Anticipation

Public procurement is an important part of the EU economy, accounting for around 15% of gross domestic product. Contracting authorities are adapting their standard tender documents including processing and billing standards.

This has led to an increase in the development of new systems and standards to comply with the demands of public tenders. Once in place, these systems can also be used by smaller procuring entities – which helps towards the creation of industry standards across the procurement spectrum.

Although the obligation to introduce e-public procurement applies to all member states, the directives only set the framework and the goals to be achieved. The implementation and national legislation are the responsibility of the member states  and, as a result, implementation varies from country to country.

The CMS team was well prepared to accept this challenge. CMS Vienna partner Bernt Elsner explains, "E-procurement is a significant step towards achieving easier access to public tender procedures. To help manage the remaining differences between the European jurisdictions, the CMS Public Procurement Group issued an e-public procurement guide addressing the differences and providing practical tips. The guide covers 24 jurisdictions in Europe and Latin America."

Additionally, the CMS team held a number of seminars across European jurisdictions to assist clients with these changes. Finally, CMS established an e-platform to help procuring entities manage digital tenders under the new rules.

E-procurement has also been implemented in several jurisdictions outside the EU. 

For further information on how the implementation of e-procurement is taking shape in various countries, including outlines of the main characteristics of the national e-public procurement systems, our CMS E-Public Procurement Guide can be downloaded here.