E-GP Functional Specifications
Authorities in developed and newly developing countries alike have been seeking to reform and strengthen the governance and management frameworks around their systems of public procurement. Their objectives have been to enhance effective management, reduce the risk of corruption, promote economic activity, and strengthen policy and strategic development. Increasingly an important part of these reforms has become the systematic application of technology to the processes of public procurement, including in the advertising of business opportunities, management of information and workflows, document delivery, purchase orders and transactions. This systematic application of technology to government procurement, or e-Government Procurement (e-GP), can lead to a substantial automation of the procurement process but requires significant reforms and process improvements in the management of procurement. These reforms have seen the introduction of new procurement laws and regulations, the introduction of new training for public procurement officers, changes in management procedures including standardization and simplification, and enhanced competition for government procurement opportunities. However one key issue deserves further attention namely defining the functional specifications of the e-GP system that is to be acquired or built, this is the subject of this paper. This paper seeks to give guidance on what functions and qualities they could seek from their e-GP system, or if they are engaging a third party provider then this may also give guidance on what capabilities they might require in their service level agreement
Summary: | Authorities in developed and newly
developing countries alike have been seeking to reform and
strengthen the governance and management frameworks around
their systems of public procurement. Their objectives have
been to enhance effective management, reduce the risk of
corruption, promote economic activity, and strengthen policy
and strategic development. Increasingly an important part of
these reforms has become the systematic application of
technology to the processes of public procurement, including
in the advertising of business opportunities, management of
information and workflows, document delivery, purchase
orders and transactions. This systematic application of
technology to government procurement, or e-Government
Procurement (e-GP), can lead to a substantial automation of
the procurement process but requires significant reforms and
process improvements in the management of procurement. These
reforms have seen the introduction of new procurement laws
and regulations, the introduction of new training for public
procurement officers, changes in management procedures
including standardization and simplification, and enhanced
competition for government procurement opportunities.
However one key issue deserves further attention namely
defining the functional specifications of the e-GP system
that is to be acquired or built, this is the subject of this
paper. This paper seeks to give guidance on what functions
and qualities they could seek from their e-GP system, or if
they are engaging a third party provider then this may also
give guidance on what capabilities they might require in
their service level agreement |
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