e Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice2

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e-Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice Final Report

PwCblogs.be/eProcGoldenBookPwC Page 2 of 48

This report was prepared for DG MARKT by PwC EU Services EESVContract reference: MARKT/2011/097/C4/OP LOT2Version: v1.3

Project officers

DECKERS, AlainLOCATELLI, IvoTARDIOLI, MarcoTRESTIENI-ION, Tudor

Directorate General Internal Market and Services (DG MARKT) of the European

CommissionUnit C4 Economic Analysis end e-ProcurementEmail: [email protected]

Authors

BAUS PERIS, Oriol (Invinet Sistemes)KOURTIDIS, SakyLILJEMO, KellyLOOZEN, NicolasRODRIGUES FRADE, JooSNAPRUD, Mikael (Tingtun)

Revised by

AMPE, FlorisBREYNE, Pieter

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this document are purely those of the writers and may not, in any

circumstances, be interpreted as stating an official position of the European Commission.

The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the information included in this

study, nor does it accept any responsibility for any use thereof. Reference herein to any

specific products, specifications, processes or services by trade name, trademark,

manufacturer or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,

recommendation or favouring by the European Commission.

All care has been taken by the authors to ensure that, where necessary, they have obtained

permission to use any parts of manuscripts including illustrations, maps and graphs on which

intellectual property rights already exist from the titular holder(s) of such rights or fromher/his or their legal representative.


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Key Definitions............................................................................................................5

Background of the study.............................................................................................8

Purpose and Scope of the study............... ............. .............. ............. .............. ........... 10

Methodology used to identify good practices............................................................11

Task 1: Scoping .....................................................................................................11

Knock-out criteria ...........................................................................................11

Relevance criteria ........................................................................................... 12

Inclusion criteria ............................................................................................ 12

Task 2: Analysis ................................................................................................... 13Task 3: Reporting ................................................................................................ 14

Catalogue of e-Procurement Good Practice .............. ............. .............. ............. ....... 17

Practice 1: Platforms automatically transmit all their notices to a single point ofaccess for publication ..................................................................................... 21

Practice 2: Economic operators and contracting authorities benefit fromaffordable training plans................................................................................22

Practice 3: Platforms have communication plans in place to promote the use ofe-Procurement................................................................................................23

Practice 4: Economic operators can access and retrieve contract notices andtender specifications as anonymous users.....................................................24

Practice 5: Economic operators can register on the platform without having toprovide country-specific information ............ .............. ............. .............. ....... 25

Practice 6: Economic operators complete their registration on a platform byclicking an activation link sent by email........................................................27

Practice 7: Platforms support English in addition to the official language(s) ofthe member state(s) where they operate .......................................................28

Practice 8: Economic operators can use a username and a password to log in toa platform .......................................................................................................29

Practice 9: Economic operators can search contract notices using a set of searchcriteria.............................................................................................................30

Practice 10: Economic operators can evaluate whether tender specifications arerelevant for them based on information available in contract notices.......... 31

Practice 11: Economic operators are notified of any changes to tenderspecifications..................................................................................................33

Practice 12: Platforms support automatic transmission of all types of notices toTED.................................................................................................................34

Practice 13: Economic operators and contracting authorities can search CPVcategories based on their code or their description.......................................35


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Practice 14: Contracting authorities can re-use information contained in theirprofile or in previous notices to create contract notices, tender specificationsand award notices...........................................................................................36

Practice 15: Economic operators can choose to manually or electronically sign asubmission report containing the hash value of each submitted document.37

Practice 16: Economic operators receive a proof of delivery upon successfulsubmission of their tender .............................................................................38

Practice 17: Economic operators can resubmit their tenders up until thesubmission deadline.......................................................................................39

Practice 18: Platforms keep tenders encrypted until the opening session.........40

Practice 19: Contracting authorities can evaluate part of their tendersautomatically based on pre-defined criteria .............. ............. ............. .......... 41

Practice 20: Platforms use European e-Signature validation services to validatee-Signatures during e-Submission.................................................................42

Practice 21: Platforms clearly indicate all costs related to use of the platform..43

Practice 22: Economic operators can create tenders using a core set ofstructured data and unstructured documents...............................................44

Practice 23: Economic operators have the freedom to choose the platform oftheir preference without being locked in by the choice of the contractingauthority .........................................................................................................45

Practice 24: Platforms use standard specifications to structure their data and topromote interoperability................................................................................46

Contacts.....................................................................................................................47


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As used in this document, the concepts below have the following definitions.

Term Definition

Contractual tools Electronic mechanisms defined in the EU directives thatcan be used to rationalise repetitive procurementprocesses. For example, Digital Purchasing Systems ande-Auction Systems are contractual tools.

e-Procurement1 e-Procurement refers to the use of electroniccommunications and transaction processing bygovernment institutions and other public sectororganisations when buying supplies and services or

tendering public works.

Procurement Phase The e-Procurement process is divided into two e-Procurement phases, split by award of the contract: Pre-Award phase and Post-Award phase.

Pre-Award1 e-Procurement process phases occurring before theaward of the contract (e-Notification, e-Access, e-Submission, e-Evaluation, e-Awarding).

Post-Award1 e-Procurement process phases occurring after the awardof the contract (e-Ordering, e-Invoicing, e-Payment).

Functionalities (alsoknown as e-Procurement services)

Generic term used to refer to processes, contractual toolsand procedures provided by e-Procurement solutions.

Platform (also knownas e-Procurementsolution)

Web-based system that provides services to contractingauthorities and economic operators for electronic publicprocurement.

Centralised publicplatform1

Public platforms providing centralized procurementservices with framework agreements, at national, federalor regional level. Its services are often mandatory.

Non-centralisedpublic platform1

Public platforms that do not provide centralizedprocurement services with framework agreements.

Private platform1 Private platforms offering a range of e-Procurementservices.

Procedures Methods for executing a procurement process based onthe EU directives. Possible procedures are: openprocedure, restricted procedure, negotiated procedure orcompetitive dialogue.

1As defined by IDC (2012) in D1 e-Procurement Landscape Report- (MARKT 2011/097/C4/ST/OPLOT1). pp.77,120-127.


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Term Definition

Processes Each e-Procurement phase can be divided into severalprocesses e.g. the Pre-Award phase can be divided intoe-Notification, e-Access or e-Submission.

Tender Specifications Tender specifications refers to either calls for tenders orcalls for expressions of interest.


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Key fact

Increasing the use of electronic procurement (referred to as e-Procurement) is ofstrategic importance for achieving the smart and sustainable growth objective ofthe EU 2020 Strategy. First, it can significantly simplify the way procurement isconducted, deliver better procurement outcomes and save costs by improving theefficiency of public expenditure. According to a communication from the EuropeanCommission2, Contracting authorities and Public entities that have alreadyimplemented e-Procurement report savings of between 5% and 20% of theirprocurement expenditure. The total size of the EU's procurement market isestimated to be more than 2 trillion euro, so each 5% saved could result in about100 billion euro of savings per year. Additionally, it can improve the transparencyand accessibility of tender opportunities and thus increase the participation of

SMEs in public procurement procedures. Finally, it can contribute to stimulatinggreater competition across the Single Market and providing new sources ofeconomic growth and jobs.

