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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