Seminar: International Public e-Procurement, financed by the Basque Government

Objectives
In April 2004, as part of the legislative package of procurement Directives, the European Commission adopted a coherent framework to conduct procurement electronically in an open, transparent and non-discriminatory way, to establish rules for tendering electronically and to fix the conditions for modern purchasing techniques based on electronic means of communication. This package entered into force in 2006. Now, two years later, procurement entities in Europe should be ready to perform procurement procedures electronically.
 
E-procurement will help enterprises to identify contract opportunities and to supply their goods and services across Europe's internal market, contributing to Europe's competitiveness and economic growth. But computerising public procurement practices influences the way in which national public purchasing practices are organised. Successful implementation of e-procurement requires changing administrative practices, not only those directly linked to the procurement process, but also those that are indirectly linked. A transition to public sector procurement online requires legal, institutional and organisational changes at many levels.
 
In this context, the Commission adopted the first IDABC work programme for the period 2005 to 2009 on 8 November 2005. This was the green light for work to start on the different programme actions. The successful completion of this work programme will represent one more step towards the delivery of European e-government services for administrations, businesses and citizens. Furthermore, on 30th January this year, the Commission launched the e-practice forum, which will be presented during the second day of the Seminar. This seminar is included as an e-Procurement dissemination activity being promoted by the e-practice forum.
 
This two-day course will bring together various experts who play a key role in the e-procurement processes within their countries, covering the most relevant practical aspects in order to provide examples of good practice for other government bodies undertaking this experimentation process. The course will discuss projects, difficulties encountered in computerising supplier offers, experiences in the adoption of measures to promote the use of e-procurement by suppliers, use of shared e-procurement platforms by different government bodies, and related legal provisions.
 
The seminar is aimed at procurement experts, solicitors, public and private firms, as well as individuals from the technical and academic communities interested in the innovations taking place worldwide in the field of electronic procurement.