RESTRICTED
GENERAL AGREEMENT GPA/IC/W/7/Add.3
11November 1994
ONTARIFFS AND TRADE
(94-2392)
Original: English Interim Committee onGovernment Procurement
QUESTIONNAIRE ONINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
INGOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
Response byFinland
Theattached communication contains thereplies from thedelegation ofFinland tothe
questionnaire onInformation Technology inGovernment Procurement contained in
document GPA/IC/W/4/Rev.1, dated 16September 1994.GPA/IC/W/7/Add.3
Page2
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INGOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
Replies received from Finland
1. Could delegations giveabriefdescription ofanystepstaken orplanned tointroduce information
technology (electronic commerce) intopublic procurement? Ifso,doesthiscover contracts which
arecovered under theAgreement presently inforce, orunder thenewly-signed Agreement? Atall
levels ofgovernment? Intheevent thatdelegations arenotconsidering introducing information
technology intopublic procurement, could theyexplain thereasons?
2. What function(s) would information technology serve insuchsystems andwhowillbetheusers?
Answer toquestions 1&2:
InformationTechnology(IT)isinuseinseveralareasofpublicprocurementinFinland.Because
ofthewideareaofapplications itishardtogiveanoverall picture without describing tasksseparately.
Thatiswhythefollowing division wasmade.
UseofEDIinpublic procurement
Several organizations inthepublic sector useEDI. About three years ago,aproject was
established bytheMinistry ofTraffic andTelecommunication forfacilitating andactivating theuse
ofEDIinprocurement processes.
During thefirstphase oftheproject asurvey wascarried outabout theEDIfacilities inpublic
sector organizations, thelevelofEDIinfrastructure inFinland, thequality ofVAN services, thelegal
restrictions andother constraints, etc.Thesurvey found thatthebasic infrastructure isnotaproblem.
Insome cases, EDIisalready being usedbutnotinprocurement processes. Itwasalsonoted that
there arenomajor legalrestrictions hindering theuseofITinpublic procurement.
Some pilot projects were alsoestablished fortesting theuseofEDIandforcollecting
information. Nowadays several public sector organizations useEDIinprocurement processes
(e.g.municipalities, governmental organizations andcompanies owned bythegovernment). There
arebusiness partners inthepublic sector aswellasamong theprivate sector organizations. TheEDI
messages usedaregeneral messages (INVOICE, ORDERS, QUOTES, etc.)because itwasfound that
therearenobigdifferences incustomer-supplier relationships between thepublic andprivate sectors.
Inmany cases, aspecial EDIcontract ismade toenable dataexchange inEDIformat. These
contracts aregenerally based ontheEuropean Model EDIAgreement.
Users ofthese kinds ofsystems arepublic organizations ascustomers andpublic andprivate
organizations assuppliers.
Useofdatabases
There arecurrently fourdatabases/services inFinland where anorganization cangetinformation
about public callsfortenders. Thebasic information inthedatabases comes from theECHO/TED
database buttheservices offered bythecompanies which runthedatabases vary.GPA/IC/W/7/Add.3
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Three service providers areinterested incallsfortenders above thethreshold value butthree
oftheproviders alsocollect anddistribute information about theFinnish callsfortenders below the
threshold value. Some service providers alsosellaso-called profile service where aninterested
organizationcandefinethesectors(e.g.healthcare,informationtechnology,etc.)orcountriesofinterest.
Onedatabase contains alsoinformation from theUN/IAPSO database.
Oneservice provider hasalsoestablished anelectronic marketplace where private andpublic
organizations canbuyandsellgoods.
Users ofthedatabases aremostly private sector organizations acting assuppliers. Public sector
organizations mostly provide information about thecallsfortenders. Alltheservices anddatabases
canbereached byelectronic means.
Points ofinterest inthefuture
Certain areas oftheuseofITinpublic procurement seemtointerest Finnish public andprivate
organizations. These areas andthetasks planned areasfollows:
- Twoorganizations haveexpressed theirinterest inacting asnational dataentry points
inthepilotphase oftheSIMAP project.
