OGC and BASDA Team on eProcurement Standards

OGC Trials 'Common IT Language' To Drive Government eCommerce Agenda

BASDA's eBIS-XML in Proof-of-Concept Trial With OGC

Office of Government Commerce (OGC). June 17, 2003.

Assessment trials are underway to find the most effective way to allow computers running different purchasing software packages to 'talk to each other'. This is a joint initiative from Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Business Applications Software Developers Association (BASDA).

The Proof of Concept trials of the common vocabulary (known as XML) are another example of a growing 'joined up' approach between OGC and the IT Industry to establish common IT standards for eProcurement. These standards will enable suppliers and public sector buyers to conduct business online more easily.

The objective is to make it easier for government departments to run IT purchasing systems, whilst at the same time ensuring suppliers are able to do business with government online, regardless of which software system they use.

Importantly, the move will enable easier access to the government marketplace for smaller suppliers (SMEs). OGC's Executive Director for Supplier and Government Marketplace Development, Martin Sykes, welcomed the collaboration saying: "OGC has been working closely with BASDA to drive the interoperability agenda forward. OGC is committed to providing better value for money for taxpayers through offering better access for suppliers to the Government marketplace. These trials represent a major step in the right direction."

Commenting on the trial, Dennis Keeling, CEO of BASDA, said: "We are very pleased to co-operate with OGC on this project which employs a development of eBIS-XML, our eBusiness XML communications standard. Most of our members support the standard, which has already been proved commercially across Europe. It enables their software to generate and read the standard XML based documents which cuts costs and eliminates re-keying. We believe that this will not only help Government departments, but will also encourage more businesses to adopt eBusiness with all the benefits it can bring."

About OGC

Established in April 2000, the OGC was set up to act as a catalyst in procurement issues and to work with central civil government departments to achieve best value for money in their commercial activities. Responsible for civil central government Procurement Policy and Best Practice including Construction, Property Management, IT, Supplier Relations including opening up access to government contracts to SMEs, eCommerce including the Government Procurement Card, the Gateway Review Process and OGCbuying.solutions, which is responsible for the Government buying catalogues such as G-Cat and S-Cat and developing strategic procurement partnerships, including Framework Agreements, with the private sector.

About BASDA

Since Dennis Keeling founded BASDA in 1993, the organisation has grown in terms of achievement and membership. The Association was formed from a core group of developers, who realised that the software industry needed a representative body. BASDA's governing body is its General Council -- a group of 12 elected representatives from member companies, who are drawn from all sectors of the business and accounting software market. Each BASDA member, whether large or small, has an equal voice in determining the future direction and development of the Association.

BASDA Members Taking Part in the Trial

Agresso
Capita Education Services
Microsoft Business Solutions
Oracle
Sage
SAP

Contact

Martin Day
Office of Government Commerce
Tel: 020 7271 1318
Email: Martin.day@ogc.gsi.gov.uk

References:

"UK Office of Government Commerce and BASDA Conduct eProcurement Assessment Trials." News story 2003-06-19.
eProcurement announcement summary
Announcement PDF source; see also the BASDA version.
Contact: Martin Day
BASDA website
Introduction to eBIS-XML
opXML - "A standard for XML messaging developed by BOSS in conjunction with representatives from all tiers of the industry supply chain and industry software providers to meet their agreed needs... based on the most recent version of BASDA e-BIS XML..."
"BASDA eBIS-XML" - Main reference page.
"Electronic Procurement Standardization" - Main reference page.

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.

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