Since 2010, all the EU Member States have fully transposed the 2004 EU publicprocurement Directives and the majority of them have even adopted their optionalprovisions such as electronic auctions and dynamic purchasing systems (DPS).Starting around 2005, the European Commission assisted Member States in theDirectives transposition through a dedicated action plan for the implementation ofthe legal framework. In 2010, the European Commission launched a green paperon expanding the use of e-Procurement in the EU, to review the overall situationand the results achieved.

Despite e-Procurement now being enabled in all EU Member States nationallegislation and the fact that the infrastructure and tools are, in general, in place,the European Commission estimates that, on average, less than 5% of total

procurement budgets in the first mover Member States is awarded throughelectronic systems.3 Today, Europe is facing a significant gap between theavailability and the use of e-Procurement solutions. This gap is even moreperturbing given that the use of e-Government services is in general at asignificantly higher level. According to Eurostat, the average usage of e-Procurement by enterprises in the 27 Member States only reached 13% in 2010,while the average usage of e-Government services was higher than 80% in thesame year.

What could the present barriers preventing uptake of e-Procurement in Europe be?The European Commission has pointed out that the considerable variation in e-Procurement platforms and service models is a major obstacle to wide adoption ofe-Procurement and an important barrier to cross-border and SME participation. e-Procurement platforms are often not user-friendly, and trying to access and learnhow to use them is often particularly time-consuming, inefficient and frustratingfor foreign economic operators.

2

COM(2012) 179 final, Article 1, p.2.3 COM(2010) 571 final, Article 1, p.2.

less than % of totalprocurement budgets in thefirst-mover Member States isawarded through electronicsystems.


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Key fact

In order to facilitate the uptake of e-Procurement in Europe, the EuropeanCommission proposed new Directives for public procurement in December 2011,introducing mandatory public e-Procurement after 2016 (including e-Tendering).Approval of these new Directives is expected by early 2013. These recent legislativeproposals are, however, not on their own a sufficient condition for the successfulimplementation of e-Procurement in the European Union. A number of non-

legislative flanking measures are needed in order to support Member States intheir transition to full e-Procurement in a single market. Any such flankingmeasures or other future intervention by the Commission should be enhanced bylessons learnt in the field so that it can be relevant and overcome current barriersefficiently and effectively.

While the average level of e-Procurement usage may still be low, there are valuablelessons to be learnt and good practices to be observed.

There are valuable lessons tobe learnt and there are e-

Procurement good practicesspread all over Europe.


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PurposeGood practices are difficult to identify and there is a need to collect them and tomake them available at a single point of access. Hence, to investigate what workswell and what does not work so well, the European Commission has launched thisstudy to test existing e-Procurement platforms in a thorough, hands-on, manner.

Ultimately the European Commission aims to help contracting authorities andeconomic operators successfully implement and improve their e-Procurementprocesses and to promote convergence towards common goals when investing in e-Procurement solutions.

ScopeThe focus of the e-Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice has been on pre-award processes for above and below threshold procedures.

The results of this study are based on a restricted sample group and the studyincludes only items that have been observed among the tested platforms. Thisstudy does not aim to address all non-platform-related topics.


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The e-Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice has been divided into threephases as illustrated in the figure below. Each phase is further detailed in thefollowing sections.

Figure 1 - Project phases

Task 1: Scoping

First, more than 300 existing e-Procurement platforms were identified on a pan-European level and compiled in a long list.

Next, in order to select the sample of platforms to be analysed in the next task,three types of selection criteria were applied sequentially to the long list ofidentified platforms operating in Europe:

knock-out criteria; relevance criteria; and inclusion criteria.

Each one of the above criteria is further explained below.

Knock-out criteria

First a set of knock-out criteria were applied to the long list of e-Procurementplatforms operating in Europe to reduce the number of platforms to be analysed:

support of e-Submission functionality; relevance for public procurement; and platform uniqueness.


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Key fact

Relevance criteria

The remaining platforms were then further evaluated to determine their potentialfor good practices by applying the following two types of weighted relevancecriteria:

Potential:o platform processes and tools;o contractual tools; ando types of procedures.

Coverage:o languages; ando on-line presence.

A sensitivity analysis was performed to identify platforms that are resilient tochanges in the global weighting.

Inclusion criteriaFinally, the following inclusion criteria were applied to ensure selection of a diverseand representative sample:

geographic coverage; types of procurement; sectors/procurement verticals; participation models; e-Submission models; business models; and operating models.

The final set of selected platforms consisted of 28 platforms from 18 countries.

We have tested 28 platformsfrom 18 countries

MT

DK

BE

PT

UKDE

IT

FR

ES

CY

EE

LT

IE

AU

NO

FI

SE

SK


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Key fact

109

187

173

335

Large enterprise

Medium enterprise

Micro enterprise

Small enterprise

15

13

13

91

Educational Institution

e-Procurement

Non-Profit

Private Company

Public Administration

Task 2: Analysis

The set of platforms selected during task 1 were analysed in-depth based on thefollowing 6 areas.

Area 1: Context (context in which the assessment was carried out) Area 2: Visibility of the Platform (how the platforms plan to reach more

visibility and increase user participation) Area 3: User accessibility (how easy it is to access platform services) Area 4: Usability/Ease of Use (implementation of e-Procurement

functionalities in order to ease its use) Area 5: Cost and Benefit (development and operating costs in order to

deliver the service) Area 6: Interoperability (third-party system interaction in order to

facilitate the e-Procurement processes)

Information was collected from these 28 platforms by means of:

Interviews of platform managers and technical personnel Running test cases on the platforms in the role of an economic operator Running test cases on the platforms in the role of a contracting authority

Finally 936 platform users from 25 different countries were surveyed to collect theopinions of platform users. As shown in the figure below, a majority of thoserespondents were SMEs. Further details on the results of the survey can be foundon the project blog4.

4 http://www.pwcblogs.be/eProcGoldenBook/?p=328

We have surveyed 936platform users from 25different countries. Themajority of the respondentsare SMEs.

804


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Task 3: Reporting

In the final phase of this study, the findings that were collected during task 2 werereviewed, consolidated and formulated into practices.

In order to, as much as possible, avoid subjectivity and to formulate judgments onaccepted terms, each finding was assessed using a set of judgment criteria. In thisexercise, a set of six business objectives that have been defined by the CommissionExpert Group on e-Tendering (eTEG)5were used as judgment criteria. Thesebusiness objectives are further detailed in the table below.

Table 1: Business objectives as defined by eTEG are used as judgment criteria

Judgmentcriteria6

Definition

Enhanceaccessibility forSMEs

e-Tendering solutions need to be efficient and easy to use forsmall and medium-sized enterprises. This is a prerequisite toallowing participation by all stakeholders in publicprocurement procedures. To date, SMEs have largely been leftout of the public procurement dynamics due to the investmentthat is required of them to keep up with appropriate businessopportunities and gain access to the resources that are neededto submit a tender.

Ensure legalcertainty &confidence

Ensuring legal certainty and confidence is essential in order toachieve widespread acceptance and use of electronic tenderingprocesses among CAs and EOs. Recommendations range fromthe need for national information campaigns, clarifying e-

Tendering solution characteristics and choosing standardsenabling interoperability. Ensuring legal certainty involvesremoving ambiguity, increasing security and providingguidance on how to understand and implement the regulationson use of electronic means in the procurement directive.Confidence can be built through the examples of leading publicprocurement organisations and professionals within MSs usingelectronic solutions in their day-to-day operations.

