1. E-procurement standards in the Swedish public sector
Kerstin Wiss Holmdahl
Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions
Peter Norén
Swedish National Financial Management Authority
Single Face To Industry (SFTI)

2. Single Face To Industry (SFTI)
Was initiated as an e-commerce project, in 1995
Now a public sector program, lead jointly by the Government, through The Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV), and The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL)
Our objectives for e-procurement are:
Simpler and more efficient procurement in public sector
Better compliance with frame work agreements (i.e. buy from right suppliers)
Free resources for the core business (i.e. for schools, hospitals, elderly care etc.)

3. SFTI – our role
Establish standardised business processes for public buyers and their suppliers
Sub-ordering (call off) from framework agreements is the most used business scenario
Periodic invoicing is also used in a large scale
Provide for complementary use of stand-alone electronic messages (invoice, order)
Provide user support through implementation guidelines, awareness, training, technical advice, etc
Encourage the development of e-procurement/e-business solutions

4. An example: SFTI/ESAP Sc 6
An example: SFTI/ESAP Sc 6.1 Sub-ordering from frame work agreements, based on UN/EDIFACT and EANCOM
Price list
Purchaser
Supplier
Sub-orders
Order confirmation
Delivery
Invoice
Bank
Payment
To pay

5. Message standards
From start our EDI messages were based on UN/EDIFACT, in accordance with the EANCOM implementation guidelines:
Initially we chose directory D93A
Since 1999 we use directory D96A
No later directories adopted
In recent years XML-based messages have been increasingly asked for
Because of the new technology itself, and
Because of new target groups, notably the SMEs, requiring simpler procedures
This has lead to the introduction of
Basic invoice (UBL 1.0; since 2004)
Basic order only (UBL 2.0/NES; since 2008)
But we continue to use also UN/EDIFACT messages

6. Other related standards
Third party operators (VAN, banks, etc) are common in Sweden
To bridge various addressing standards we introduced an UN/CEFACT-based envelope, SBDH (Standard Business Document Header)
We recommend the use of an ebMS-based transport profile
We have defined an object envelope for attachments to electronic messages

7. International collaborations
Although our task is to serve organisations in Sweden we recognise the need for international collaboration, for example
We have participated in UN/CEFACT, since 1998, both
at UN/CEFACT Forum every year, and
in TBG 1(Martin Forsberg from SFTI is responsible for the work regarding order-message)
We also participate in CEN workshops, notably CEN/BII. Martin Forsberg chairs the working group focusing on convergence between UN/CEFACT and UBL
Sweden, through SFTI, will participate in the Pan-European PEPPOL project to test cross-border e-invoicing

8. Our involvement in UN/CEFACT
We see UN/CEFACT as the only platform that can bring together a wide range of heterogeneous user groups from all over the world
We appreciate the collaborative atmosphere in the convergence work between UN/CEFACT/TBG1 and UBL, and regret that limited resources have not made possible to extend it wider
We are pleased with the recent progress in UN/CEFACT regarding
The second generation of the cross-industry invoice, representing a successful merger of various user groups’ requirements
The new base standards CCTS3 and NDR3, which will bring significant improvement for users of UN/CEFACT implementations.
We look forward to an up-take in the implementation of UN/CECFACT specifications as richer libraries based on these specs become available.

9. Our involvement in UN/CEFACT
The work is however far from over
There are challenges that need to be addressed regarding the XML-syntax, versioning and code lists
We see the Standards Advisory Board and CCLF (Core Component Library Framework) as important plattforms to find solutions to the challenges
We hope that our experience from having used CCTS-based XML-standards in many years will be useful in this environment
We will continue to support the work within UN/Cefact 9

10. Thank you! Kerstin Wiss Holmdahl Peter Norén SFTI
Legal advisor/project leader
Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions
/SFTI (Single Face To Industry)
Peter Norén
Project leader
Swedish National Financial Management Authority / SFTI
SFTI
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