in 2009. It provides an overview of e-Procurement in general and in particular, covers opportunities, challenges, key success factors of e-Procurement implementation, risks, suggested roadmap and lessons learnt.Estimating Costs of e-Procurement implementationI. COSTING METHODOLOGIESThe topic of monitoring e-Government costs has not received, to date, the same amount of attention as that of e-Government impact and benefits. It is quite difficult to quantify the costs of an e-Procurement system. Common misconception is to consider the CAPEX costs only and hence neglecting the OPEX costs, the costs of training and support, maintenance and upgrades as well as necessary system improvements over time. The Synthetic Snapshot of eGovernment Costs by Phases is presented?here, ().The European research on?e-Government Cost Analysis?() is a useful document for the policy maker. It outlines concepts, methodologies and context to plan, deliver and maintain an e-Government application. ?The same?costing methodology?() could be applied to e-Procurement system. ?Several established methods exist, the most common are:Direct Costing: Direct and Indirect Variable Costs + Direct Fixed CostsFull costing: Direct Variable Costs + Direct Fixed Costs + Pro-rate of Indirect CostsActivity based costing (ABC): This is a leading-edge choice for EU public administrations (Greek Tax Agency), but the research shows that it is being adopted or recommended in countries such as the U.S. and Australia.?Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Sometimes referred to as “Total Cost of Operation,” is a more modern and prominent methodology, which is more specific to the field of ICT. It takes into consideration the cost of software and hardware acquisition, maintenance, personnel training and technical support.?The research on e-Government costs can be used to estimate costs of an e-Procurement system. ?The following are the major costs components of the costing exercise:?Planning phaseBusiness planning costsMarketing planning costsSystem planning costs?Implementation phaseSystem acquisition costsSystem development and implementation costsCosts of organizational change?ProvisionOwn personnel operational costsMaterial operation costsOther operational costs??MaintenanceHardware maintenance/service costsSoftware maintenance/service costsHardware/software upgrades costsHardware/software replacement costs?Performance measurement and quality controlOwn personnel costs for input and output data gathering activityWon personnel for quality inspection/certification costsCosts of surveys of internal user satisfaction and attitudesCosts of surveys of external users satisfaction?Research and developmentCosts for research on and for initiatives in support of, service take upCosts for research and development of interoperabilityCosts for technological R&D to increase accessibility/usability of servicesCosts for R&D on new contents/new services?The same concepts may be applied to estimate the costs of the e-Procurement system. The phases of e-Government procurement that can be mapped in a similar?conceptual framework (), and the cost element structure can be put together in?this format (). Even with the best mapping though, the?intangible costs?() are difficult to capture, due to human and organizational factors inherent to the systemic changes that are in general caused by introduction of procurement reform and e-Procurement. ?The example of how this cost estimate model was adapted for costing e-notifications is presented?here. ()?II. EXAMPLES OF COST REDUCTIONS?Brazil: The federal Government of Brazil has procured R$ 19.5 billion in common goods and services in 2006, which includes auctions and as well as others, less frequent modalities. Electronic auction was the most used modality which alone resulted in savings of R$ 1.8 billion – about 14% of the bid value. Once again, in 2007 the electronic auctions resulted in a cost reduction for the government of R$ 477.4 or about 12% of total value. Click?here?for more details. ()?South Korea, Procurement In 1997: the South Korean Government set up an online purchasing system offering more than 420,000 products. The e-Procurement system replaced a purchasing process that was regarded as corrupt, non-transparent, complicated and lacking accountability. It is estimated that the new system, which required an initial investment of US$26 million, has generated savings of at least US$2.5 billion a year and is now regarded as one of the most successful e-Procurement projects in the world. The system has enhanced transparency and public trust, and allows for cross-agency comparisons of procurement, making the system more accountable.?The system cost $26 million and saved $2.5 billlion a year.?India, Procurement: ?The Government of Andhra Pradesh set up an e-Procurement Marketplace linking government departments, agencies and local bodies with vendors. The system allows online access to bidders and suppliers, which minimizes the human intermediary during pre-bid and post-bid processes. The automatic tender evaluation functionality removed subjectivity in tender receipt and evaluation, increased the accountability of procurement officials, and decreased opportunities for corrupt practices. A supplier participating in a tender knows the list of other participating suppliers, the documents furnished by competitors, price quotations and the evaluation result as soon as it is completed. Information on the status of tenders and award values is available to any citizen through the site.?The investment was US$1 million, made entirely by the private sector partner who built the system.?The Government of AP merely allowed recovery of investment through hosting of tenders and transaction fees. The savings from the use of e-Procurement were estimated to be 23%. The reduction in average tender processing time was from 6 to 1.5 months. The increase in the average number of bids received was from 3.4 to 6.7 bids, which reduced a previous cartel formation and empowered SMEs suppliers. Increased accessibility of the system reduced formation of cartels and increased bids by 100%.?The other examples of the?cost reduction associated with introduction of e-Procurement?in Brazil can be found in?this presentation?() of Dr. Florencia Ferrer, PhDCEO –FF/e-Strategia Pública that he made in November 2009. The cost savings from introducing electronic reverse auctions in Brazil are presented in this?Power Point (). Both of them were presented at the e-GP Forum that took place in Washington, in November of 2009.?The?transaction costs saving that resulted from the introduction of KONEPS system in Korea?amount to ?4,5 billion US dollars. Click here?() to access the presentation listing numbers on savings and enhanced productivity.?Another example of?cost reduction amounting to 53% after the e-Tendering solution?was implemented for the Portuguese Ministry of Justice Procurement Directorate by Vortal is presented in this?case study. (RMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/Vortal_CaseStudy_PortugueseMinistryJustice.doc)?Evory University, USA: Before implementing e-procurement solution from SciQuest in 2006, each of Emory University’s 350 departments ordered what it wanted, when it wanted and from whichever supplier it wanted. Emory’s procurement office had little visibility into how much each department was paying for everything from pens and paper to furniture and MRO supplies. After the system was introduced, the following costs savings were realized: 6-to-1 return on investment; For every $1 spent, Emory University receives $6 in savings benefits; Positive cash flow within 12 months; e-Procurement solution of SciQuest was funded within its existing procurement budget from the efficiencies generated by the new processes - with no budget increases or general fund expenses; Approximately 45% of savings was driven from the process efficiencies and 55% from negotiated discounts and contract compliance.?Overview of cost savings in various countries and potential annual savings of introducing E-tendering in EU?are presented on these slides of the?power point presentation?(RMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/OpportunitiesandChallengesbySanjayPradhan.pdf) delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, Vice President of the World Bank institute on December 2008 as part of the World Bank knowledge sharing event.?Cost savings analysis from implementation of e-Procurement system in Andhra-Pradesh?is presented?this power point?() by Ajay Sawhney, former Secretary IT&C and K. Bikshapathi, former Project Manager.?Cost savings from implementation of ChileCompra?are presented on?this slide?(RMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/Chile-Compra-by-José-Miguel-de-la-Cuadra-Public-ProcurementPolicy2.pdf#page=11) of the presentation by José Miguel de la Cuadra, Head of Public Procurement Division of ChileCompra, Ministry of Finance made in Washington on April 28, 2010.?This?assessment of the potential benefits from e-invoicing in Europe, () carried out by Capgemini Consulting, estimates potential annual benefits of up to €40 billion across Europe in the business-to-business field alone.?Estimated cost reduction in Europe:?() Government revenues account for some 45% of GDP and public authorities purchase 15 to 20% of GDP or €1500 to 2000 billion in Europe every year. Electronic procurement and invoicing could result in savings in total procurement costs of around 5% and reductions in transaction costs of 10% or more, leading to savings of tens of billions of Euros annually.?Ultimately, the success or failure of an e-Procurement implementation can only be judged by measuring performance against the goals set at the outset. To do this, you need to develop a balance scorecard of Key Performance Indicators—implementation, benefits, customer satisfaction and sustainability—and use it from day one. The performance indicators expressed in cost savings results are demonstrated in?power point presentation?() of December 2008 by Gian Luigi Albano, Ph.D, a head of the Research and development of the Italian Public Procurement Agency (Consip S.p.A.).?Panama's eProcurement Platform, Panacompra,?