The European Commission is to fund a pilot project to integrate e-procurement systems across Europe.
The Commission will
co-finance the project, which is driven by eight European countries,
that will create the conditions to link existing national electronic
public procurement (e-procurement) systems. Simplifying cross-border
procurement will generate savings on administrative and transaction
costs, said the Commission, which will ultimately benefit taxpayers.
The
project will involve more than Euro19m being invested over three years, Euro 9.8m of which will come from the European Commission's Competitiveness
and Innovation Programme.
Government contracts amount to more
than 16pc of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP) but many European
companies, especially SMEs, miss out on this substantial business
because of the extensive paperwork required for bidding for government
contracts. The difficulties are exacerbated when bidding for contracts
across borders. 
E-procurement levels the playing field for
smaller firms when it comes to competing for public tenders but it is
more difficult to do it across borders.
"E-procurement already
allows businesses to bid for the largest buyers in the EU:
governments," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information
Society and Media. "By making sure their systems work together, member
states are helping European businesses to win public sector contracts
anywhere in the EU. This is a crucial step towards completion of the
Single European Market."
The pilot project is being driven by
Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Norway
(the latter being a member of the European Economic Area). The new
cross-border system envisaged will not replace current national
e-procurement systems but will complement them.
The results go
beyond saving taxpayers' money and having leaner procedures, according
to the Commission. It stated that by levelling the playing field for
SMEs, cross-border e-procurement can boost competitiveness by providing
tools for businesses to access the entire European market for public
services.
At present, SMEs account for 67pc of employees in
the business sector and 58pc of turnover in the EU but only win 42pc of
government contracts.
Source: Niall Byrne in siliconrepublic.com
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