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eProcurement Project Opens Doors for SMEs

Local Authorities, Health Boards and Government bodies are forging ahead, getting ready to do business online, posing an opportunity and at the same time a threat to SMEs. It is an opportunity for SMEs to expand or continue their business into the public sector arena but it is also a threat for those who do not do business online.

The eProc project, launched in July last, which is supported by European Regional Development Funding under the INTERREG IIIB North West Europe Community Initiative on Territorial Planning, will address this issue. Lead partner Antur Teifi Cyf of Carmarthenshire (Wales) together with the other partners: the Electronic Commerce Innovation Centre(ECIC) at Cardiff University (Wales); MFG Medienentwicklung Baden-Württemberg, (Germany); ISCOM Institute for Sustainable Commodities (Holland), and two Irish partners, the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology and the South Eastern Regional Authority (SERA) will investigate eProcurement policies and strategies across North West Europe and solution developments. The project partners have identified the following work plan for this two and a half year project.

  • Evaluate and benchmark the SMEs (in agreement with the Local Authorities) in respect of their use of ICT, eCommerce and eProcurement
  • Investigate methodologies in use for eProcurement
  • Devise a suitable methodology with step-by-step guides for all participants in the process
  • Pilot this methodology and evaluate.

"eProcurement cannot exist outside of the broader context of eBusiness and SMEs who fail to embrace eBusiness will also miss the opportunity that eProcurement promises", says Mike Jones of Antur Teifi Cyf, the co-ordinating partner. There is also the issue of sustainability. In order for eProcurement to make sense in the long term, economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity must also be taken into account. Potentially, eProcurement offers opportunities to support existing sustainability policies.

With the benefit of transnational collaboration between each of these partners and the sharing of knowledge and experiences from each country it is envisaged that the eProc project will take the North-West European region to the vanguard of the eProcurement arena.

For more information about this project please email: info@eproc.org

     

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