(ón_para_Banco_Mundial_WashingtonApril2011.ppt) has allowed for significant savings and increases in transparency.? The examples presented in this power point illustrate the use of the framework contract?for fuel purchases which resulted in US$20 million savings?in?fuel budget and?an increased number?of agencies (280 instead of?70) having the ability to buy it, as well as?significantly reducing the purchase transaction time for common goods from 56 to 3 days. ?Lessons learned are presented?here. ()Business Models for e-Procurement ImplementationI. MAIN TYPES OF BUSINESS MODELS USEDEach implementation has its own set of benefits and business issues associated with it, which directly affect both the government and the suppliers doing business with the government.?Where there are a great number of public procurement transactions already in place, the system implementation becomes a good potential candidate for Public Private Partnership arrangement.?For the countries with fewer numbers of transactions the government-owned and operated option might be a way to go, especially if there a strong political agenda that promotes transparency and anti-corruption.?In order to better understand the business arrangements required for an effective e-Procurement system and to better support governments looking at different approaches to the implementation of an e-Procurement system, the World Bank undertook a?study to examine the business approaches and practices used by governments around the world?() for the execution and operation of their e-Procurement systems.? So finding the answers to basic questions on the total value of public procurement, average yearly number of transactions, number of goods procurement transactions vs. consulting services procurement will also be useful for the preferred business model discussions. An overview of the various business models and the context for making this decision is presented?here. ()?MODEL 1:?SHARED SERVICEShared Service?– A third-party e-Procurement service that is fully managed, owned and operated by the third party and used by one or more governments and their suppliers. This approach has been used in?Canada where the choice of a third-party service offering had more to do with bringing together multiple independent jurisdictions into one national portal. Though each jurisdiction had the means to establish its own system, they believed an independent service provider would be better suited to support to their collective objectives than a government-run service. The overall objective was to establish transparency across the country, and to promote and support open and unrestrictive access to all government opportunities, regardless of vendor jurisdiction. For the details, please?click here.? ()?MODEL 2: PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTERSHIPPublic Private Partnership (PPP)?– A government e-Procurement solution that is managed, owned and operated by a third-party service provider, often with the intent to transfer the platform back to the government in the future.? This approach has been used in?India.?For the details, please?click here.?()?PPPs?are often the chosen path when the objectives are to ease the financial constraints on the government while at the same time increase its efficiency and effectiveness.? Similarly, there is also the need to understand the key aspects that play a significant role in the effectiveness and indeed the appropriateness of PPPs in such scenarios.?InfoDev?supported the development of the Knowledge Map and the Handbook?() that helps identify such specifics, and highlight the importance of policies, programs, services, and instruments that may facilitate the engagement of the private sector into areas that were hitherto the domain of the government. ?It also described the?various models of PPP (),?key objectives and issues? (),?key legal and regulatory pre-requisites (),?institutional roles and responsibilities (),?major political constraints and challenges (),?identification and structuring feasible PPP Projects (),?financial challenges and constraints (),?major risks in PPP? projects,?best practices in tendering, evaluating, and negotiating PPP transactions (), ?lessons learned in monitoring PPP agreements ().?MODEL 3: GOVERNMENT OWNED AND OPERATEDGovernment Owned and Operated?– A government developed and operated e-Procurement solution that may or may not have been delivered by third-party partners. In Singapore, where the government had the in-house technical capabilities and resources to develop and maintain its own e-Procurement system, a government owned and operated system made the most sense. Even though the system is owned and controlled by the government, the DSTA (the operating agency for the system) operates the service as an independent business service offering which is fully self-funded through the application of service fees. Users, both government and vendor, enter into an agreement with DSTA to use the system. Similar to the third-party service providers under the other three approaches, the DSTA provides all of the necessary technical services to support the operation and development of the system as well as help desk and management services to support users and to continue building the online marketplace. To better support its customer base, the DSTA continues to plan and develop new features and functions for the system as the product evolves.This approach?is the most common worldwide. For a detailed example from?Singapore, please?click here.? ()?More information about the eProcurement system GeBIZ is?here. ((May2011).pdf)?MODEL 4: GOVERNMENT MANAGED SERVICEGovernment Managed Service?– A government managed e-Procurement solution that is operated and owned by a third-party partner. This approach has been used in Philippines where the choice of a third-party system had to do with mitigating the risk that would be associated with the development, management and operation of an e-Procurement system. The government was looking for a technical service partner and wanted to establish a service agreement for the development and delivery of the backend system. The service provider is the technical delivery partner, providing all services required for the development and delivery of the system. The service provider has ownership of the physical application and infrastructure; however, the Philippine Government retains ownership over the market brand, PhilGEPS, the URL, all data in the system and the overall business service operation. The government retains responsibility for all users of the system, as well as users who enter into a contractual relation with the government. The Philippine government has made a significant investment over the years in the development of the PhilGEPS operation, including office space and support staff required to support the system, but in the long term it maintains control of the business operation and can opt to acquire the current platform at the end of the contract period.? For the details, please?click here. ()The reviews of the different e-Procurement solutions for Canada, Singapore, the Philippines and the State of Karnataka uncover a number of variations in business approach and system implementation strategies. The common principles for an e-Procurement system, however, remain the same: transparency, efficiency and the establishment of a more open and competitive environment for government procurement.?Regardless of the business model used, it is recommended to always have Service Level Agreements in place.? A sample Applications Service Agreement can be accessed?here. ()?II.?EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT BUSINESS MODELS?Below is a?number of presentations made by representatives?of various countries.? They are here for information purposes only, not as necessarily the examples?to follow:?Chile: ChileCompra Business Model?(é-Miguel-de-la-Cuadra-Public-ProcurementPolicy2.pdf )(a presentation from 2011 training on e-procurement conducted by the World Bank)?Italy: Consip Business Model?(a presentation by Gian Luigi Albano, Ph.D, 2009)India: Implementation Approach through PPP approach?()(a presentation by Ajay Sawhney, former Secretary IT&C & K.Bikshapathi, former Project Manager, made in December 2008 as part of the World Bank’s knowledge sharing event)?Business Models for E-GP Systems: A review of different approaches,?a presentation by Joseph Fagan, WB Consultant; ADB Consultant ()Legislation, Regulation and PolicyI. PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAWS OVERVIEW?When developing public procurement laws, numerous countries followed the UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement of Goods, Construction and Services as a basis for the development of public procurement Law in their own countries.?? Due to the fact that the conditions for procurement have changed since the model UNCITRAL law was drafted in 1994, and specifically in the area of e-Procurement, UNCITRAL established a working group I (Procurement) to develop a revised Law and a Guide to its Enactment.? The main task of this Working Group is to update and revise the Model Law, so as to take account of recent developments in public procurement. The revised version of the Law is expected to be finalized by summer 2011.?The intermediate documents developed by this Working Group are posted on the?UNCITRAL website for e-Procurement upon?() their availability in various language versions. A presentation from the member of this Working Group made in April 2010 as part of the WBI’s e-Procurement distance learning training is available here.?Thanks to UNICITRAL’s Public Procurement Model Law, there are a number of countries with very similar laws enacted.? At the same time, it should be noted that the countries with similar legislation basis are at very different stages of e-Procurement implementation.? That leads to a recommendation that countries just embarking on e-Procurement agenda need to look into e-Procurement solutions already developed by countries with similar public procurement legislation but more advanced when it comes to e-Procurement.??Most countries have supporting e-Legislation in place that is well supported. This legislation specifically supports the use of e-Documents and e-Signatures to conduct online business. The Cyber laws are more widely focused on e-Commerce rather than just e-Procurement.?The existing legislation was not always well supported or enforced. The unavoidable after-the-fact application of legislation means that legal means alone will not effectively regulate e-Procurement. This means that the influence of system functionality, management control, monitoring procurement process information, and internal audit will need to be effective to achieve good procurement practice.?II. LEGAL TREATEMENT OF ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION AND E-SIGNATURES??Creating trust in electronic procurement is of great importance for its development. ?Special rules may be needed to increase certainty and security in its use. ?Such rules may be provided in a variety of legislative texts: international legal instruments (treaties and conventions); transnational model laws; national legislation (often based on model laws); self-regulatory instrument;or contractual agreements.??Electronic authentication legislation and regulation has taken many different forms at the international and domestic levels. ?Many countries have followed the standard?UNCITRAL laws on e-Signatures?