Removebarriers tocross-bordertendering

One of the key objectives of e-Tendering systems is to allowand encourage EOs to submit their offers for tenders launchedin regions and countries different from those they usuallyoperate in. Cross-border bidding will avoid fragmentation of

the market, increase market transparency and facilitatecompetition, resulting in a better quality of services and lowerprices.

Promotetransparency &accountability

Promoting transparency and accountability is required notonly to allow better, equal access to public procurement butalso to secure paper-free processes and allow CAs to buildprocurement strategies based on analysis of past events.

5 The eTEG is an initiative of DG MARKT aimed at developing a blueprint for common e-tendering/e-submission solutions. The vision of eTEG is based upon specific business goals which are brieflyillustrated in this section. For more information, please refer to DG MARKTs website:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/expert/index_en.htm.6As defined by eTEG Business objectives


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Judgmentcriteria6

Definition

Improveusability and

efficiency

e-Tendering means increased efficiency for both CAs and theEOs, as described above under the vision. To foster widespread

e-Tendering take-up, it is necessary to show concrete benefitsto the players in terms of effectiveness and efficiency gains. ITtechnologies enable procurement players to meet the generalprocurement requirements (transparency, accountability,confidentiality, etc.) with more efficient control mechanisms. Itis necessary to come up with tools that are efficient, anddesigned to be easily used by the procurement actors in a newcoherent process that does not unnecessarily replicate paper-based procedures.

Support changemanagement

Supporting change management is key to implementing e-Tendering. Paper-based processes that might have beenefficient for decades must be transferred to electronic-based

processes in order to make the most of e-Tendering. Thiscannot be done in one go and there are both objective andpsychological factors that cause resistance to change fromprocurement actors. Transition to e-Tendering is not just an ITproject. Rather, it is about rethinking procurement as a whole,relying on IT as the mainstream foundation for the process. Itrequires a strategy at policy level and adequate communicationand support initiatives targeted at the procurement players.

The practices were also rated based on the same judgment criteria, and finally thepractices were validated through public review7 as well as detailed reviews8 from

selected national experts. The final results are also available online on DGMARKTs web pages9.

7 http://www.pwcblogs.be/eProcGoldenBook/?p=505

8

http://www.pwcblogs.be/eProcGoldenBook/?p=4779 http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/golden-book/index_en.htm


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This chapter presents an overview of the good practices that have been extracted,classified and organised into a catalogue of good practices. As explained in Chapter1, the information contained in the presented practices is based on observationsand lessons learnt from an in-depth assessment of 28 e-Procurement platforms in18 European countries.

Each practice presented in the catalogue contains the below information.

Table 2: Overview of fields used to detail each e-Procurement good practice

Field Description

Name This field contains the practice title.

Practice ID This field is intended for Commission internal use only. It linksback to the origin of the practice, indicating the tested area andID of related finding.

Summary This field provides an explanation of the practice. Thesummary follows the following structure:

Platforms that apply this practice (...) answers to thequestion what.

This way, (...) answers to the question why.

Anecdote This field includes an anecdote from the testing. The purpose isto better convey the experience that the study team has livedthrough during the testing of e-Procurement platforms.

DOs This field indicates what platforms implementing the practiceshould do.

DONTs This field indicates what platforms implementing the practiceshould avoid.

This practice

concerns

This field indicates which pre-award e-Procurement processes

are concerned by the practice.

Practice rating This filed indicates the average rating of the practice calculatedfrom the number of stars (1-5) awarded per judgment criteria.

Objectives This field provides an overview of how relevant the practice isfor each business objective10by awarding between one and fivestars along with a rationale behind the rating.

Legend This field explains the legend used when rating the practice.

10 As explained in chapter 1, the business objectives that are used as judgment criteria were defined byeTEG


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Field Description

This practicehas beenobserved in

This field indicates:

how many countries;

how many e-Procurement platforms; and

in the type of platforms11 that the practice has beenobserved in.

Related practice This field cross-references related practices.

The table below offers an overview of the e-Procurement good practices and thefollowing section further details each practice.

11 As detailed in the key definitions section, platform types as defined by LOT1 of this study have beenused.


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Table 3 Catalogue of e-Procurement Good Practices

Practice title

Judgement criteria

Enhanceaccessibility

forSMEs

Ensure legalcertainty&confidence

Facilitatecross-border

tendering

Promotetransparency &accountability

Improveusabilityand

efficiency

Supportchange

management

Practice 1: Platforms automatically transmit all their notices to a single point of access for publication ***** **** ***** **** * ** ** * ** **

Practice 2: Economic operators and contracting authorities benefit from affordable training plans ***** **** **** *** * ** ** * ** **

Practice 3: Platforms have communication plans in place to promote the use of e-Procurement **** ***** **** ******* ****

Practice 4: Economic operators can access and retrieve contract notices and tender specifications asanonymous users ***** **** ***** **** ***** ****Practice 5: Economic operators can register on the platform without having to provide country-specific information **** *** ***** **** ***** ***Practice 6: Economic operators complete their registration on a platform by clicking an activationlink sent by email *** ***** *** **** ***** ***Practice 7: Platforms support English in addition to the official language(s) of the member state(s)

where they operate **** **** ***** **** **** ***

Practice 8: Economic operators can use a username and a password to log in to a platform ***** **** ***** *** ***** ***

Practice 9: Economic operators can search contract notices using a set of search criteria ***** *** ***** **** ***** ***Practice 10: Economic operators can evaluate whether tender specifications are relevant for them

based on information available in contract notices **** *** **** **** ***** ***

Practice 11: Economic operators are notified of any changes to tender specifications **** ***** **** **** **** ***

Practice 12: Platforms support automatic transmission of all types of notices to TED **** *** ***** **** **** ****Practice 13: Economic operators and contracting authorities can search CPV categories based ontheir code or their description ***** *** **** *** ***** ***Practice 14: Contracting authorities can re-use information contained in their profile or in previousnotices to create contract notices, tender specifications and award notices *** **** *** *** * ** ** * ** **Practice 15: Economic operators can choose to manually or electronically sign a submission reportcontaining the hash value of each submitted document ***** ***** ***** **** **** ***Practice 16: Economic operators receive a proof of delivery upon successful submission of theirtender *** ***** *** ***** **** ***

Practice 17: Economic operators can resubmit their tenders up until the submission deadline **** *** *** **** ***** ****

Practice 18: Platforms keep tenders encrypted until the opening session * *** * * ** ** **** * ** ** * ** ** ***


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Practice 19: Contracting authorities can evaluate part of their tenders automatically based on pre-defined criteria *** **** *** * ** ** * ** ** ***Practice 20: Platforms use European e-Signature validation services to validate e-Signatures duringe-Submission *** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***

Practice 21: Platforms clearly indicate all costs related to use of the platform **** *** **** **** *** *****Practice 22: Economic operators can create tenders using a core set of structured data andunstructured documents **** **** *** **** ***** ***Practice 23: Economic operators have the freedom to choose the platform of their preference without

being locked in by the choice of the contracting authority ***** *** ***** *** * ** ** * ** **Practice 24: Platforms use standard specifications to structure their data and to promoteinteroperability **** **** **** **** **** *****


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Practice 1: Platforms automatically transmit all their notices to asingle point of access for publication

DOs DON'Ts

8 .*18

#

What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms th at ar e dr ive n by nati ona l gov ern men ts c olle ct not ice s fro mregional governments or from municipalities and publish them on their platform. As a result, theseplatforms act as national single points of access (SPoA). We also found that, when this happens in acountry with several official languages, the notices that the SPoAs collect are in a mixture of thosedifferent languages. So, in fact, we found language barriers even within some national borders.

