electronic procurement and invoicing processes among the na- tions in the PEPPOL Consortium. The project will also be a catalyst for introducing eBusiness in compa- nies and for speeding up the overall uptake of new technologies.<br><br> It will facilitate cross border procurement and help governments to achieve lower costs, higher transparency, easier access, and an integrated workflow within electronic procure- ment. Governments are the largest buyers in the European Union, but they lag behind major industries in electronic data exchange with suppliers - gov- ernment purchases in the European Union account for around 16 % of GDP, which is equal to 1,500 Billion Euros. Governments want to be able to handle key processes with their suppliers such as tenders, orders, delivery notes, catalogues, in- voices, and payments electronically.<br><br> But the lack of common standards for electronic data exchange are an obstacle for companies to partici- pate, without barriers, in the public procurement processes. EU member states have previously expressed the intention to change public procurement significantly. The Manchester ministerial dec- laration of 24 November 2005 for example states that cby 2010 all public administrations across Europe will have the capability of carrying out 100 % of their procurement electronically and at least 50 % of public procurement above the EU public procurement threshold will be carried out electronically. d The PEPPOL project strongly supports achieving this target.<br><br> Case Study Vision and Objectives The broader vision of PEPPOL is that any company in the EU, including SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), can communicate electronically with any EU governmental institution for all procurement processes. The objective of the PEPPOL project is to set up a pan-European pilot solu- tion that, together with existing national solutions, facilitates EU-wide interoperable public eProcurement . The vision of the PEPPOL project is that any company in the EU, and in particular SMEs, will be able to communicate electronically with any European governmental institution for the entire procurement process.<br><br> The final outcome of PEPPOL will be an inter-operational environment built upon national systems and infrastructures supporting the full cycle of eProcurement activities. The pilots to be developed in PEPPOL will enable any com- pany in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) to respond to any published public tender notice electronically and will govern the entire procurement process. In this way, PEPPOL will focus on the engagement and participation of SME companies in public eProcurement.<br><br> About eBuilder eBuilder is the lead- ing global supplier of Cloud Processes that enable companies and organizations to automate, control, and manage their value networks for Travel and Expense Manage- ment, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Financial Transactions. eBuilder is unique in its ability to deliver many standard processes on the same platform and to customize both processes and integra- tions. Today eBuilder has customers in over 50 countries.<br><br> Opera- tions are managed from Stockholm, Sweden with regional offices in Australia and Sri Lanka. For more information, see: www.ebuilder.com About the eTen PROCURE Project The eTen PROCURE project starts from the premise that it is better for public authori- ties within a region to share an e-procure- ment platform and create a one-stop shop for public contract bidding. - Bu sinesses don 9t have to monitor mul- tiple sites and submit responses in different formats.<br><br> - Enable higher re- sponse rates to tenders. - Potential for joint tenders between several authorities. - Wider participa- tion among SMEs.<br><br> - Greater competi- tion for contracts means more innovative bids and less costly contracts. - Costs of platform maintenance and de- velopment are shared among authorities. Funded by the eTen program, PROCURE has developed regional e-procurement plat- forms in five pilot regions.<br><br> The regions of Uddevalla (Sweden), Brittany (France), and Piedmont (Italy) all have focused commu- nication strategies to improve their usage. Regional platforms were deployed from scratch in the regions of Central Bohemia (Czech Republic) and Guadeloupe (France). For more information, see: www.eten-procure.<br><br> com Source: www.peppol.eu. For more information about eBuilder, see: Value network , Reverse logistics management or Contact: Sales@ebuilder.com +46 (0)8 585 020 00 www.ebuilder.com

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