() and?UNICITRAL law on e-Commerce.??()?UNICITRAL defines electronic signature as “means data in electronic form in, affixed to or logically associated with, a data message, which may be used to identify the signatory in relation to the data message and to indicate the signatory’s approval of the information contained in the data message. ?It also defines authentication as "means a procedure established by agreement to determine whether a payment order or an amendment or revocation of a payment order was issued by the person indicated as the sender.”Three main approaches for dealing with signature and authentication technologies can be identified as:?THE MINIMALIST APPROACH?() Some jurisdictions recognize all technologies for electronic signature, following a policy of technological neutrality.??This approach is called minimalist because it gives a minimum legal status to all forms of electronic signature. ?Under the minimalist approach, electronic signatures are considered to be the functional equivalent of handwritten signatures, provided that the technology employed is intended to serve certain specified functions and in addition meets certain technology-neutral reliability requirements.?THE TECHNOLOGY SPECIFIC-APPROACH?() Under a technology-specific approach, regulations would mandate a specific technology to fulfill the legal requirements for the validity of an electronic signature. ?This is the case, for instance, where the law, aiming at a higher level of security, demands?applications based on Public Key Infrastructure. Since it prescribes the use of a specific technology, it is also called the “prescriptive” approach.?With the technology-specific approach the legislation typically favors the use of digital signatures within a PKI. ?The way in which PKIs are structured, in turn, varies from country to country according to the level of government intervention. ?Here, too, three main models can be identified:?-?Self-regulation:?Under this model, the field of authentication is left wide open.?While the government may establish one or more authentication schemes within its own departments and related organizations, the private sector is free to set up authentication schemes, commercial or otherwise, as it sees fit.?-?Limited government involvement:?The government might decide to establish a voluntary or mandatory high-level authentication authority. In this case, authentication service providers may find it necessary to interoperate with the high-level authentication authority to have their tokens of authentication (or other authenticators) accepted outside their own systems.?-?Government-led process:?The government may decide to establish an exclusive central authentication service provider. Special-purpose authentication service providers may also be established with government approval.??THE TWO-TIERED OR TWO-PRONGED APPROACH?() In this approach, the legislation sets a low threshold of requirements for electronic authentication methods to receive a certain minimum legal status and assigns greater legal effect to certain electronic authentication methods (referred to variously as secure, advanced or enhanced electronic signatures, or qualified certificates).??At the basic level, legislation adopting a two-tiered system generally grants electronic signatures functional-equivalence status with handwritten signatures, based on technologically neutral criteria. ?Higher-level signatures, to which certain rebuttable presumptions apply, are necessary to comply with specific requirements that may relate to a particular technology. ?Currently, legislation of this type usually defines such secure signatures in terms of PKI technology.?III. CHANGES IN DIGITAL SIGNATURES REQUIREMENTS??The requirement for the digital signatures is likely to hinder the development of e-Procurement initiates and limit the number of companies, especially SMEs, participating in the government bids. There is no need to impose technology on small business. A good practice is to introduce a simplified authentication process requiring only online registration on the government’s e-Procurement platform in order to gain access to the information on bidding opportunities. Online registration would also give the business a Digital Certificate as required by the legislation. Only after a certain company has actually been short-listed, the government purchaser may decide to require for the short-listed companies to verify their registration credentials. This approach is similar to that in the United States, Australia and Singapore. ?It can also be noted that the requirement for a Digital Signature is based on the early UNCITRAL model law, which has since been changed and which now makes no reference to this procedure.??IV.?THE EU POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ELECTRONIC PUBLIC PROCUREMENT?In the framework of the Lisbon Strategy, the EU has committed itself to improving the legal and administrative environment to unlock business potential.?This?Action Plan?() for the implementation of legal framework for e-Procurement was adopted in April 2004 by the Commission for European Communities as part of the legislative package of Procurement Directives, 2004/18/EC and 2004/17/EC. These Directives provide a coherent framework for conducting procurement electronically in an open, transparent and nondiscriminatory way, establish rules for tendering electronically and fix the conditions for modern purchasing techniques based on electronic means of communication.?Major barriers to cross-border access to electronic services of public administrations are linked to the use of electronic identification and of electronic signatures. The main barrier is the lack of interoperability, be it legal, technical or organizational.?This?Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification?() proposes concrete actions to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market and enhance cross-border interoperability of electronic identity in European union countries.?This article “Lessons from the PROCURE-project: Electronic Signatures as Obstacle for Cross-Border E-Procurement in Europe” () is an excellent overview that presents success-factors and barriers for the adoption of cross-border e-Signatures from a legal point of view.?It presents a comparison of the national profiles from Germany and the PROCURE pilot participants Czech Republic, France, Spain, and Sweden, and provides recommendations for the European legislation and individual measures to better align national regulations and the mutual recognition of electronic signatures in e-Procurement among the EU Member States.?To learn about the specifics of the EU Policy for Electronic Public Procurement,?click here?() to access the Power Point presentation made by Julia Ferger, European Commission, DG Internal Market & Services at the e-GP forum that took place in Washington, D.C. in November of 2009. A number of speciifc regulatory Framework questions are answered in this?presentation?() by Caroline Nicholas of UNCITRAL Secretariat.??V.?REGULATORY FRAMEWORK EXAMPLES FROM COUNTRIES???Below is a number of country specific presentations providing an overview of their legal and regulatory approaches.? They are here for information purpose only:JAMAICA: Regulatory Framework For e-GP:?() a presentation made in 2009 by Shirley Gayle Sinclair, Ministry Of Finance & the Public ServiceTHE PHILIPPINES:?The experience of Philippines in setting up the regulatory framework for eGP, () a presentation made in 2009 by Rosa Clemente,?Director of PhilGEPS/IT??E-procurement at work: A practical experience in Italy.?() This paper addresses the legislative context for e-Procurement in Italy and some practical experiences carried out in compliance with this legislation. Italy was one of the first countries in the EU to adopt a legislation on e-Procurement which allows Public Administrations, both central and local, to carry out their purchase activities using electronic means. Italy has also been considered as an example by the EU legislator when adopting the directives on e-Procurement.This presentation?() summarizes successful reform of procurement systems and describes the differences in countries using common law vs civil law and implication on procurement and eprocurement legal framework.Functional and Non-Functional RequirementsI. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION PHASES AS DEFINED BY MDBThis sub-section is designed to provide the responsible decision makers on what functions or qualities they could seek from the e-Procurement system that is either developed by?an agency?or purchased as a solution or implemented through a third party provider.?Despite considerable evidence and advice that e-Procurement is primarily a reform program of many dimensions, the first step taken by many authorities is to seek out what are the available ‘systems’. The specifications of such systems are defined in terms of?functional requirements?and the systems qualities are defined in terms of?non-functional requirements.??Translating the objectives and principles of e-Procurement implementation into functional specifications and standards is made considerably easier when the different phases of e-Procurement implementation are clearly understood by the authorities. The experience proves that a ‘big bang’ approach to e-Procurement is expensive, disruptive and will more than likely result in failure.?Instead, by specifying the task in terms of phases tends not only to map out a low risk path, but also assist in the specification of the functions themselves.?The order of implementation phases suggested by MDB’s working group is consistent with the experiences from many countries and is consistent with a number of different approaches and models.?The scheme representing the e-Procurement implementation phases is presented?here. ()?The suggested order of implementation phases is as follows:??PHASE 1:?E-BIDDING/E-TENDERING:?This method is used for high value low volume goods and services. The central role of this system is to allow the Bid process to be transparently and consistently initiated and maintained as they progress through?contract award.?The scope of the system commences from the time an authority decides to enter into the Bid process.???PHASE 2:?E-PURCHASING:Government procurement based on the use of on-line price quotes is e-Purchasing. This method is used for?high volume low-value?goods and services, for which tenders are not required. Instead, a list of sources of supply is used for such purchases. The operational capabilities which make up an e-Purchasing service suitable for public procurement are specified and are consistent with those of the e-Tendering system.?Examples of e-Tenders implementation in various countries:?PHASE 3:?E-REVERSE AUCTIONS:?The operation of e-Reverse Auctions is similar to e-Purchasing except that the online quoting facility has the capacity to operate interactively in real time with bid prices posted instantaneously during the process. Some governments consider e-Reverse Auction to be a special case of e-Bidding while others see it as a part of e-Purchasing. The UNICITRAL working group has analyzed these points and concluded to?treat the e-Reverse Auction as a procurement method by itself or alternatively as an optional phase in other procurement methods.?This was the approach adopted by the MDB working group as well.?UNCITRAL described e-Reverse Auction as an on-line, real-time dynamic auction between a buying organization and a number of suppliers who compete against each other to win the contract by submitting successfully lower priced bids during a scheduled time period. Where e-Reverse Auction systems are to be financed by the MDB, a certain set of Guidelines is supposed to be followed in evaluation of the e-Reverse Action features, standards and operations to ensure that it satisfies the conditions that follow in these?Guidelines?