Spanish Government eProcurement Platform (PLACE)

The Spanish eProcurement Plataform (Plataforma de Contratación del Estado) is the virtual "marketplace" where buyers from the Spanish public sector and suppliers can meet to make business.

Contracting authorities from the central administration are obliged to publish their buyer profile on PLACE including all the information about their awarding processes. Also, an increasing number of municipal authorities are voluntarily publishing their buyer profile.

All the services offered by PLACE are completely free of charge.

The following services are offered to economic operators:

• General information about public procurement,
• Access to all the Buyer Profiles in the central administration, and other contracting, authorities that have  adhered voluntarily
• Search tools for business opportunities,
• Download of calls for tenders,
• Asking questions to the contracting authorities,
• Free subscriptions to business opportunities (e-mail, SMS, RSS),

 

The following services are offered to contracting authorities:

• Buyer profile publication fulfilling all the legal requirements,
• Time stamp of documents published on the Buyer Profile,
• Publication of notices in Official Journals,
• Answering questions,
• Notification of exclusion/admission of  the participants,
• Connection with contracting authorities back-office (B2B)

 

PLACE is based on the CODICE specifications. The documents interchanged between contracting authorities and economic operators follow the CODICE specifications. The data model is based on CODICE components.

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
p\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
v\:textbox {display:none;}
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Description of target users and groups

All the economic operators in the European Union are potential users of the Spanish Government eProcurement Platform, where they can find information about the business opportuinities offered by the Spanish public sector.

Technology solution

Technology choice: Proprietary technology, Standards-based technology

Main results, benefits and impacts

• Information about public procurement by the Spanish Government is fully accessible,
• Economic operators can find all the information about business opportunities and awarding processes in a  single point,
• Communication between economic operators and contracting authorities can be made through a unique channel. Enterprises can get rid of the complexity of the administration structure and see as an unique contracting body.

Lessons learnt

• Transparency in the public awarding processes benefits general economy and improves the quality of the products and services contracted,
• Communication between enterprises and government by electronic means can reduce costs and accelerate administrative procedures,
• Implementation based on open standards facilitate interoperability and maintainability of applications

Scope: Pan-European