Enhanc e accessibility forSMEs

Ensure legal certainty & confidence

Anecdote

4,67 / 5

SMEs can find all the opportunities on a single platform, whichmakes the opportunities more acce ssible.

The existence of a SPoA increases economic operatorconfidence in e-Procurement.

Practice ID

Platforms that apply this practice also make their c ontract notices and award notices, including awardnotices of direct awards, available at a single point of access (SPoA). The contract notices indicate clearlythe platforms on which the tender specifications are available. The SPoA can either be a central platformor it can aggregate notices from all other platforms. The SPoA is free to use, searchable and does notrequire registration. There can be more than one SPoA per country , as long as each SPoA presents allnotices.

This way, it is possible for eco nomic operators to find all contract and award notices below and abovethreshold at all administrative lev els (central, regional and local) through an SPoA. By also publishingnotices for direct awards, transparency and accountability can be improv ed.

Practice rating

ObjectivesSummary

Platforms support automatic transmission of all types of noticesto TED

Related practice

*****

****

*****

include in notices a clickable URL pointing tothe platform where the tender specificationsare available for downloadRelated obje ct ive(s):

show clearly the price of the call for tenderdocuments if they are not available free ofchargeRelated obje ct ive(s):

indicate clearly the submission deadline with adate, time and time zoneRelated obje ct ive(s):

make publication at the SPoA as automatic aspossible to avoid double encodingRelated obje ct ive(s):

publish contract award notices also for directawardsRelated obje ct ive(s):

make notices sent to the SPoA as similar aspossible to those sent to TEDRelated obje ct ive(s):

A SPo A r edu ce s the time spe nt by ec ono mic ope rat or s onlooking for contract notices.

Contract notices are the starting point for e-Submission.

*****

*****

A2 -01-02

don't omit information about where the call fortenders is available for downloadRelated object ive(s):

don't provide a submission period (number ofdays) instead of a submission deadline (date,time and time zone)Related object ive(s):

don't require registration to retriev e noticesRelated object ive(s):

This practice concerns

28e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

Centralised public platform

Non-centralised public platform

Private platform

Practice 12

This practice has been observed in

A SPo A giv es b ett er a nd mo re e qua l ac ce ss to pub licprocurement.

****

Facilitate cross-borderten dering

Promote transparency &acc ountability

Im prove usability & efficiency

Support change management

Ac ce ssing a ll co ntra ct not ice s fro m on e pla ce inc rea ses t hevi sibilit y o f co ntra ct opp ort unit ies fo r for eign ec ono micoperators who might not know individual contractingauthorities as well as national economic ope rators.

8countries

10platforms

Supportsobjective

*****

Legend

Undermines objective

*


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Practice 2: Economic operators and contracting authorities benefitfrom affordable training plans

DOs DON'Ts

#

#

The delivery o f training courses accelerates the uptake ofe-

Procurement.

28

Im prove usability & efficiency *****

Using chambers ofc ommerce and business organisations topromote the use of electronic procureme nt platforms is moreefficient than pro moting these training courses from theplatforms themselves. Use of these networks increasesinvolvement and trust by economic operators.

Support change management *****

Training courses are usually part of local or national strategies,wher e c ros s-bo rde r bid ding is not ofte n take n into acc oun t.However, prov iding courses online could help reach foreigneconomic operators.

Promote transparency &acc ountability ***

Training courses is neutral to the transparency of publicprocurement.

Related practice

Platforms have c ommunication plans in place to pr omote theuse of e-Procurement

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding.*18



Private platform


Practice 3


make the courses affordableRelated obje ct ive(s):

make the platform as user-friendly as possibleto minimise the need for trainingRelated obje ct ive(s):

host joint sessions between economicoperators and co ntracting authoritiesRelated obje ct ive(s):

make the courses hands-onRelated obje ct ive(s):

include information about the EU legalProcurement framework and nationalframework in the coursesRelated obje ct ive(s):

offer the courses online

Related obje ct ive(s):

don't make the courses a selling pitch

Related object ive(s):

Practice I D A2-02-02 Practice rating 4,33 / 5

Summary Objectives

Platforms that apply this practice entice economic o perators and contracting authorities to use e-Procurement. The training courses for economic op erators may be delive red by the platforms,contracting authorities or other organisations such as chambers of commerce. The platforms should also

be a s use r-frie ndly as po ssibl e to minimis e th e ne ed fo r tr aining .

This way, economic operato rs and contracting authorities are educated on the use of electronicprocurement platforms and can learn more quickly about the benefits of using e-Procurement platforms.

Having proper training plans, delivered by o fficialrepresentatives, increases the confidence of economicoperators.What we hav e fo und is that ther e is n o c omm on in ter face amo ng the test ed p latfo rms. This me ant t hat,

even after testing 27 platforms, there was still no straightforward or intuitive way of understanding howto use the 28th platform that we tested. Hence, we found that training was useful in order to gain aquicker understanding of how to make best use of the functionalities provided by the platform.



Facilitate cross-borderten dering ****

*****

Affo rda ble co urse s hel ps SMEs to use the plat form . Usingchambers of commerce and other professional organisationsmakes the training courses available in different geographicareas.

****

Anecdote

14platforms

11 countries

Supports objective

*****

Legend

Undermines objective

*


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Practice 3: Platforms have communication plans in place topromote the use of e-Procurement

DOs DON'Ts

# .*18

Related practice

Economic operators and contracting authorities benefit fromaffordable training plans

Information about e-Procurement will help raise awareness onthe benefits and the working of e-Procurement, which willsupport change management.




Private platform

28

Practice 2

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding




don't only target contrac ting authoritiesRelated object ive(s):

don't forget to mention the value of e-Procurement as a whole



Foreign economic operators need more information andguidance on using cross-border e -Procurement platforms; agood communication strategy will enhance cro ss-border

bidd ing. Co mmun ica tio n plan s ca n also inv olv e ta ilor edactivities to enhance c ross-border bidding.

****

Communication surrounding the platform increases the overalltransparency of the procurement process and the working ofthe platform.

***

****


Practice I D A2-02-03 Practice rating 4 / 5

Summary Objectives

****Enhanc e accessibility forSMEs

Communication surrounding the platform is neutral to usabilityand efficiency.

SMEs need more information and guidance on using e-Procurement platforms to overcome their reluctance, a goodcommunication strategy will enhance accessibility for SMEs, inparticular ifit includes some affordable events targeted atSMEs.

Anecdote

Ensure legal certainty & confidence *****

Publications in specialist publications or official journalsconstitute a tacit third-party endorsement of the platform,

whic h re infor ce s the co nfide nce that can be p lac ed i n theplatform.