() for MDB financed procurement.??Within these phases there are incremental steps which can also be implemented in?phases?() or simultaneously, depending on the level of readiness of the service provider systems. This is an optimum process design because it facilitates institutional changes and the modernization of the civil service and starts from the simplest functions and progresses to the most complex along a controlled development path. Following this approach makes for a faster, less expensive, and institutionally sound introduction of e-Procurement.?II. NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTSNon-functional requirements define systems qualities.?They are as follows:???Usability:? () Contracting Authorities may envisage user support operations providing adequate support to users if and when required. This?Table (() demonstrates a number of methods to achieve the desired user support.?Reliability?: () The degree of reliability of a system can be assessed in relation to the reliability of its components, allowing reliability requirements to be expressed at the component/unit level, rather than entire system level. Reliability requirements are related to the quality of a system, and are usually defined quantitatively. ?For a list of typical requirements, click?here. ()?Interoperability:??() The Interoperability Framework distinguishes between organizational, semantic and technical aspects of interoperability. In the following, non-functional interoperability requirements are analyzed according to three levels: organizational, semantic and technical.??Security: () Concern about security is one of the major factors restricting the growth of e-Procurement. In summary, an organization should consider securing itself against damage to business reputation; failure to comply with internal policies, national requirements and the law; loss, corruption or sharing of commercially sensitive or business critical information; loss of business continuity due to loss of business critical systems or information; loss of commercial position due to inappropriate sharing of commercially sensitive information or the inability for potential suppliers to participate.III. OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE EU FRAMEWORKThis sub-section provides an overview of the proposed technical specifications for the design of the European e-Procurement system capable of supporting the core e-Procurement functionalities. ?European Commission has produced Functional requirements reports consisting of Volume I and Volume II. These reports analyze procedural aspects of the e-Procurement procedures described by the European directives and include functional and non-functional requirements for implementing them electronically. ?Volume I?() presents the information and activity flows for all e-Procurement procedures, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, an overview of technical specifications with a conceptual model and high-level Use Cases, and open issues related to e-Procurement.Volume II?() presents an in-depth technical analysis (Use Case analysis) for the main actors and functionalities of an e-Procurement system supporting all e-Procurement procedures. It also provides scenarios for interested parties to experiment with the dynamic demonstrators (see static?() and?dynamic?() versions),?developed in the context of this project, so as to further understand the concepts described in the Functional Requirements report.Technologies and ApplicationsI. E-PROCUREMENT APPLICATIONS AND SYSTEMS: A QUICK OVERVIEW?In order for the countries to decide on the type of the e-Procurement system to be purchased or developed, it is necessary that they first answer the basic questions such as “What is the total volume of the procurement?”, “What is the number of the procurement transactions?”, “What is the number of goods procurement and consulting services procurement?”, “What is the total monetary volume of the public procurement?” so that an adequate system with certain capacity is planned for.??It is also important to think of the technology and choice of the applications in light of the goals to be achieved through the introduction of e-Procurement.??Below are a few of the useful power point presentations:?This presentation on?eGP: Technology Considerations?() that?was made by Eduardo Talero?as part of the distance learning training series on eGP organized by the World Bank Institute in 2009.?It covers the issues of distinction between tactical and strategic e-Procurement system development, how different technologies work in each case and the importance of using open standards-based technologies.??It is also useful to review this presentation on the?Technology Solutions for e-procurement, () which was made in 2009 by Vidyadhar Muthyala, Project Manager of ICT Department, government of Andhra Pradesh and a presentation by Ms. Rafaella Migliorini on Integrity protection of e-procurement systems.?() Both presentations?were?made as part of the same distance learning training on e-GP organized by the World Bank Institute in 2009. ??II. THE RESULTS OF E-GP RESEARCH BY MDB'S WORKING GROUPThis?survey of e-procurement systems?() undertaken by the MDBs presents the results of the survey undertaken in Asia/Oceania, South America and Europe.?The survey was developed by Curtin University and International Governance Solutions using an experienced research and consultancy team.? Their work was funded by?the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and The World Bank.?This survey has aimed to provide information for jurisdictions which are at the inception stage of implementing e-Procurement and was designed to provide information on e-Tendering, e-Reverse Auctioning and e-Purchasing systems in relation to:?System functionality achieved;??The governance, business, management, and technical, issues that were addressed in the transition to e-Procurement;??The costs of development or acquisition, and implementation of the systems, and the annual costs to operate and maintain the? systems?Benefits recognized by stakeholders;??Outcomes and outcome measures;??The success factors and lessons learnt;?Other observations as appropriate.?The survey covered systems in fourteen countries, listed below.? The countries represent various?size of the procurement market as well as?the degree of integration of systems and degree of centralized management of procurement.? The public procurement websites for the responding countries are as follows:?Australia (NSW),?Hong Kong,?Korea,?Philippines,?Singapore,?Italy,?Romania,?Norway,?Brazil,Argentina,?Chile,?Mexico,?Finland.?The survey was structured to target system functionalities, key system governance and management and technical issues, implementation, costs and key lessons learnt. The survey structure is shown in this?Table. () ?Given the complexities and rapid evolution in the technology, it seems likely that no particular development can be accepted as a reliable benchmark other than the use of international open standards which is evident at several levels in the responses from 14 countries surveyed in 2007 by the MDB working group on e-procurement.?This?Table?() shows the various products that were applied to different components of the systems. ?It should be noted that most systems use commercially available products and open standards (eg. XML). ??III.?TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMSWhen planning the implementation of the e-Procurement solution, the government need to be aware of the top technologies and trends of the IT industry identified by Gartner, Inc in 2009. They are:VirtualizationCloud ComputingServers – Beyond bladesWeb – oriented architectureEnterprise MashupsSpecialized systemsSocial software and social networkingUnified communicationsBusiness intelligenceGreen IT??IV.?ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE?Enterprise Architecture (EA) is needed as a foundation for all government processes and subsequent workflow/data exchange/technical standards. It is critical success for all types and scale of e-government programs including e-procurement. EA is a robust planning function that helps organizations to understand the processes by which the business strategies turn into operational reality. Hence, establishing a standard methodology for conducting architecture planning and implementation is vital. This quantities analysis “Understanding the impact of enterprise architecture on connected government” prepared by National University of Singapore (NUS) and Institute of Systems Science presents a good definition, case studies and perspective from most advanced countries. For full report, please?click here. ([Phase1Report].pdf)?V.? RISK MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS?Risk management is the process of identifying and assessing risk, reducing it to the acceptable level and implementing the right mechanisms to maintain that level.?There is no 100% secure environment.?Every environment has vulnerabilities and threats to a certain degree. Risk analysis has four major goals:??Identify assets and their values?Identify vulnerabilities and their threats?Quantify the probability and business impact of these potential threats and their security?Provide an economic balance between the impact of the threat and the cost of the countermeasure?There are special risks when it comes to the standards. ?The immature status of many, if not most, of the standards on which e-Procurement is dependent poses special risks to governments. These risks include systems obsolescence, lack of interoperability, higher operating costs, vested interest influences, sub-optimal functionality and reduced innovation and, more broadly, retarded technological enablement of commerce generally. These financial, commercial and social risks mean that these standards become essential dimensions of government policy, legislation and leadership. It is important that executives and managers be able to appreciate and engage with these issues if the risks to governments are to be managed. Web architects and developers may recoil in horror that government policy and leadership might intrude into these issues. But government is an obvious leader, not suggesting that it should or could regulate such standards, but because of the significance of its choices for its own operations and the weight that these carry in the economy. For more risks identified by the MDB working group, please?click here. () ?VI. SECURITY ISSUES?One of the major issues concerning e-Procurement initiatives is security. Governments usually resist from sending sensitive information over the Internet for security reasons.? This?Guidance notes?