Press Release: European Commission acts to expand the use of e-procurement in the EU

The European Commission is launching a consultation on e-procurement. Taking the form of a Green Paper, the consultation will seek the views of interested parties on how the EU can help Member States to speed up and facilitate the procurement process. E-procurement refers to the use of electronic communication and transaction processing by government institutions and other public sector organisations when buying supplies and services or tendering public works. The Green Paper identifies obstacles to faster take-up of e-procurement as well as the risks that divergent national approaches present for cross-border participation in on-line procurement. It sets out options for overcoming these challenges including, for example, regulatory incentives, standardisation and inter-operability solutions. At the same time, the Commission is also unveiling its new e-CERTIS data base which is a free, web-based tool to help companies and contracting organisations cope with the documentation demands encountered when tendering for public contracts in the EU.

European Commission: Memo/10/499: e-Procurement: FAQs http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/499&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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