What we hav e fo und is that plat form s dr iv en b y p riv ate co mpa nies i nv est mor e in c omm erc ialadvertising than platforms driven by public administrations.

****

promote the use of e-Procurement platformsby rep or ting s ucc ess s tor iesRelated obje ct ive(s):

use social media and traditional media to

advertise the platformRelated obje ct ive(s):

take into consideration economic operatorsbey ond nati onal bor der s by makingpromotional information available in otherlanguagesRelated obje ct ive(s):

involve chambers of commerce and othersimilar organisations in promotion of theplatformRelated obje ct ive(s):

promote affordable eventsRelated obje ct ive(s):

Platforms that apply this practice run a communication programme involv ing their website, commercialadvertising or news items in specialist publications.

This way, it is possible to raise awareness and confidence among users about the platform and e-Procurement as a whole.

25 platforms

17 countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


24/48



Practice 4: Economic operators can access and retrieve contractnotices and tender specifications as anonymous users

DOs DON'Ts

6 .*18

9

This practice has been observed inThis practice concerns

28

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

Related practice

Economic operators can search co ntract notices using a set ofsearch criteria



Private platform

Practice 9

Allo wing an ony mou s ac ce ss to co ntra ct not ice s and ca lls fortenders increases the transparency of the overall tenderprocess.

*****

Economic operators hav e all the information they require todecide whether they will participate in a specific process

witho ut b eing r equ ire d to subm it th eir c red ent ials.

****

****




Lowering administrative and tec hnical barriers increases cross-bor der par tic ipat ion.

don't make registration mandatory to re trievecontract notices or tender specificationsRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operators to browse

through several webpages to retrieve all thedocuments in a call for tendersRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operators to purc hasedigital certificates before being able to acc esstender specificationsRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operator s to providecertified translated copies of attestations orother forms of evidence before being able toaccess tender spec ificationsRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operators to registerbefo re b eing a ble t o ac ce ss te nde rspecificationsRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operator s to installapplications before being able to access tenderspecificationsRelated object ive(s):

offer light registration (email address only ) toeconomic oper ators that want to keep up todate about changes to te nder specificationsRelated obje ct ive(s):

offer light registration (email only) toeconomic o perators that wish to ask thecontracting authority questionsRelated obje ct ive(s):

provide ac cess to calls for tenders through aweb bro wserRelated obje ct ive(s):

offer the possibility for ec onomic operators toask questions to the c ontracting authorityRelated obje ct ive(s):

Lowering administrative and technical barriers engageseconomic operator s and enlarges the basis of e-Procurementparticipation.

****Anecdote

*****

What we hav e fo und is that ther e ar e diffe ren t ap pro ac hes t o giv ing ac ce ss to co ntra ct not ice s and ten derspecifications. In a platform, we had to install a Java application in order to b e able to acc ess tenderspecifications.


If contract notices and calls for tenders are easily accessible,economic operator s can decide more quickly whether toparticipate in the tender process.


Platforms that apply this practice remove technical and administrative pr e-requisites and barriers toaccessing tender spec ifications.

This way, it is possible to significantly ease ac cess to c alls for tenders and make public procurementmore accessible.


Summary Objectives

*****

Lowering administrative and tec hnical barriers increases theparticipation of SMEs in public procure ment.


9 platforms

6 countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


25/48



Practice 5: Economic operators can register on the platformwithout having to provide country-specific information

DOs DON'Ts

9 .*18

Platforms that apply this practice make co untry-specific information optional in the registrationprocess. Platforms also simplify the registration step by requesting information that eco nomic operatorscan provide without consulting third parties, such as Certification Authorities, chambers of commerceor other business organisations.

This way, it is possible to av oid foreign economic operators being prevented from registering.


Summary Objectives

Enhanc e accessibility forSMEs ****

Using a simplified online form facilitates SMEr egistratio n, asthey do not need to purchase any other item such as a digitalcertificate or co llect additional documentation from third-party o rganisations.

***

Mandating country -specific fields in the registration process isneutral to legal certainty or confidence.

Mandating country -specific fields in the registration process isneutral to change management.

clearly indicate which fields are mandatory,and which are notRelated obje ct ive(s):

protect user data ac cording to EU personaldata protection directivesRelated obje ct ive(s):

simplify the re gistration process by re ducingthe number of mandatory fields and thenumber of steps required to completeregistrationRelated obje ct ive(s):

indicate clearly how long the registrationprocess normally takesRelated obje ct ive(s):

perform validation checks on the requestedinformation where po ssibleRelated obje ct ive(s):

provide c lear error messages to the user whendata is missing or violates v alidation rulesRelated obje ct ive(s):

provide c lear guidance on how to correctly fillin the formRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to use OpenIDorother digital identity service sRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to choose theirusername and passwordRelated obje ct ive(s):

don't require a digital certificate to register onthe platformRelated object ive(s):

don't require individuals repre sentingeconomic operators to provide evidence oftheir relationship to the economic op erator(during the registration process)Related object ive(s):

don't require a full extract from the businessregister to register on the platformRelated object ive(s):

don't require a power of attorney to register onthe platformRelated object ive(s):

don't require a copy of the identity or citizencard to r egister in the platformRelated object ive(s):

don't require information that is not absolutelynecessary for the registration process, e.g.mobile phone numberRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operator s to provideidentifiers or other data specific to the co untry

wher e th e pl atfo rm o per ate sRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operators to co nsultthird parties such as Certification Authorities,chambers of commerce or other businessorganisations to register on the platformRelated object ive(s):

don't count on workarounds for foreigneconomic operato rs to be able to registerRelated object ive(s):

don't oblige ec onomic operator s to fill in thecomplete registration form again if an erroroccurs due to violation of validation rulesRelated object ive(s):

28

Eliminating country-specific fields from registration reducesthe time necessary to c omplete registration.

***



Ensure legal certainty & confidenceAnecdote

*****

Making country -specific fields optional allows foreign economicoperators to participate in tender proce sses.

*****



Private platform

What we hav e fo und is that it was ve ry tric ky, in so me c ase s ev en im pos sible , as a cr oss -bor der ec ono micoperator to re gister on some platforms.

We hav e fo und, for e xa mple , c ases wher e we had t o se lec t o ur c oun try of ori gin fro m a d rop -dow n me nuwhic h co nsist ed o f only one pos sible opt ion.

We hav e al so e nco unte red cas es wh ere we ha d to pro v ide n atio nal id ent ifier s, su ch a s nat iona l V AT- o rsocial security numbers. V alidation checks on those fields prevented us from using shortcuts, such asgenerated numbers or other dummy v alues. In some cases use of workarounds was possible, but wefound that the use of workarounds reduces the confidence in the platform.

We hav e al so b ee n for ce d to buy ce rtific ate s to be a ble to a cc ess s ome of the plat form s. I n add itio n, wewer e no t ab le to re-u se a ny of the bou ght c ert ifica tes in ot her plat form s and wer e c ons equ entl y fo rc ed t obuy mult iple ce rtific ate s and smar tc ard s.

Finally, to be able to register, we sometimes had to provide paper documents by post, scanned images ofthose documents and even c ertified translations of official documents. In any of these cases, theregistration process became both lengthy and costly.

