Local and foreign suppliers will soon be able to submit bids for tenders entirely online over a next-generation platform which authorities promise will “revolutionise” the way the government conducts public procurement.
The e-procurement solution, officially launched by the Finance Ministry just over a week ago, is currently being used internally by the Department of Contracts and the Malta Information Technology Agency. Around 150 other government contracting authorities which publish tenders will gradually begin to make use of the platform in the next few weeks.
Since 2009, the private sector has submitted almost 4,000 bids for more than 800 tenders published by the Department of Contracts.
A MITA official told The Sunday Times the platform will “continue to build on the functionality currently provided by the existing procurement portal at www.contracts.gov.mt but some of the new features will help to revolutionise and streamline the government’s tendering processes to make it more efficient.”
The e-procurement solution was delivered by European Dynamics SA, a leading European ICT provider and software developer employing more than 480 engineers, experts and consultants internationally. It has delivered similar platforms in Belgium, Germany, Jordan, Cyprus, and the UK.
Bidders will have the possibility to access, prepare and update tenders online over the platform, while the technology will allow for secure and encrypted electronic submission and bids storage.
The hub portal will provide visibility to all government tenders and features a centralised search function covering all contracting authorities.
Despite no form of ‘applicant charter’ in place at the Department of Contracts, the official said its team was trained by the solution’s supplier to handle enquiries efficiently.
MITA said the government’s transition to online procurement will ensure enhanced collaboration between teams during tender drafting, and automated creation and dissemination of contract notes.
It will also allow for assisted creation of bids, unit price reduction mechanisms like e-auctions as part of the awarding phase of a tender, and contract management.
A series of information sessions is now planned to familiarise the business community with the transition to online procurement. The platform also features a detailed user manual and interactive walk-throughs online. Additionally, the Department of Contracts is providing a help desk service.
MITA said it understood the confidential nature of the data submitted online and the criticality of the supported government operations.
“MITA has contracted a number of security controls both at technical and at procedural level to European Dynamics,” the official explained. “The solution’s contractor is audited annually against the UK’s HMG Information Security Standards for information.
“Communication between end-users and the electronic solution is also encrypted. Bidders will prepare the bid on their computers and use the ‘Tender Preparation Tool’ to package and encrypt the documents before uploading them to the e-Tenders website.
“The encryption is unique for each call for tenders. The bids received can only be decrypted – and so opened – following authorisation by two members of the tender opening committee, after the submission deadline expires. Audit logs are kept for all of the solution’s functionality.
“All payments are processed by an environment which is certified to meet the Payment Card Industry standards.”
Until now, the existing procurement portal provided suppliers with information and access to tender documents but companies had to contact or access different contracting authorities’ websites for specific information.
Now, besides offering suppliers a one-stop centralised portal, the solution will allow firms to create, update and submit bids securely online, sparing them the need to turn up at government departments. The profiling of firms and automated notification of available competitions are added features.
Suppliers will be able to enrol several registered users to the platform: staff will be able to simultaneously work on different tender opportunities online, even on the concurrent creation of online tender submissions.
Post-award, the platform may be extended to integrate with suppliers’ back-office systems to handle e-ordering, e-invoicing and e-payments. This functionality, MITA said, will enable a smoother and direct interconnection between contracting authorities and suppliers, resulting in a more efficient and less time-consuming co-operation.
The government’s transition to online procurement is also important for Malta’s e-credentials at a European level.
In last year’s European Commission’s e-Government Benchmarking Report, Malta was established as the European leader in e-government when it scored 100 per cent in five of the six core indicators. Malta fared “relatively well” in the sixth – e-procurement.
Now authorities believe the platform will enable Malta to establish itself as an absolute leader with an e-government framework that “is second to none in the European Union”, the MITA official said.