E- Procurement is one of the tool used by procurement function which is supported by various forms of electronic communication. E-Procurement has several benefits , some of them are, faster processing, Green approach to procurement, open competition, transparency etc. Process, Technology and policy positions success of the e-procurement. E- Procurement benefits both seller and buyer. The most important benefit when it is used by Public sector is transparency and accountability.
Public procurement is based on legislation , process and policy. They have to follow law, rules and regulations. Their process has to be transparent to maintain tax payers trust. E-Procurement for public sector is designed for transparency and most of the stake holder have an access to information they required to get confident on transparency. In most of the e-procurement system, results of each bid is open and published on the website for any agency, supplier and any member of public to view. System is designed to have an automated control and auditing mechanism further facilitating transparency. Once Bid package is uploaded to the website, all participating supplier / contractor has the same information on scope of supply or work. Also when bid is uploaded by supplier / contractor, it can be altered by any other supplier or buy buyer. No human intervention is possible. This helps ensuring fair bidding process. Some public sectors organization use a common e procurement system. This allow all organization to see what others are paying for the product they are trying to source. This gives buyer opportunity for better knowledge of the market place and consistent purchasing price and condition through out the group. Also in case of bidding process through e- procurement, bid close time is configured electronically, this will close the bid and will not allow any one to enter a bid once it is close.
Session 3 / Exercise 3
This also ensure fair practice of bidding process. Also some e- procurement systems are built vendor registration process. Vendors can register online and system evaluate it for acceptance of vendor.
In public organization, buyer is accountable to ensure fair bidding process, fairness in decision making for awarding contract and obtain better value of the money spent. E- procurement systems are configured to meet with the approved process by particular organization which is based on legislation and policy. System it self configured to follow established process and no one is allowed to by pass or deviate from process. Most of the things are automated in Request to pay cycle. Also during the bidding process, lowest bid price is open to all Vendors, this provide all participating