Worth y t o me ntio n is t hat we hav e fou nd t hat m any of the plat form s ow ner s wer e no t awa re o f thebar rie rs t heir plat form intr odu ce d to cr oss -bor der ec ono mic ope rat or s.



Eliminating country-specific fields from the registrationprocess promote s an equal footing among economic operatorsand therefore improves the overall transparency of theprocess.

Related practice

Economic operators co mplete their registration on a platformby clic king an a cti va tion link se nt b y e mail


****

Practice 6

11 platforms

9 countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


26/48




e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding


27/48



Practice 6: Economic operators complete their registration on aplatform by clicking an activation link sent by email

DOs DON'Ts

# .*18

#





Using this type of activation mechanism ensures that economicoperators have access to their registered email account. Thismakes it possible to gather correct information for contractingauthorities and creates acco untability in the registrationprocess.

*****

The economic operator c an activate its account by using theinformation receiv ed in the email, and so the process is sec ureand efficient.

***

Platforms that apply this practice allow users to complete their registration process by clicking a uniqueURL that is sent to them in an activ ation email. This email address is prov ided by the user in theregistration process.

This way, it is possible to ensure that the email provided by users during their registration is valid.

There is a unique hash in the ac tivation email which ensuresthat the economic operator receiving it is the one that createdthe account on the platform.

Anecdote

What we foun d is t hat m ost plat form s use ema il to co mmun ica te wi th e co nomi c o per ato rs. Nev ert hele ss,we fo und plat form s tha t do not per form any co ntro l on t he v alidit y o f the ema il add res s pr ov ided by theeconomic o perator before granting full access to the platform.

We also enc oun ter ed a plat form that req uire d a c ont rac t to be p rint ed a nd ma nuall y s igned . The co ntra cthad to be sent by post, fax or sc anned email. This process was lengthy and we found that sending scannedpaper by email does not provide any benefits, such as improved security .

include a clickable URL which includes aunique hash or activation key in the activationemailRelated obje ct ive(s):

limit the activation time-frame, it shouldexpire if not clicked within a reasonable timeperiodRelated obje ct ive(s):

require the economic operator to provide ava lid e mail a cc oun tRelated obje ct ive(s):

don't grant access until the acc ount has beenactivatedRelated object ive(s):

don't require a digital certificate to co mpletethe registration processRelated object ive(s):

don't require economic operators to send aform by post to c omplete the registrationprocessRelated object ive(s):

****

***

This type of activation is neutral for SMEacc essibility.

*****

***

This type of activation is neutral for foreign economicoperators.



Summary Objectives

Practice I D A3-07 -02 Practice rating 3,83 / 5

Related practice

Economic operators can r egister on the platform withouthaving to provide co untry-specific information

Ac co unt act iv atio n is ne utr al to cha nge m anage men t.



28



Private platform

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

Practice 5

13platforms

12countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


28/48



Practice 7: Platforms support English in addition to the officiallanguage(s) of the member state(s) where they operate

# .*18

#

Multilingual interfaces makes the platform accessible to morepeople.

It is neutral to change management.

ensure that translations are of good quality andcompleteRelated obje ct ive(s):

provide phone numbers and other contactpoints that are accessible from abroadRelated obje ct ive(s):

support the languages ofall the regions of yourcountryRelated obje ct ive(s):

consider the trade-offbetween increased use ofthe platform by supporting additionallanguages and the effort to maintain themRelated obje ct ive(s):

*****


****Anecdote

don't limit translations to English;co nsideralso translating into the language(s) of yourneighbouring country/iesRelated object ive(s):

don't leave yo ur platform monolingualRelated object ive(s):

DOs DON'Ts

Summary

Related practice

Platforms automatically transmit all their notices to a singlepoint of access for publication

This practice has been observed inThis practice concerns

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding


Non centralised public platform

Private platform

Practice 1

Objectives


What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms ar e o nly av ailab le in t he o fficial langu age o f the co untr ywher e th ey ope rat e, c omp lica ting a cc ess for c ros s-bo rde r ec ono mic ope rat ors . Some of them ev enprevented us from being able to use automated translation tools to translate the pages.

We hav e al so fo und t hat m ost of the not ice s and tend er s pec ifica tion s wer e o nly av ailab le in t he o fficia llanguage of the country . This was true ev en in platforms where the interface was av ailable in English.

We hav e al so e nco unte red a pla tfor m tha t re lied on t he b ro wser co nfigur atio n to set the l angua geautomatically in the interface.

28

Platforms that apply this practice make the user interface available in at least English in addition to theirofficial language(s).

This way, it is possible to make acc ess easier for foreign eco nomic operators, because English is the "defacto"business language in Europe.

****

SMEs are able to understand the platform and identify thepresence of relevant contract notices.





Understanding the user interface increases confidence.

Economic operators from cross-border countries are able tounderstand the platform and participate.

****

Promote transparency &acc ountability ****

Most economic operators c an use the platform when the userinterface is available in their own language or English.

***

20 platforms

16countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


29/48



Practice 8: Economic operators can use a username and apassword to log in to a platform

DOs DON'Ts

# .*18

#

Platforms that apply this practice allow economic operators to log in with a simple set of credentials,such as username and password.

As a res ult, it is p oss ible to fa cilit ate ac ce ss for reg iste red ec ono mic ope rat ors .

What we foun d is t hat s ome plat form s allo w mult iple log-in opt ions , allo wing t he u ser to c hoo se a mongusing their national e-IDcards, qualified certificates, or username and password.

We also enc oun ter ed a plat form that cla imed to s upp ort OpenI D. Howev er, when tes ting t he p latfo rm,we fo und that it wa s not sup por ted .

Anecdote

Summary

The use of a username and password is not a barrier to cro ss-bor der acc ess.

*****

There are no extra c ost or technical skills required to use ausername and password.

****

The use of a username and password is widely implemented insimilar contex ts.

*****




Objectives

Related practice

Economic operators can r egister on the platform withouthaving to provide co untry-specific information

The use of a username and password is neutral to changemanagement.


28


Non centralised public platform

Private platform

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

Practice 5

***

***

Support change managementThis practice concerns

implement a strong password policyRelated obje ct ive(s):

provide a password recovery functionality tousersRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to use OpenIDorother digital identity service sRelated obje ct ive(s):

don't require the use of digital certificates tolog in to the platformRelated object ive(s):

The use of a username and password is neutral for the

transparency and accountability of the platform.

*****

The use of a username and password does not require theinstallation of hardware devices, software or certificates.




19platforms

16countries

Supportsobjective

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


30/48



Practice 9: Economic operators can search contract notices using aset of search criteria

DOs DON'Ts

8 .*18

9

What we hav e fo und is that it is u sefu l to hav e a c omb inatio n be twee n free tex t-ba sed sea rc h and dro p-down menus that allows choosing dates, locations, amounts and c lassification of the deliverables. Thiskind ofc ombination allowed us to restrict the search to c ontract notices interesting for us.

We hav e al so fo und t hat s ome plat form s offe r on ly a te xt -base d se arc h on t he t end er o ppo rtu nitie s.

Alt hou gh we fo und t hat t his kind of sea rc h func tio nalit y i s eas y a nd si mple , it is also langu age-s pec ificand it prevented us from getting a full overview of the available contract notices.

