Study on the use of electronic catalogues in the field of electronic public procurement DG Internal Market

IDABC eProcurement Working Group 22/06/06 Brussels

Elias Lizardos

Presentation Agenda

Project objectives Project execution Preliminary analysis conclusions eProcurement standardisation initiatives Your input 22/06/06 2

Project Objectives

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Project Objectives

To study EU eCatalogue initiatives and deduce re-usable concepts, operational elements, and technical implementations, also establishing core set of data to be included in eCatalogue messages To summarise current Standardization Activities on eProcurement, in particular with regard to usage of eCatalogues in Public eProcurement To suggest Legal, Functional and Technical Requirements for setting the conditions under which eCatalogues may constitute a valid offer in an electronic public procurement procedure 4

Where could an eCatalogue be used as a tender?

According to EU Directive 2004/18/EC on public procurement

A tender submitted by a tenderer in particularly when competition has been reopened under a framework agreement or where a dynamic purchasing system is being used,

may take the form of that tenderer’s electronic catalogue

, if the latter uses the means of communication chosen by the Contracting Authority in accordance with Article 42.

5 Repetitive purchases Framework Agreements (with or without re-opening competition) Dynamic Purchasing Systems Individual contracts Under specific conditions, they could form valid tenders 22/06/06

What is an eCatalogue?

eCatalogue as an offer: Constitutes electronic documents provided by suppliers, which form valid tenders Contains price and product description To be treated as any other tender document, respecting principles of the EU Directives on public procurement, such as: Equal treatment (all suppliers should be able to submit eCatalogues) Confidentiality (information in eCatalogues should be confidential and available only to the supplier and the Contracting Authority) Effectiveness (eCatalogues should be valid for a specific call for tenders and binding to the supplier) eCatalogue as a management system: Constitutes electronic management system of the buyer, for handling Framework Agreements Stores and presents products and price lists Manages contracts, based on awarded call for tenders Can be integrated with an eProcurement system 22/06/06 6

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Phases where eCatalogues can be used

eNotification eTendering eAwarding eContracting eOrdering eInvoicing ePayment

Focus on eCatalogues as offers (prospectus) Consider the “pre-awarding” phase definition submission evaluation comparison 7

Project Execution

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Project Activities

State of the Art

Perform analysis on existing EU eCatalogue projects, for identifying: relevant Member States initiatives types, practices and their usage advantages, disadvantages, and pioneering concepts needs and difficulties requirements and commonalities best practices The State of the Art will provide input to the

Functional Requirements

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Project Activities

Standardisation Initiatives

Activities of European and International Standardisation Bodies (CEN/ISSS, UN/CEFACT, OASIS) Presentation of such organisations, including organisation, structure, teams and leaders Organisation requirements for participating in their activities Main standardisation activities in Member States in the context of eProcurement Complementarities, synergies and overlapping of the different standardisation activities The Standardisation Initiatives report will provide input to the

Functional Requirements

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Project Activities

Functional Requirements

Reference to relevant EU legislation on public procurement Identify the legal requirements, also comprising the intended use of eCatalogues in the context of eProcurement Define operational interoperable functional requirements Describe relevant standards and technical requirements Provide recommendations List of open issues, relevant for further analysis / standardisation Provide update on Preliminary report including UML analysis (use cases, activity diagrams) 11

Preliminary Analysis Conclusions

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Preliminary analysis conclusions

Overview of current situation in the public sector

eCatalogues commonly not used to form tenders Primary operation of eCatalogues is for populating marketplaces More focus on eCatalogue systems rather than on eCatalogues as valid offers Advanced eCatalogue systems integrated with other eProcurement modules, such as eOrdering and eInvoicing Mainly used for below threshold contracts Diversity of eCatalogue technical standards Diversity of product classification standards Operation and maintenance of eCatalogue systems is commonly outsourced 13

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Preliminary analysis conclusions

Overview of current situation in the private sector

Primary objective is to achieve “straight-through” processing Main focus of eProcurement systems is on eOrdering, eContracting, eFulfillment, eInvoicing, eInformation Conformity in usage of standards across the same industry (for instance, eCl@ss in the German automobile industry) Main obstacles (not relevant to Member States): worldwide presence of buyers with differentiated needs complex and diverse ERP systems 14

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Preliminary analysis conclusions

Areas to be considered for functional requirements Area to consider

Authentication

Explanation

Consider prerequisites for user authentication Classification Schemes Integration to Supplier Website (Punch-Out) Catalogue Management Evaluation of electronic Catalogues Order through eCatalogue Consider classification schemes to use for effective description of products in eCatalogues Consider how eCatalogues can be updated, reducing to the minimum the necessary effort for suppliers, preserving the EU principles Consider processes to be followed for eCatalogue format definition, and eCatalogue creation, validation, maintenance, etc Consider processes and conditions to be met for the evaluation of eCatalogues pre and post awarding (evaluation committee vs. one person decisions) Consider when and under which conditions eOrdering should be possible through an eCatalogue, and by whom (snapshot or “frozen” state for ordering) 15