- Finland participates actively inthework ofUN/ECE WP.4/MD12 which develops
EDImessages forpublic procurement processes. Themaininterest isindataexchange
between public sector organizations inFinland andtheCommission.
- Adatabase forEDIFACT messages anddirectories willbeestablished forfacilitating
theimplementation anduseofEDIFACT. Message definitions anddirectories will
beavailable inDIRDEF andASCII format. Theservice willalsoinclude information
about EDIsupport services likecontracts, datatransmission services, UN/ECE
recommendations, etc. This activity willserve both private andpublic sector
organizations.
3. Could delegations describe thetechnical aspects ofthesystems inuseorplanned? Inparticular
asregards infrastructure/hardware-software anditsoptions/standards?
Most ofthesolutions arebased onthestandards developed byISOorCEN. IntheEDIworld,
everything isbased ontheEDIFACT standard (ISO9735) andontheinformation published byUN/ECE
WP.4. Thecommunication between database solutions andusers ismostly based onX.25 andX.400
orVTsessions viathepublic networks. Insome cases alsoInternet based solutions areused. No
special terminal software isneeded. There isalsoasolution forsending callsfortenders totheFinnish
Official Journal electronically. Thissolution isbased onelectronic formbutinfuture thedataexchange
mayhappen bymeans ofEDI(EDIFACT).
4. Could delegations describe anylimitations affecting access toinformation available inasystem?
Howwideispotential access tointerested suppliers? What aretheaccess possibilities forsuppliers
ofother signatory countries? What possible obstacles toaccess might arise forsuppliers inother
signatory countries?
Nospecial limitations existaffecting access toinformation available because ofthesolutions
based oninternational datacommunication standards. ThatiswhyFinland isreluctant toadopt any
newterminal software which maylimitthenumber ofusers. Finland strongly supports theuseof
EDI(EDIFACT).GPA/IC/W/7/Add.3
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5. Hasanythought beengiven tothequestion ofinteraction between electronic tendering and
theobligations concerning publication andtime-limits imposed bytheAgreement?
Theuseofinformation technologies isstrongly supported. Atthemoment themainproblem
seems tobelegislation which doesnotallow theelectronic communication between localauthorities
andtheEuropean Commission. Itisquiteridiculous tocollect information electronically andtoforward
thesame information totheTED database bysending faxes.
6. Forthose delegations whouseadatabase which listsgovernment procurement opportunities:
(i) What isthename ofthisdatabase?
(ii) Howlonghasthedatabase beenoperational andhowmany suppliers usethedatabase?
(iii) Isafeecharged tosuppliers using thissystem? Ifso,howmuch, andwhatisincluded
inthefee?
(iv) Cansuppliers obtain tender documentation electronically? Ifso,how?
(v) How isinformation onthedatabase organized?
(vi) Does thedatabase offer anyother features?
(vii) What istheapproximate number ofprocurement opportunities listed onthedatabase
annually?
(viii) Isthesystem managed bythegovernment oraprivate company?
Most oftheinformation required isincluded inthereplies toquestions 1to5.Some additional
information isgiven below:
- Databases havebeenoperational forlessthanayear, butthisautumn seems tobethe
realkick-off timeoftheservices.
- Theuseofdatabases isbased onminute charging oronanannual fee.Special services
(likeprofile services) offered bytheproviders areusually charged separately. Minute
feesvaryfrom ECUs 0.6toECU 1perminute andtheannual feecharged byone
service provider isabout ECUs 1,000.
- Thesystems aremanaged byfourorganizations: oneofthem istheOfficial Journal
ofFinland which alsodelivers information totheTED database. Others areKT-
Datacenter which isthethird largest EDP service company inFinland owned by
municipal administration, Information Technology Development Center which isanon-
profit association operating intheITareaandEEAMarketplace-named organization
which isclosely linked totheUniversity ofOuluandfinanced bypublic organizations.
- Atthemoment there areafewhundred database users butthenumber isexpected to
grow rapidly because, untilthelastcouple ofmonths, theservices mentioned were
notoperating effectively.