We hav e e ve n fou nd a p latfo rm t hat d oe s no t offe r any sea rc h func tion ality at al l. A ll co ntra ct not ice swer e sim ply disp lay ed i n a lo ng list that ex ten ded ov er m ultip le p ages , lea vin g us t o ei the r sc ro ll tho ughthis list or to use the national SPoA (or TED) to search for the co ntract notices abov e threshold.

The use of controlled vocabularies allows economic operatorsto search the same way on different platforms, significantlyreducing the learning curve and improv ing visibility.

28



Private platform

allow economic operators to searc h forcontract notice s based on submission deadlineusing date, time and time zoneRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to searc h forcontract notices based on a range ofd ates anda range ofcontract valuesRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to searc h forcontract notices based on CPV code s for thesubject-matter ofcontractsRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to searc h forcontract notices based on NUTScodes for theplace ofdeliveryRelated obje ct ive(s):

support free-text search for the subject-matterof the contract and contracting authority nameRelated obje ct ive(s):

indicate clearly in the search results, by meansof a short text or icon, whether the tenders can

be s ubm itte d el ec tro nic allyRelated obje ct ive(s):

allow economic operators to sav e a default setof search criteriaRelated obje ct ive(s):

*****

Practice 10





Platforms that apply this practice support advanced search with at least the following searchablecriteria:- the name of the contracting authority- the object of the contract- the type of contract (goods, services, or works)- the publication date- the submission deadline- the place ofde livery- the contract value

This way, it is possible for eco nomic operators to easily find contract notices.

Foreign economic operators can search contract noticesaccording to their needs. The use of standard controlled

vo ca bula rie s allo ws ec ono mic ope rat ors to s ear ch t he s ameway on d iffere nt pla tfor ms.

****

*****

SMEs can search contract notice s according to their needs.

***

Search is neutral to legal certainty and confidence.

Anecdote

*****



Economic operators are able to find contract notices usingfamiliar criteria. This increases transparency .

Summary Objectives

Practice I D A 4-01-01 Practice rating 4,17 / 5

Related practice

Economic operators can ev aluate whether tender specificationsare relev ant for them based on information available incontract notices

Search is neutral to c hange management.



don't provide a long list of contract noticeswhic h ca nnot be s ear che d or filte redRelated object ive(s):

don't provide a submission period (number ofdays) instead of a submission deadline (date,time and time zone)Related object ive(s):

don't make basic search a c hargeable service


***

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

9 platforms

8countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


31/48



Practice 10: Economic operators can evaluate whether tenderspecifications are relevant for them based on informationavailable in contract notices

Clear and complete contract notices increase transparency andallows better access to public procurement.




What we hav e fo und is that , with the ex ce ptio n of co untr ies w ith le gal re quir eme nts o n e-Sub missio n, th edecision on whether to use paper based or electro nic submission is left to the contrac ting authority. Wealso found that most ofthe c ontract notices published in the platforms have to be responded to by paper

base d su bmiss ion.

When pe rfor ming a sear ch a mon g co ntra ct n oti ce s we found that som e pl atfo rms c lear ly stat e, u sing a nicon, which of the contract notices repre sent calls for tenders that can be answered electronically and

whic h ca nnot . We, ho wev er , also enc oun ter ed a plat form that use d ic ons , with out a leg end , whic h co uldnot be understood.

We hav e al so fo und t hat s ome plat form s do not pre sent req uire ment s in t he c ont rac t no tic es a t all. Wehad to go through the detailed requirements to understand whether the te nders should be submittedelectronically or not. We also found that in most cases the search results were displayed in a list with allor some o f the information detailed in this practice. Additionally, we encountered some platforms thatpresented the results of the search in a manner resembling an internet search engine, also displaying

information about name of categories of the contract notices and number of opportunities matching thecriteria.

****

Clear and complete c ontract notices facilitate the identificationof relevant calls for tenders, which eases acce ss for SMEs topublic procurement.

***

The format ofc ontract notices is neutral to legal certainty orconfidence.



The format ofc ontract notices is neutral to changemanagement.

*****

Clear and complete contract notices increase usability becauseeconomic operator s do not have to gain access and examinecontract doc uments to obtain all the information they need toevaluate whether the opportunity is of interest to them.

***

Platforms that apply this practice clearly indicate:

- whether the tenders can be submitted electr onically- where the tender documents can be found- the name, national IDand main activity of the contracting authority- the subject-matter ofthe co ntract- the type of contract (goods, services or works)- the publication date- the submission deadline without needing to calculate it- the place ofde livery- the contract value- the procedure

This way, it is possible for eco nomic operators to easily obtain all the information they need to ev aluate

whet her the opp ort unit y i s of inte res t to them .

Summary Objectives


Clear and complete c ontract notices facilitate the identificationof relevant calls for tenders for foreign economic operators.

Anecdote

Promote transparency &acc ountability ****

****

Supportsobjective

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


32/48


33/48



Practice 11: Economic operators are notified of any changes totender specifications

# .*18

#

Summary Objectives


****

SMEs cannot afford to continuously monitor e-Procurementplatforms for changes to the tender specifications of interestthem. Direct and affordable notifications to interested parties

will en sure SMEs are n ot le ft be hind.

*****

Direct, affordable notifications to interested parties will preventconfusion and ambiguity with regard to changes, which willreduce non-compliance.



Publication and free notification of changes ensure fulltransparency.

DOs DON'Ts

Anecdote

****

Direct, affordable notifications to interested parties will ensureforeign economic operators are not left behind. Foreigneconomic o perators can easily be missing information about

changes to procedures abroad.

****



What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms re quir e the ec ono mic ope rat ors to be r egist ere d in o rde r tohave acc ess to the calls for tenders doc uments. Some platforms also notify about changes in the tenderspecifications automatically to all the economic oper ators that have do wnloaded them. We found thatthis was ineffective due to the sheer amount of emails we received without requesting the informationand without being able to unsubscribe. We also rec eived e mail notifications from a platform on eac h stepof the proce ss until the awarding. Although this was in itself a useful feature, it was again implemented

witho ut p ossi bilit y t o un -subs cr ibe.

We hav e al so fo und t hat s ome not ifica tion s inc lude infor mati on a bou t the ex iste nce cha nge t o a c all fo rtenders but without including information on where the change has been made, leaving us to, for eac h

notification, search through the entire call for tenders to identify what has changed.

We hav e al so fo und a plat form wher e ano ny mou s ac ce ss to the ten der spe cific atio ns was supp or ted withthe option to prov ide an email address to be informed about changes.

Platforms that apply this practice notify interested parties, and publish on the platform, changes topublished tender specifications or to a bidding procedure. Such changes could include questions andanswers, corrigenda, extra documents, etc. Intere sted parties can access the changes without registeringor choo se to be notified, preferably by email and free of charge, following light registration.

This way, it is possible for eco nomic operators to stay up dated on the tender specifications of interest tothem.

Change notifications are neutral to c hange management.



