E-GP Functional Specifications

Abstract

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