() developed by the UK national e-Procurement project by Strategic Procurement Services, describes different types of security issues that organizations face and outlines realistic solutions and approaches that can be implemented to reduce the risk.Once the government decides on the comfortable security level, it will affect a number of subsequent security decisions.?This presentation?() by Mr. Rafaella Migliorini of Consip, includes a number of interesting graphs demonstrating the security concepts such as chosing the right security level, security principles and top-down approach to security.??Various security mechanisms provide a secure communication interface, mainly for the exchange of documents between procurement authorities and economic operators. ?The standards and the required specifications need to be provided for ensuring adequate authentication, digital signature, non-repudiation, data integrity and encryption. The main issues to consider when creating the secure environment are as follows:??AuthenticationAuthorizationConfidentialityIntegrityNon-repudiation?Audit trailing facilityFirewallsSecure communication (data transfer) with the client (user or third party system/application)Encoding stored dataDigitally signed documents?The international survey of 14 countries undertaken by the MDB’s working group on e-Procurement prepared this?summary?table?() which lists types of technologies applied by different countries.?VII. OVERVIEW OF AUTHENTICATION TECHNIQUESA number of different authentication techniques have been developed over the years. Each technique aims at satisfying different needs and provides for different levels of security, and entails different technical requirements. Electronic authentication and signature methods may be classified in three categories based on:??Knowledge that the user or the recipient has (e.g. passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs).?Physical features of the user (e.g. biometrics)?Possession of an object by the user (e.g. codes or other information stored on a magnetic card).?A fourth category might include various types of authentication and signature methods that, without falling under any of the above categories, might also be used to indicate the originator of an electronic communication (such as a facsimile of a handwritten signature, or a name typed at the bottom of an electronic message).?Technologies currently in use include digital signatures within a public key infrastructure (PKI), biometric devices, PINs, user-defined or assigned passwords, scanned handwritten signatures, signature by means of a digital pen, and clickable “OK” or “I accept” boxes.?Hybrid solutions based on a combination of different technologies are becoming increasingly popular, such as, for instance, in the case of the combined use of passwords and transport layer security/secure sockets layer (TLS/ SSL), which is a technology using a mix of public and symmetric key encryptions.?VIII. DIGITAL SIGNATURES, PKI AND CERTIFICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS“Digital signature” is a name for technological applications using asymmetric cryptography, also referred to as public key encryption systems, to ensure the authenticity of electronic messages and guarantee the integrity of the contents of these messages.?To better understand the technical notions and terminology behind the concept of the digital signature, please?review this?report?"Promoting confidence in electronic commerce: legal issues on international use of electronic?authentication and signature methods"?() which provides a detailed description of cryptography, public and private keys, hash function, generation of a digital signature, verification of digital signature and other uses of digital signature technology.? To verify a digital signature, the verifier must have access to the signatory’s public key and be assured that it corresponds to the signatory’s private key.?A security framework based on the general principles (confidentiality, non-discrimination, non-repudiation, etc) supported by the?Public Key Infrastructure?() can be implemented to support the needs of an e-Procurement system. This security framework enables the management of Public Key Certificates for identifying the user and for securing the communication between the users of the application and the servers that host the application environment (Web Server) and the corresponding business logic (Application Server) as shown in?Figure 4-1. ()It should be noted that the latest trends indicate that the requirement for the digital signatures may hinder the development and wider uptake?of the e-Procurement.?The requirement for a Digital Signature is based on the early UNCITRAL model law, which has since been changed and which now makes no reference to this procedure.StandardsI. OVERVIEW OF STANDARDSIt is quite important for the government leaders to understand the significance of e-Procurement standards for policy and effective operation of the government.While of critical importance, the development and adoption of standards is inherently complex, reflecting the complexities of the economy and the broader community.?Good standards are taken for granted and are substantially invisible. The immature status of many, if not most, of the standards which e-Procurement is dependent upon, poses special risks to the government.?These risks include system obsolescence, lack of interoperability, higher operating costs, vested interests influences, sib-optimal functionality and reduced innovation.?These financial, commercial and social risks mean that these standards become essential dimensions of government policy, legislation and leadership.?It is important that executives and managers are able to appreciate and engage with these issues of standards if the risks to the governments are to be managed.?Perhaps there is nowhere that standards are undergoing such broad and rapid developments as for the online environment generally and for e-Commerce specifically.??e-Procurement, as part of e-Commerce, is inextricably part of these developments.? The standards can help in implementation of e-Procurement through the following:?Enhance B2G/G2G connectivity and interoperabilityGenerate trust in electronic experienceEnhance competition and inclusionEnhance efficiency and flexibility of public procurement functionEnhance cooperation and transparencyFacilitate evolution and innovationIncrease return, reliability of investmentsAvoid vendor lock-in?This presentation?() by Eduardo Talero, an Advisor to the World Bank on e-Procurement, includes an overview of standards to consider when implementing different stages of e-Procurement.? Another?useful overview of standards in e-procurement?() was presented at the 2010 e-Procurement distance learning series.??In selecting standards to ensure interoperability in e-Procurement, the governments need to be aware that their decisions will strengthen or hinder the broader roll-out of the e-Commerce development throughout the economy.?A partial list of issues around which the standards development for e-Commerce is relevant to e-Procurement are presented in?this figure. () ?They are?catalogues,?() ?system interoperability, () ?legislation,?() ?security and authentication.? () ??These standards’ environments overlap and are not all technical.??Much of the requirements for security as well as authentication, for example, are to do with organizational management systems rather than software. The idea here is that the e-Commerce standards cannot be well defined in a technical sense –it relates to whatever conventions, rules, protocols or regulations (technical or otherwise) that may influence the efficient conduct of commerce in the online environment, and these are evolving.?The?Standards in e-Government Procurement: 4 simple observations on Information Security for Managers?() is another useful presentation made by William McDonald Buck, a consultant to the World Bank as part of the distance learning training series on eGP organized by the World Bank Institute in 2009.?II.? E-CATALOGUES STANDARDS?Standardization in the field of e-Catalogues is necessary to increase efficiency through the reduction, or even elimination of manual intervention. The automated processing of eCatalogues appears to be possible only when eCatalogues are formed and exchanged in a standardized manner i.e. when they are interoperable.?Currently, there is a great number of electronic catalogue formats, as well as of product description and classification schemes for the exchange of electronic catalogues between consumers, vendors and economic operators. This?report?() developed by European Dynamic for the European Commission aims at identifying and presenting the existing eBusiness initiatives/standards developed by the international standardization bodies (OASIS, CEN/ISSS and UN/CEFACT) in the area of eCatalogues.?Two main eCatalogue standards have been emerging in parallel, namely UBL 2.0 and c-Catalogue developed by?OASIS?and?CEN/ISSS respectively.? This?report?() compares these two prevailing initiatives/standards in terms of their business documents, processes and messages, in order to identify similarities and differences. Furthermore, issues concerning the extension of their use in the pre-awarding phases of the procurement cycle are identified and discussed.?The existence of UBL and c-Catalogue, as well as, several other eCatalogue standards, has created a substantial interoperability gap amongst organizations that make use of eCatalogues in order to conduct business electronically. OASIS and UN/CEFACT have recognised this issue and are currently taking actions towards the convergence of UBL and catalogue with an objective to establish one unique standard to accommodate all needs.??In addition to eBusiness initiatives/standards, there is a number of?e-catalogues standards and other standardization activities?