28

allow economic operators to provide contactinformation without having to register if they

want to b e no tified of cha nges, pre fera bly byemailRelated obje ct ive(s):

send notifications only to eco nomic operatorswho h av e e xp res sed an int ere st in bein ginformedRelated obje ct ive(s):

support the aggregation of notifications in oneemail for all tender specifications the economicoperator is interested inRelated obje ct ive(s):

include in notifications a link allowing therecipient to opt to no longer receivenotificationsRelated obje ct ive(s):

include detailed information on the changes inthe notificationsRelated obje ct ive(s):

don't use contact information provided byeconomic o perators for being notified ofchanges for other purposesRelated object ive(s):

don't send notifications to economic o peratorswho h av e no t ex pre ssed an int ere st in b einginformedRelated object ive(s):

****

Direct notification of changes is less time-consuming foreconomic o perators than having to monitor the platform forchanges.

***





Private platform

Related practice

Economic operators receive a proof of delivery upon successfulsubmission of their tender

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

Practice 16

18platforms

16countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


34/48



Practice 12: Platforms support automatic transmission of all typesof notices to TED

DOs DON'Ts

# .*18

#

Related practice

Platforms automatically transmit all their notices to a singlepoint of access for publication



e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

28



Private platform

Au tom ating the pub lica tio n of not ice s is a q uic k win forcontracting authorities.

Practice 1

Publishing notices on TED improves acc ess to publicprocurement.

****

Au tom ating the pub lica tio n of not ice s to TED lead s tosignificant financial and time savings for contractingauthorities. Economic operators will also benefit from morenotices on TEDand therefore spend less time looking for them.

****



don't oblige the c ontracting authority tomanually re-encode the contract notice on TEDRelated object ive(s):

****Promote transparency &acc ountabilityimplement an interface to TED eSendersRelated obje ct ive(s):

automate publication ofany changes to theoriginal notice on TEDRelated obje ct ive(s):

publish all contract award notices, includingthose for direct award contractsRelated obje ct ive(s):

make it possible for the co ntracting authorityto also use TED for contracts below thethresholdRelated obje ct ive(s):


Summary Objectives

Anecdote

*****



Platforms that apply this practice make it possible for c ontracting authorities to publish all types o fnotices automatically on TED, the Official Journal of the European Union.

This way, it is possible for contrac ting authorities to increase the v isibility of their tender specificationswitho ut ha vin g to enc ode the same infor mat ion t wice .


****

SMEs rarely use more than two platforms to search foropportunities, and so publishing contract notices on TEDincreases accessibility to public procurement.

***

The publication ofc ontract opportunities is neutral to legalcertainty or confidence.

What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms ha ve imple ment ed t he in ter face for c rea ting c ont rac t no tic esto resemble the forms of the Official Journal. We found that, for peo ple used to work with such forms, thislowers the learning curve when moving to electronic procureme nt.

We also foun d a p latfo rm t hat d oe s not sup por t au tom atic pub lishing of co ntra ct not ice s on T ED. Inste adthe contracting authorities have to re-encode notices o n TED in order to be compliant with EUDirectives. The geographic cov erage of an e-Procurement platform is

mostly national, and so economic o perators benefit frompublication of notices on TED, the single point of access atEuropean level.

20 platforms

17 countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


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Practice 13: Economic operators and contracting authorities cansearch CPV categories based on their code or their description

DOs DON'Ts

# .*18

#


e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding

28



Private platform

***Support change management

Related practice

Economic operators can search co ntract notices using a set ofsearch criteria

The CPV c ode selection method is neutral for changemanagement.


Practice 9

return all the items within a category and itssub-categories following a searc hRelated obje ct ive(s):

show the number of items contained withineach matching category and its sub-categories,if a CPV tree is usedRelated obje ct ive(s):

help users to select the r ight CPV code (s)Related obje ct ive(s):

don't require the economic operator or thecontracting authority to browse through theCPV tree to select a categoryRelated object ive(s):

don't require the economic operator or thecontracting authority to know the CPVstructureRelated object ive(s):

The CPV c ode selection method is neutral for transparency andaccountability.

*****

Offering several possibilities to selec t CPV code s can increaseuse of CPV codes by suppliers searching for opportunities,leading to more accurate search results. It can also reduce thetime necessary to select c ode(s) when the contracting authoritycreates a notice.


Anecdote

Platforms that apply this practice allow contracting authorities and economic operators to searchcommodity c lassification categories based on Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes or usingclose match of their description. The CPV code s can be used to search contract notices and to create newcontract notices.

This way, it is possible to ease selection of the desired CPV category, resulting in more accurate andmore frequent use ofCPV categories.

What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms su ppo rt s ear chin g and sele ct ing CPV ca tego rie s onl y b ybro wsing t hro ugh a CPV t re e. We fo und t hat s uc h CPV t ree s are inc onv enie nt an d tim e-c ons uming tobro wse t hro ugh.

We hav e al so fo und a plat form that only sup por ts se arc h of CPV c ate gori es b y m anua lly ent erin g anexac t CPV code with no legend or list of codes available to help explain the codes.

We also enc oun ter ed a plat form that pro vid es a n ea sy to u se CPV sea rc h bas ed o n co des or on c losematch ofthe description.

***Promote transparency &acc ountability

****

The possibility to select appropriate CPV co de(s) based on codesearch remov es the language barrier present in codedescriptions.




*****

Because SMEs are not familiar with CPV classification, beingable to select the appr opriate CPV code(s) based on wordsearch will increase the use of CPV codes by SMEs, leading to

bet ter sea rc h re sult s.

***

The CPV c ode selection method is neutral for legal certaintyand confidence.

Summary Objectives


10platforms

10countries

Supportsobjectiv e

*****

Legend

Underminesobjective

*


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Practice 14: Contracting authorities can re-use informationcontained in their profile or in previous notices to create contractnotices, tender specifications and award notices

DOs DON'Ts

8 .*18

8

What we hav e fo und is that som e pla tfor ms all ow t he c ont rac ting a utho rity to s av e, e dit a nd re -use all th einformation and documents contained in tender specifications. We found that this reduce s the risk oferrors and the time spent to create tender spec ifications.

We hav e al so fo und t hat s ome plat form s re -use infor mat ion fr om t he c ont rac ting a utho rity pro filewitho ut o ffering the pos sibilit y t o e dit in form atio n in th e te nde r sp ec ifica tion s suc h as t he na me o f thecontracting authority and its address. To change this information, we had to edit the contracting

authority profile and re-create the tender specifications.

e-Notification

e-Access

e-Submission

e-Evaluation

e-Awarding



Practice 19

*****



***

The method used to c reate tender spec ifications is neutral to

cross-border bidding.

Related practice

Contracting authorities can evaluate part of their tendersautomatically based on pre-defined criteria

Multi-page forms take the contracting authority step by stepthrough the creation of an electronic contract notice or tenderspecifications, while providing examples or an explanation asto what information is needed in which field of the form.



28



Private platform



Re-using information from previous tender spec ifications,instead of manually re-encoding, increases legal certainty andconfidence because it decreases the risk of error and thenumber of inconsistencies between similar tenderspecifications.

allow contracting authorities to create, store,search, re-use and edit templates that helpthem in creating tender spec ifications andnoticesRelated obje ct ive(s):

use frequently asked questions and othersupporting information to help c ontractingauthorities in creating tender specificationsand noticesRelated obje ct ive(s):

use automatic data validation in the onlineforms with clear guidance on how to correc tany mistake

Related obje ct ive(s):

store information about the contr

e Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice2

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Transcript of e Procurement Golden Book of Good Practice2