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Preliminary analysis conclusions

Areas to be considered for functional requirements Area to consider

Processes Security Interoperability Support of Location Catalogue Access Product Information Content Verification

Explanation

Consider functional aspects for the creation and updating of eCatalogue, and their practical usage (search, compare, etc) Consider functional aspects for user authentication, and eCatalogue submission, opening, storage, etc Consider functional aspects for increasing the interoperability of eCatalogue (cross-platform, cross-border, semantic/technical interoperability, etc) Consider multiple currency, multilingualism, eCatalogue presentation Consider user roles and who should have access to which eCatalogue and when Consider which is the minimum information an eCatalogue should have for adequately describing products and prices Consider how content verification and quality can be assured for eCatalogue, in the pre-awarding phase (content cannot be opened/verified before the opening of tenders) Consider business (content) and technical (format) verification is practically used. Identify requirements.

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Preliminary analysis conclusions

Areas to be considered for functional requirements Areas to consider

Data Storage Data Exchange Format Conversion

Explanation

Consider the storage of the catalogue information describing products and prices in the catalogue system Consider message exchange standards for ensuring equality of treatment, confidentiality and technical-interoperability Consider message formatting standards for minimising needs for format conversion and ensuring semantic-interoperability 17

eProcurement Standardisation Initiatives

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eProcurement Standardisation Initiatives

Standardisation Bodies OASIS:

Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

UN/CEFACT:

United Nations / Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business

CEN/ISSS:

European Committee for Standardisation ( Comité Européen de Normalisation)/Information society standardisation system

ECCMA:

Electronic Commerce Code Management Association 19

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards Description

A not-for-profit global consortium Founded in 1993 More than 5,000 participants Supported by many industries (IBM, EDS, SAP, Sun Microsystems, etc.)

Mission

Development, Convergence & Adoption of e-Business Standards

Activity Focus

Development of standards related to Web services, Security, Ecommerce, EProcurement

Milestones in the area of eProcurement

Electronic Business eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML) (with the cooperation of UN/CEFACT) Universal Business Language (UBL 0.7 and UBL 1.0)

Ongoing Activities

Proceeds with UBL 2.0 completion 20

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business Description

Operates under the supervision of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)

Mission

Facilitation & improvement of trade and eBusiness transactions at an international level

Activity Focus

Simplification and harmonisation of processes, procedures and information flows / UN/CEFACT Standards consist in business or technical specifications

Milestones in the area of eProcurement

International standard for electronic data interchange (EDIFACT) Electronic Business eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML) (with the cooperation of OASIS)

Ongoing Activities

Business Requirements Specifications (BRS) & Requirements Specifications Mapping (RSM) for eCatalogues with the cooperation of CEN/ISSS (Sept.2006) Harmonisation integration of OASIS UBL 2.0 with UN/CEFACT 21

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

CEN Information Society Standardization System Description

Operated within CEN “European Entry point” of UN/CEFACT Created in 1997

Mission

Provide comprehensive and integrated range of standardization-oriented ICT services and products, for the success of the Information Society in Europe

Focus

Use and promotion of Information Technologies (interface and establish partnerships with EU and National regulatory authorities

Milestones in the area of eProcurement

eProcurement Workshop (WS/ePRO) - promotion of interoperable eProcurement solutions based on international standards - published in February 2005

Ongoing Activities

European e-Business Interoperability Forum (eBIF) Workshop Workshop on multilingual eCataloguing & eClassification in eBusiness (eCAT) eBusiness Board for European Standardization (eBES) Workshop eInvoicing Workshop 22

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Electronic Business XML (ebXML) or ISO/TS 15000 Description

Initiative from OASIS and UN/CEFACT for providing an open XML-based infrastructure enabling the global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure and consistent manner by all parties

Structure

ebXML framework is divided into: Business Operational View (BOV) The semantics of business data in transactions and associated data interchanges The architecture for business transactions, including Operational conventions Agreements and arrangements Mutual obligations and requirements Functional Service View (FSV) Functional capabilities Business Service Interfaces Protocols and Messaging Services 23

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

ebXML Architecture Business Process Business Documents Business Objects Business Process and Information Model Register/discover Registry Repository Registry Core Components Partner Profile Partner Profile Business Service Interface Application Business Service Interface Application

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Universal Business Language (UBL) Description

An extensible interchange format for business documents that covers all industry & electronic \ business sectors Based on xCBL3 Developed by OASIS UBL Technical Committee (TC) in 2003 Developed with the input of various industry data standards organization Built according to ebXML CCTS v.2.01