() undertaken in the EU countries in the area of product description and classification schemes.?Such schemes constitute a core component of eCatalogues, offering the possibility to accurately categorize and describe products and services contained in eCatalogue prospectus using standardized product hierarchies and sets of attributes. The interoperability of eCatalogues is closely associated with the interoperability of classification schemes used to describe products within eCatalogues. Strong points of such schemes are identified and presented in this?report,?) including?measures to achieve interoperability.?III. COMMON PROCUREMENT VOCABULARY (CPV)?To make public procurement more transparent and efficient, in 1993 the European Commission drafted the?Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV),?() which is useful for other countries as well planning to institute common procurement vocabulary.?The aim of the?CPV?() is to standardize, by means of a single classification system for public procurement, the terms used by contracting authorities and entities to describe the subject of contracts, by offering an appropriate tool to potential users (contracting entities/authorities, candidates or tenderers in contract award procedure). The use of standard codes makes it easier to implement the advertising rules and facilitates access to information.??This CPV was translated into 22 official languages of the European Communities and simplifies the task of drafting notices, and in particular describing the subject matter of contracts, for contracting authorities and contracting entities.?It also simplifies the drafting of statistics on public procurement in the EU, since the?CPV?is compatible with trade monitors used throughout the world (especially those used by the United Nations).?IV.?UNSPSC GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCT CODEThe United Nations Standard Products and Services Code? (UNSPSC?)?provides an open, global multi-sector standard for efficient, accurate classification of products and services.?The UNSPSC offers a single global classification system that can be used for:Company-wide visibility of spend analysisCost-effective procurement optimizationFull exploitation of electronic commerce capabilities?V. E-BUSINESS STANDARTIZATION BODIESBelow is a list of the e-Business standardization bodies,?many of which are committees or affiliates of the leading bodies of W3C, OAISIS and RosettaNet. IEEE is also a central to the formal establishment of the recommended standards:?IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)??IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) Internet standards?W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Web and XML standards?OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)??Cover pages?BASDA?Relax NG?UDDI?UBL?XACML?SPML?ebXML messaging?CPP / CPA?Registry / Repository?WS-I?WSDL (W3C)?SOAP (W3C)?CGM Open?IBM?BPEL4WS?Web Services Security?Web Services Security: Trust Centre?RosettaNet?CEFACT-OASIS?Specs ebXML?ebXML adoption?CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business)?Data Interchange Standards Association?CEN ISSS (Information Society Standardisation System)?EAN International?UCC (Uniform Code Council)?Global Commerce InitiativeEU's e-Procurement InitiativesI. OVERVIEW?The European experience in the area of e-Procurement is of a great interest to the developing countries that have aspirations to embark on e-Procurement agenda.? Over the last few years, the European Commission has developed guidelines and tools to help administrators, IT editors and business to adapt their existing procurement systems to the European directives.? Lots of documentation that analyzes the status of e-Procurement in Europe is available?here. Commission provides news, best practices and exchange opportunities on e-Procurement and other e-Government activities at? of the most relevant reports is?State of the Art Study, () which analizes?the existing initiatives in Europe.? It presents the status and deduces practices from various?systems across Europe. The analysis includes?21 eProcurement systems and it has?identified?44 interesting eProcurement Practices?() which fall within four major categories:1) Organizational practices for assisting administrations in establishing and developing eProcurement programmes;2) Procedural practices related to the phases of the eProcurement lifecycle for all foreseen procedures;3) Technical practices for modeling?fully?compliant with the legislation eProcurement systems from a technical viewpoint;4) Operational practices for establishing operations, assisting Contracting Authorities in conducting fair and transparent competitions.This?Table?() highlights some of the most useful Procurement Practices, which if implemented can contribute strongly to the functionality and operation of public procurement systems.In October 2009,?, the eProcurement Forum took an initiative to compose the picture of e-procurement initiatives in Europe and make it available for consultation, revision andintegration to as much e-Procurement practitioners as possible.? The results were documented?in the?e-procurement Map of Europe?() report that presents an analysis of the key activities that have an impact on the development of electronic public procurement in Europe. This report serves as a snapshot of various projects, initiatives or communities, having different targets, audiences or approaches to eProcurement. ?It consists of three main sections: ?Section 2: Map of the activities, where all the activities have been described providing synthetic information on objectives, approach and contacts; Section 3: Available studies, proposing a selection of the available results of these activities and of the reference documents produced by the European Commission; Section 4: Relevant Legal Acts, proposing the most recent legal acts issued at European levelFrom the analysis of the Directives and the experience examined in the background studies, the European Commission has produced Functional requirements reports consisting of Volume I and Volume II.? These reports analyse procedural aspects of the eProcurement procedures described by the European directives and include functional and non-functional requirements for implementing them electronically.??Volume I of the Functional Requirements report?() presents the information and activity flows for all eProcurement procedures, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, an overview of technical specifications with a conceptual model and high-level Use Cases, and open issues related to eProcurement.Volume II of the Functional Requirements?() report presents an in-depth technical analysis (Use Case analysis) for the main actors and functionalities of an eProcurement system supporting all eProcurement procedures. It also provides scenarios for interested parties to experiment with the dynamic demonstrators, developed in the context of the current project, so as to further understand the concepts described in the Functional Requirements report.?II. E-PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES AS PER THE EU PROCUREMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS?To assist public administrations in building eProcurement systems in compliance with the European directives, the EU developed a number of documents indented to guide the countries in development of their e-Procurement systems.??This section is based on two major reports prepared for the European Communities on functional requirements.?We find them useful and educational for any government that is at?a different stage of e-Procurement development in their own country.??When planning for an e-procurement system, it is important to realize that it can support different types of procurement procedures for awarding the public contracts.?The procurement procedures are classified in accordance with the following contract types:?1.?INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS1.1.Open procedures: whereby any interested Economic Operator may submit a Tender.?Click here?() to view Information FlowDiagram for the Open Procedure.?Click here?() to view the Activity diagram is for the open procedure.?1.2.Restricted procedures: Only those Economic Operators invited by the contracting authority may submit a Tender. ?Click here () for Information Flow Diagram for the Restricted Procedure.?Click here?() for Activity diagram for the restricted procedure.?2.?REPETATIVE CONSTRACTS2.1. Dynamic purchasing systems: constitutes a fully electronic process for contracting authorities for making commonly used purchases, which are generally available on the market and meet the requirements of the contracting authority.?Click here?() for Information Flow Diagram for Dynamic Purchasing System.?Click here?() for Activity diagram for a Dynamic Purchasing System.?2.2. Framework agreement: it is an agreement between one or more contracting authorities and one or more Economic Operators, the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to price and, where appropriate, the quantity envisaged.?Click here?() for Information Flow Diagram of the Framework Agreement.?Click here?() for Activity diagram for the procurement of an individual contract within a framework agreement.?3.?EXTENSIONS?3.1. Electronic auctions: are repetitive processes involving the use of an electronic device for the presentation by bidders?of the???? improved offers for a specific Call for Tenders (i.e. the submission of new prices revised downwards, and/or new values concerning certain elements of tenders, thus allowing the use of automatic evaluation methods).?eAuctions can be used with contracts for works, supplies or services for which the specifications can be determined/quantified with precision. This excludes non-quantifiable elements of a tender, as well as, certain service and work contracts having as their subject-matter intellectual performances.?Click here?() for Information Flow Diagram for Electronic Auctions.?Click here?