CWA 16558:2013

National and European authorities have been promoting the use of electronic processes in public procurement for decades because increased efficiency and transparency will give improved and more efficient use of public procurement budgets. Electronic processes involving different systems and various partners depend on the use of common standards for information exchange between systems; however, it should be emphasised that there are different levels of openness that can be created by the use of technology standards. Increasing use of electronic systems is calling for higher levels of openness. Interoperability requires common use of standards; there are several groups, like finance, health insurance, customs, that are maintaining and using agreed versions of standards for pan-European communication between members of the group. Trade is regulated by national legislation on accounting, VAT and other excises, and electronic exchange of trade data has been implemented by use of standards that are implemented and maintained on national level. The intention with the BII set of CWAs is to create specifications that can be specified and maintained on European level, and thereby contribute to increased electronic exchange of trade information across European borders. Increased use of standards for electronic transfer of information in procurement processes meets the following challenges: The existence of different standards creates uncertainty about which common one to migrate to. Differences between national implementations of common standards. Lacking functionality covering cross-border requirements. WS/BII2 has addressed these challenges by: Describing business process profiles in a way that is independent of but consistent with existing e-Business standards within OASIS and UN/CEFACT. Examining cross border trade and to open for identification and description of differences between implementations of system elements governed by national legislation. Identifying additional specification of requirements and functionality needed for exchange of information used in different countries under constraints of their legislation and procedures. Preparing a tool-box for how to use the profiles for implementation.