eProcurement Forum Uptake of pre-awarding phases ... - ePractice.eu

3.1 National Procurement Assistance and Development – Nils
Fjelkegard (NPAD, Sweden)
Nils Fjelkegard kicked off the afternoon session with his presentation of the pre-award
eProcurement in Sweden and recent developments. According to Fjelkegard there is
substantial movement within the field of eProcurement in Sweden at the moment and a
large part of this movement can be attributed to the Swedish Government's National
Action Plan for eGovernment presented in 2008, which calls for a three step strategy to
implement electronic support for the whole chain of Swedish public procurement.
The first step of the action plan focuses on the introduction of electronic invoicing for the
Swedish public sector. Since1st of July 2008 electronic handling of all ingoing and
outgoing invoices by public authorities was made mandatory.
The second step, which calls for the introduction of electronic ordering by public
authorities, was launched in 2008 and is currently ongoing with a final date set to 1st of
January 2013.
The third step, which is the step that sets the strategic framework for the case presented
at this workshop in Vienna, is the introduction of IT support for the pre-award
procurement process and more specifically for the electronic notifications, tenderer
qualification and tender submission. This final step aims to ensure that the whole
procurement process can be conducted electronically, from the early phases of
identification of needs by the Contracting Authority to the exchange of electronic orders,
invoices and electronic payments. This is the task that has been entrusted to the newly
established National Procurement Assistance and Development initiative in 2009.
The development of Swedish pre-award electronic procurement has previously been
largely attributed to private sector procurement platform/system suppliers and individual
initiatives by public authorities or groups of such. This renders the Swedish case
interesting from many perspectives, as a national initiative is introduced in the playing
field to try to coordinate and guide the development in a certain direction.
First of all, one of the main critical components of a successful implementation of
electronic support for the procurement process is the issue of how to balance the
existence of a strong private market of high quality eProcurement platforms/systems and
the desire to have an increased control and supervision over the general development
of eProcurement in Sweden. Finding a solution which allows for a
continued development and competition between private market platform suppliers,
while still retaining the possibility to influence national development, placing demands on
interoperability and accessibility (thus creating a sense of "a national eProcurement
platform"), is one of the more challenging question marks ahead.
Second, public procurement in Sweden has a highly decentralised structure, which also
offers some interesting questions for a successful implementation. In many ways this
means taking on a softer approach, focusing on communicating the possibilities and
benefits of following the development of eProcurement on a national level, rather than
introducing regulations and strict policies guiding the development. A strong political will
and commitment is a critical success factor in this aspect, making communication,
interaction and the adaptation to individual needs essential in order to get everyone
“onboard the train”.
Report on the “Uptake of pre-awarding phases in eProcurement” Workshop – Vienna, 22nd
February 2010
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