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German Government Goes Paperless With CSC
 From paper clips to trucks to consulting contracts, the German government is the largest single customer of the country’s private sector. Thanks to a CSC-developed system, e-Vergabe, procurement of goods and services has been faster, simpler and more efficient since 2002 – for both buyers and sellers. So efficient, in fact, that the German government asked CSC to expand the system so all federal authorities could use it.
E-Vergabe, which means e-tendering or e-procurement, is part of the BundOnline initiative created in 2000 to put all German federal services online by 2005. Originally developed with the Procurement Agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, an e-Vergabe prototype went live in 2002, replacing a cumbersome paper and mail-based system. Companies seeking public contracts could obtain all pertinent information and submit an offer online, without ever using a single piece of paper. Contract awards and confirmations were also sent online, leading to quicker response times. The system not only saved time and money, it was more transparent and accessible than previous processes.
Paper replaced with mouse click
“Just imagine all the processing of paper and envelopes for bid applications. That has been replaced with one mouse click,” says Jörg Funk of the Ministry of the Interior. “Bidders used to have to buy a newspaper to see the publications of notice. Now they can go to the Web site to see what is in play. The process is much smoother and easier.”
Response was so positive that in December 2003, the German Cabinet issued a decision requiring all federal authorities to use e-Vergabe by the end of 2005. With that decision came a challenge for CSC: a new rollout with more users, more documents and more transactions.
“We started working on the new version two weeks after the decision, to determine the most important demands for the new platform,” says Paul Thiele, competency manager in CSC Ploenzke, CSC’s German business unit. “How many documents? How many tenderings?” He noted that the new platform would have to support up to 300 procurement authorities, more than 26,000 companies and more than 150,000 tenders a year. That is up from the 1,000 companies and 30 authorities who used the original e-Vergabe version. The system would also require 99.5 percent availability, and scalability to accommodate multiple types of users.
Security is crucial
Perhaps most important was security. The German government takes privacy seriously, with some of the most stringent rules in Europe. The original e-Vergabe employed a secure combination of digital signatures and encrypted document transfer, and that method was employed again in the new version. Modern encryption techniques ensure Europe-wide security and prevent third parties from viewing an offer. Bidder offers are signed with a digital signature and backed by smart card verification, which under German law is as valid as a handwritten signature.
“The new platform offers improved security, and a more stable, secure architecture,” Thiele says. Among the improvements are increased support for different smart cards and readers, improved database optimization, a redesigned Web interface and stronger encryption.
E-Vergabe 3.0 went live in December 2005, and has experienced a dramatic increase in use. “We are adding 100 new users from companies each month, and three to five government agencies,” says CSC account manager Wolfgang Schmitt, including the Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of Defense. The system can now support up to 28 million documents a year. A future Cabinet decision is expected to expand e-Vergabe’s deployment even further, a challenge that CSC is ready to face.
“The government has put so much trust in us to handle this complex program, and they support us very much,” notes Thiele. “We have enjoyed this project, and today we still have a lot to do.” Adds Funk, “We have had a good, open relationship with CSC for five years now, and we will continue to work with CSC as we build in new requirements.”
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