() for Activity Diagram for eAuction.?III. THE E-PROCUREMENT ON-LINE FORUM: SHARING AND LEARNING FROM OTHERS?The eProcurement Forum?is an initiative sponsored by the European Commission to help all the practitioners in public electronic procurement in Europe to meet and share their experiences and knowledge, to ask and to provide support.? It is an open space to express opinions and exchange knowledge where members are encouraged to provide contributions and participate in the dicussiosn and events. It is not an official Commission site and its mainly focused on technical and organizational aspects of e-Procurement.?IV.? PEPPOL: A PAN-EUROPEAN PILOT AIMED TO FACILITATE THE EU-WIDE INTEROPERABLE PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENT?Different European projects implemented under ICT Policy Support Program are listed?here.?The most relevant is?PEPPOL.??The objective of the PEPPOL (Pan-European Public eProcurement On-Line) project is to set up a pan-European pilot solution that, conjointly with existing national solutions, would facilitate EU-wide interoperable public eProcurement.The vision of the PEPPOL project is that any company and in particular SMEs in the EU can communicate electronically with any European governmental institution for the entire procurement process. The final outcome of PEPPOL will be an inter-operational environment build upon national systems and infrastructures supporting the full cycle of eProcurement activities.The PEPPOL project is subdivided into eight work packages including five building blocks (BB)?that cover the entire procurement process from eTendering to ePayment. Each?BB will develop guidelines to common specifications enabling the implementation of interoperable solutions for their particular cross-border task in public eProcurement.eSignature??will develop guidelines and specifications and pilot solutions to overcome the lack of interoperability between the different national schemes for electronically signing tender documents.??Virtual Company Dossier??will provide interoperable solutions for economic operators in any European country to utilise company information already registered somewhere in order to submit certificates and attestations electronically to any procurement agency.eCatalogue??will define and test solutions to manage eCatalogues to overcome the lack of a standard definition of eCatalogues used in European public procurement procedures that will be used as part of a bid and as a basis for issuing orders.??The challenges with eCatalogues are listed in?this presentation?() from the distance learning series 2010 by the WBI. The European Commission commissioned an extensive Study to analyze rules and current practices for the use of eCatalogues in both the public and the private sectors, with a view to formulating requirements and recommendations for their further development in public procurement. This Study consisted of three parts:State of Play:?() the current report, presenting eCatalogue initiatives in the public sector in the EU and in private companies, highlighting common points, differences, needs and requirementsStandardization Activities: () presents current standardization activities on eCatalogues as well as product description and classification schemes, and makes recommendations for the adoption of appropriate standards to increase interoperabilityFunctional Requirements:?() defines preliminary functional and non-functional requirements for establishing eProcurement systems which may use eCatalogues as a tool for tender submission.eOrdering??will benchmark existing eOrdering processes and implement pilot arrangements on the data and process level for the exchange of eOrdering documents between all relevant stakeholders highlighting and communicating good practices.The overview of the WP4’s scope, which is electronic ordering in cross-border public procurement, and analysis of relevant studies, standards and legislation is presented?here. ()eInvoicing? will benchmark existing eInvoicing processes for the payment of goods and services and implement pilot arrangements on the data and process level for the exchange of eInvoicing documents between all relevant stakeholders.??This document CEN/Fiscalis e-Invoicing Good Practice Guidelines?represents one single set of good practice guidelines for both businesses and tax administrations in the European Union. ()Solutions architecture, design and validation??will focus on design and validation of the common specifications and building blocks which together will define the technical interoperability layer required to provide an operational e-business infrastructure. The coordinator of this WP will take the role as Technical Director of the project.The results of the PEPPOL project to date are presented?here.?V.? THE NEW CHALLENGES POSED BY THE TRANSITION TO E-PROCUREMENT?The technology to support e-Procurement is now in place. National and regional e-Procurement platforms are developing and thereby delivering tangible benefits to contracting authorities and suppliers. At European level, the challenge is two-fold: first, to ensure that the legal and policy environment keeps pace with this change; secondly, to avoid the emergence of a new generation of barriers to cross-border procurement which have their origin in different e-Procurement models, information technology systems and applications.The Commission is exploring ways in which EU procurement policy can respond to these challenges. In the short-term, it is preparing initiatives in the area of concessions and is looking closely at the issue of the application of procurement legislation to cases where local or other purchasing bodies cooperate in procurement.??It is also finalizing an analysis of the take-up of e-Procurement in which it will assess the existence of barriers to cross-border participation in electronic procurement marketplaces.In parallel, the Commission is embarking on a comprehensive evaluation of EU procurement legislation. This evaluation, to be completed in spring 2011, will examine the effectiveness of EU rules in promoting open, contestable and sound procurement. The findings will be used to inform reflection on the need for a modernization of EU procurement rules.Overview of e-Procurement Efforts in Various CountriesI. REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF E-PROCUREMENT ?The following are the links to the regional overview of e-Procurement:AFRICA - Trends in Public Procurement: Opportunities and Challenges for Capacity Building Interventions,? () a presentation by Thomas Asare, Abdoulaye Kane, Frannie Leautier, Sithabile MajoniASIA AND PACIFIC REGION: Public Procurement: Opportunities, Challenges and the ADB's Role, () a presentation by Mr. Hamid Sharif, Principal Director of Central Operations Services Office,? ADB?II.? COUNTRY SPECIFIC OVERVIEW OF E-PROCUREMENTThe following are the links to the overview of e-Procurement in various countries:MEXICO’s e-procurement:?() Can information systems build trust and improve governance, a presentation made in April 2009 by Eduardo BohorquezMONGOLIA: e-Procurement, () a presentation by Gantsogt Khurelbaatar, Ministry of FinanceSINGAPORE: E-Government Procurement Experience, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Puay Long CHIAPrincipal Engineer, DSTAExecutive Consultant, IDA InternationalSOUTH AFRICA: e-Procurement Overview, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Henry Malinga, Chief Director of Supply Chain Policy? National Treasury, Government of South Africa.USA: e-Commerce in USA,?() a presentation made in November 2009 by David A. Drabkin, former Senior Procurement Executive, Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer U.S. General Services AdministrationCHINA: Development and future plans of Chinese eprocurement, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Mr. Xue Bing,? Government Procurement Division , Treasury Department,? Ministry of Finance,? P.R. ChinaKENYA: Action Plan for E-GP implementation in Kenya, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Jerome Ochieng, Public Procurement Oversight Authority –KenyaBRAZIL: Strengthening Government Procurement: e-Procurement as part of Public Procurement Policy, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Dr. Florencia Ferrer, PhDCEO –FF/e-Strategia Pública.? A detailed case study of Brazil’s e-procurement published in I-Ways Journal of e-Government Policy (2009) is available?here.PHILIPPINES: Implementing the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS),?() a presentation made in November 2009 by Rosa Clemente, Director of PhilGEPS/IT, Government of PhilippinesNORWAY: E-Procurement in Norway, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Mr. Dag Str?msnesKOREA: Innovating Public Procurement Through KONEPS, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Seunghyun Kang, Ph.D. Public Procurement Service, Government of KoreaITALY: Consip’s eProcurement System: State of the Art and Future Challenges, () a presentation made in November 2009 by Danilo Broggi CEO Italian Public Procurement Agency -Consip S.p.AITALY:?() another useful presentation on “Public e-Procurement in Italy: Consip’s role and e-Procurement System” was made by Luca Mastrogregori, Head of e-Procurement Strategies, Consip S.P.a. in 2010.CHILE: a Description of ChileCompra,?() a presentation made in November 2009 by Felipe Goya,?DirectorINDIA: Technology Solutions for E-Procurement, () a presentation by VIDYADHAR MUTHYALA, Project Manager, IT&C Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India, Spring 2010BANGLADESH: Introducing e-Government Procurement (e-GP),?() a presentation by Mr. Abdus Sobhan Sikder,? Secretary, IMED, MOP made in December 2008 for the World Bank knowledge sharing eventAdoption of e-Procurement in Sweden:?() This paper presents an assessment of implementation of e-Procurement concept within Swedish government authorities during 2001 and 2008. This work was undertaken by a research team from Lule? University of Technology.IRELAND:?e-Tenders implementation,?() a presentation made in November 2009 by Tom O'Brien, Head of eProcurement, National Public Procurement Operations Unit, Office of Public Works.Costa Rica: An Overview of Mer-Link,?() a presentation made by Ms. Alicia Avandano Riviera at April 12, 2011 e-Procurement event at the World Bank, Washington, D.C.Korea: Public e-Procurement in Korea, () a detailed presentation made by Mr. Woosun Han of Samsung SDS, at April 12, 2011 e-Procurement event at the World Bank, Washington, D.C.??III. ADAPTING KONEPS SYSTEM TO OTHER COUNTRIES?South Korea has been ranked first in the?United Nations Global E-Government Survey 2010.?KONEPS?has attracted worldwide attention for its transparency and efficiency and is one of the representative e-government systems in Korea that ranks high in terms of quality and functionality. The S. Korean Public Procurement Service has been working to share its benefits with foreign governments and now?KONEPS?has been adapted in the first two countries -?Costa Rica and Vietnam.Vietnam:?A pilot e-procurement system for the government of Vietnam has been built on the basis of the integrated Korea Online E-procurement System (KONEPS). The pilot system, which was designed to fit Vietnam’s conditions, cost nearly $3.4 million, of which $3 million was granted by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). E-Bidding has been implemented on a trial basis at the Hanoi City People’s Committee, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group, and the Electricity of Vietnam via the portal?? More details arehere.Costa Rica:?The?e-procurement system of Costa Rica known as Mer-Link?was?launched in July of 2009. The e-procurement system of Costa Rica is based on the?KONEPS?and has been developed for bidding, contracts, orders and payment functions reflecting Costa Rica's actions and deals. The cost of e-procurement system is estimated at US$ 16.0 million. More details are?here.?Meanwhile, South Korea is also working with other governments and providing funding for initial feasibility studies, capacity building and piloting of the e-procurement systems.Lessons LearnedSeveral lessons emerged from the?research of e-procurement implementation?