Total
public procurement in the EU - i.e. the purchase of goods, services
and public works by governments and public utilities - is estimated
at about 16% of the Union's GDP or 1500 bilion Euro in 2002. The
importance of the business sector has even grown after the adhesion
of 10 new Member States to the European Union. Enterprises - especially
SMEs - participating in public tenders often complain about the
high administrative burden related to the complex public procurement
procedures. This effort can be reduced significantly by using
modern ICT and by implementing an electronic workflow in the tendering
process.
During the e-Business support
initiative TRANSBAU (2000-2004), which has been funded by the
German Ministry of Economics and Labour, a feasible model of a
fully integrated e-Tendering process for SMEs has been developed
and tested succesfully in pilot enterprises of the construction
sector.
Romania - in its aim to join
the European Union - has undertaken great efforts to establish
the legal framework for public tendering. Furthermore, the Romanian
government already runs a pilot e-Tendering platform (www.e-licitatie.ro)
to take advantage of the benefits of e-Business solutions in the
field of public procurement.
The main objective of the TRESOR
project therefore, is to transfer the experiences, concepts and
best practices gained during the Transbau initiative in order
to foster and facilitate the implementation of a fully integrated
e-Tendering process in Romania. By defining a reference e-Tendering
process which will be presented during practical training sessions,
Romanian SMEs will be assisted in the adoption of efficient eBusiness
solutions into their internal business processes.
These efforts will be underpinned
by the instalation of an electronic information platform. This
internet platform will serve as information portal for SMEs and
tendering authorities in the field of public e-Tendering in Romania.
Finally, the outcomes
and project findings will be presented in the context of the eBSN
network - giving access to guidelines, reference papers and resources
for all interested eBSN members.