Aim:

To enables interoperability among different XML vocabularies UBL 1.0: Comprises business documents covering the purchasing phase (order & pay) of eBusiness procedure

Key Points:

As a single syntax facilitates integration process and lowers implementation costs Enables SMEs enter into the eBusiness transactions process Contribution by IDABC 25

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Universal Business Language 2.0

Description

To be made public and accepted as OASIS Standard by September 2006 Planned to be adopted by UN/CEFACT after its finalization The UBL 2.0 documents and library are designed to support a typical sourcing-to-payment procurement cycle UBL 2.0 introduces new document types for the pre-ordering, post-invoice phase, and international shipping. The following table represents UBL document types categorized according to the eProcurement phase they belong to.

Sourcing Request for Catalogue Reject Request for Catalogue Catalogue Catalogue Replacement Catalogue Deletion Catalogue Item Update Catalogue Pricing Update Negative Receipt Positive Receipt Request for Quotation Quotation Ordering & Invoicing Order OrderResponse OrderResponseSimple OrderChange OrderCancellation DespatchAdvice ReceiptAdvice Invoice Post-Invoice Credit Note Account Response Self-billed Invoice Self-billing Credit Note Debit Note Remittance Advice Statement of Account International Shipping Bill of Lading Waybill Forwarding Instruction Certificate of Origin 26

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) Description

A non-profit trade association for electronic commerce Established in 1993

Mission

The development and maintenance of international open standard dictionaries for the consistent labelling of information

Activity Focus

Development of Open Source cataloguing tools and quality improvement and cost reduction of cataloguing

Milestones in the area of eProcurement

Electronic Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD) eOTD Open Source Catalog Builder, eOTD Open Source Query Builder, Open XML Catalog Syntax

Ongoing Activities

Harmonization of eOTD with ISO standards 27

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

EU Member States Activities

Northern European UBL 2.0 Subset Working Group (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland) UK OGC has developed “eProcurement Functional Requirements Specification v.4.0” Norway has developed “Platform independent model, Product catalogue and maintenance” : Describes business processes that Ehandelsprogrammet followed for the establishment & maintenance of catalogues on the Marketplace ehandel.no

The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has hosted a range of international workshop on e-catalogues & Prepares proposals to UBL / Has adopted UBL 0.7

German-speaking countries adopt

BMEcat

catalogue-exchange standard 28

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eProcurement Standardization Initiatives

Synopsis of Product Classification & Description Standards Attributes Classification Systems Responsible Organization SYNOPSIS OF MAIN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS CHARACTERISTICS CPV eOTD UN/SPSC eCl@ss Geographical Focus Open Source & Open Standard Hierarchy Levels

EU Commission Europe / Implied by European law No / Available for free ++ ECCMA Global Yes / Available for Free +++ UNDP Global Cross-Industry Yes / Available for free +++ Cologne Institute for Business Research Global / Mainly German speaking countries Yes / Available for free +++

NCS

NATO Global Designed to meet the needs of NATO No ++

Frequency of Updates Multilingualism Integration of Attributes Terminology & Synonyms

Less than once a year 20 Official EU Languages No No Monthly Often EN, FR, ES, PL, DE, NL, CS Yes EN, FR, ES, PT, DE, IT, DA, NL, Korean, Japanese, Chinese Further on demand No One major & one minor a year DE, EN, FR, ES, IT, Chinese Yes Synonyms No Synonyms Bi-monthly Multilingual Yes Synonyms 29

Your input for this Study

Your input for this Study

Your input is input

Your current systems utilising any form of eCatalogues and computerisation of public procurement in general: Usage of eCatalogues (above/below threshold, who has access, etc) Processes for defining, creating, maintaining eCatalogues eCatalogue messages format eCatalogue messages exchange Product classification used in your eCatalogues Your current / planned initiatives on eCatalogues Your needs and requirements for eCatalogue messages and eCatalogue systems The issues you have identified/encountered on utilising eCatalogues Your plans for growing the usage of eCatalogues (supplier adoption) Contact us at:

[email protected]

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Your input for this Study

Questions to cover legal, functional and technical aspects

Are there specific legal requirements for the IT security to be used for electronic tenders submission (or exchange of confidential data in general), such as digital certificates?

In which public procurement procedures do you (or are you planning to) use eCatalogues?

Is there a supplier adoption programme for the utilisation of electronic catalogues?

What are the main obstacles in the use of eCatalogues as valid offers?

What are the main obstacles in establishing (or improving) your eCatalogue system?

What is the core (minimum set of) data that should be included in an eCatalogue offer?

What eCatalogue formatting standards are used (or are more appropriate) for your (current or future) eCatalogue system?