() by the MDB in 2007.?From the foregoing analysis undertaken by MDB’s working group, several lessons emerged that could be useful to the countries yet to develop and implement e-Procurement systems. The key lessons learnt by most countries can be summarized as follows:Effective government leadership and management of the implementation plan;Comprehensive user buyer and manager awareness and training so they are confident to use the systems and their initial concerns have been addressed;Supplier awareness and training must be addressed;The potential e-Procurement environment is assessed and the information used in developing the implementation plan;The transition from paper to electronic based processes is planned and supports the need to change the process;Legislative support – especially identified by South American countries.Below are more lessons pronounced by the respondent from 14 sample countries subdivided into 12 major areas and include direct quotes of the surveyed:?1. Provide effective supplier awareness and trainingSuppliers initially have little confidence in the systems.Suppliers do not realize the potential of the system to streamline the process, provide better access to opportunities and marketing information.Suppliers ‘fear of losing contracts because the bidding process is now more transparent. and more competitive resulting in less projects being available.Suppliers are not computer literate.Create a sustainable training program for users.2. Provide effective manager and buyer awareness and trainingMost procurement officials targeted for training are not computer literate.Intensive capacity building for users is required.Managers need training on managing all aspects of procurement.Procurement officers resisted the change for fear of losing full control of their bidding process.Resistance among personnel within the implementing agencies to job loss due to process reengineering. Proper information dissemination required for those affected in the reengineering to assure them of security of tenure.Provide practical training to potential users and linked institutions’ members.Slow absorptive capacity among users.3. Need for Government leadershipThere must be government wide collaborationEstablish a special committee composed of concerned government ministries under the strong presidential leadership. This committee should be supported by advisory and system implementation groups.Establish a single portal for government procurement so that there is no confusion over process policy and management.Lack of support from heads of procuring entities resulting in subordinates not using the system.Most heads of procuring entities fear losing control of their agency's procurement activities because of lack of information (from central procurement agencies)The lack of effective information campaign creates an atmosphere of uncertainty among stakeholders.Most government departments want their own procurement system and may resist attempts to harmonize the process.4. Assess the procurement environment before planningUnderstand the:‘levels of e-Readiness of society and specific business sectorscomputer literacy of potential userscurrent coverage and capacity of the country’s network infrastructurethe extent of the digital dividerequirements of international trade agreementscurrent capacity to implement e-Procurement5. Retention of the paper process (range of views)Paper process needs to be retained initially but then phased out in a publicly announced timetable.If the paper process is removed, the suppliers will be more encouraged to adopt the system earlier. Once the critical mass is reached, whether the paper channel is remained or not would not affect the adoption rate.Retaining the paper process limits the take up rate and supplier confidence in the system.6. Mandate usage of the systemMandate or legislate to make use of the system compulsory for government funded agencies and institutions.7.? Re-engineer the procurement processRe-engineer the procurement process to be supported by e-Procurement systems before the system is designed.8. Develop a procurement data base earlyProvides market and product information to buyers and suppliersProvide a potential inducement for suppliers to participate.9. Factor legal, security and audit issues into implementation costs as part of the plan?10. Develop one national platform for e-Procurement?11. Remove obstructions to foreign suppliers requiring digital certificates?12. Have an effective change management strategyNearly all the lessons relate to management of e-Government Procurement rather than the technical issues related to the systems. This supports the observation made elsewhere that the problems for e-Procurement arise from the business process reengineering rather than the technology.Training Resources Available through the World Bank GroupI. OVERVIEW OF TRAINING FOCUS AREASIt is important that the government officials involved in acquiring, implementing and overseeing?e-Procurement systems as well as representatives from the Ministries of Finance with expenditure control responsibilities are exposed to training opportunities in the area of e-Procurement.? Besides technical issues, the training should cover the subjects of:- Development of the optimal e-Strategy and Action plan for e-Procurement implementation;- Tender for and contract manage the purchase of the e-Procurement system successfully;- Steps to take in order to implement and operate the e-Procurement systemEnsuring sustainability and success of the e-Procurement implementation.?II. THE WORLD BANK INSTITUTE: DISTANCE LEARNING TRAINING RESOURCESThe World Bank Institute (WBI)?is the Bank Group’s principal provider of learning activities. It has delivered training courses and seminars since the 1950s, mostly for government officials in developing countries on such topics as macroeconomic policy, poverty reduction, health, education, and policy reform in other economic sectors.In 2009, 2010 and 2011,?the WBI has organized a series of distance learning training sessions on various subjects of e-Procurement.? The training was carried out via videoconference supported by the online platform that hosts training materials.? Each session focused on a particular thematic area. The structure of each session encouraged dialogue between participants while relaying to them the relevant information necessary to effectively design and administer an e-Procurement system.?In 2009, the training was attended by Albania, Jordan, Moldova, Kenya and Tanzania.? In 2010 the training was attended by Armenia Ghana, Georgia and Rwanda.? In 2011, the training was attended by another?five East Asia Region countries (Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia).? At the end of the training, the country teams were asked to?develop Strategic Action Plans.??For a copy?of the? plans developed by the?country teams, click on a country name: ?Malaysia,?Philippines,?Thailand,?Vietnam?and?Indonesia.???Click?here?to access the training site. ?Click?here?to access the presentation made by Robert Hunja in April 2010 providing an overview of WBI's work in this area.?III. THE E-DEVELOPMENT THEMATIC GROUP:??DISTANCE LEARNING TRAINING RESOURCESThe e-Development Thematic Group?is a global community of practice open for participation by World Bank staff and external clients and partners. It brings together ICT specialists and other development professionals for mutual learning, knowledge sharing, capacity building and operational collaboration.? The group organizes on-going online and face to-face workshops and seminars covering the ICT topics that are of the most interest to the developing countries.? One of these topics is e-Procurement.In December 2008, the e-Development Group has organized a workshop on?“Demystifying Electronic Government Procurement.”The workshop aimed to catalyze e-Procurement implementations in participating countries, demystify the process, identify "quick wins" and expose key myths and misconceptions. Using case studies, the speakers discussed best practice examples and key lessons from e-Procurement initiatives, as well as general recommendations for designing and implementing successful e-Procurement projects. More information is available?here.?IV. ICT TOOLKIT DEVELOPED BY THE WORLD BANKIn many cases the planning for and implementation of e-Procurement initiatives can be treated as any other ICT intervention. ?This ICT toolkitdeveloped by the World Bank a few years ago attempts to be a simple practical treatment, focusing on the World?Bank operations.? It brings together in one place the experience contained within the World?Bank, providing tips, checklists and reference material.? The content of this?ICT toolkit?attempts to summarize, at an arbitrary level of detail, pertinent and explicit knowledge.? There is no intention that the content could be used by an inexperienced person to execute an ICT component without expert assistance.It is intended to be a practical guide addressing a limited part of the problem i.e., the role of task manager in preparing for and supervising the implementation of ICT that is integrated into some development objective. The toolkit is made up of two parts:Part?1 is an Overview or Route Map.? It covers awareness?of the use of ICT, how to categorize an ICT component and “walks through” a component lifecycle?giving brief comments and tips and pointing to more detailed guidance in part?2 and elsewhere.? In both parts?1 and?2 there is reference to the use of appropriate expertise for further guidance.Part?2 Good Practice.?It goes into a greater level of detail, providing a summary of the various disciplines relevant to the conceptualization, planning, delivery and sustainability of ICT-based products. ................
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