Top 4 Strategy Recommendations
Develop universal guidelines for an online procurement platform and consult relevant stakeholders on the needed features to make sure the appropriate solutions are implemented in the e-procurement platforms.
Pan-European Information Exchange Platform that allows procurement authorities to share knowledge on procurement processes(e.g. best practices, technologies, contractors and SOEs, state of the art techniques, legislative changes).
Organize a regional conference on “BIM in construction” to highlight the importance of BIM and attract interest toward it from all industry stakeholders.
Set up an online training module for BIM training for beginners and advanced users.
Executive summary
Challenges | Solutions |
● Lengthy tenders and lack of transparency throughout the procurement process. ● Poor management of existing data on procurement across the region (e.g. data on problematic companies, SOEs, court proceedings). | ● Digitalizing the project lifecycle from tendering to execution and maintenance. ● Develop user-friendly procurement platforms that engage stakeholders throughout the process. ● Increase cross-border data sharing to improve quality of tendering and prevent fraudulent bids. |
● Existence of different solutions and interfaces for e-procurement. | ● Develop a standardized European or regional online platform for e-tendering. ● Establish regional and European intergovernmental partnerships to promote information sharing on projects and tendering procedures. |
● Poor engagement with Building Information Modeling (BIM)[1] across the CEEC. ● Lack of awareness or financial capacity of small companies to prepare for increasing digitalization (e.g. BIM) of the supply chain. | ● Public and private sector to work together developing a vision and practical approach towards BIM training and use. ● Support companies through training and knowledge exchange programs to speed up digitalization across the construction industry. |
● Lack of digital solutions for oversight authorities to monitor construction sites, workers rights and application of existing norms. | ● Digitalize construction sites by implementing digital cards for workers and companies. |
Tender duration and lack of transparency.
Challenge | Solutions | Actors | Implementation |
● Long tender duration which delays the project execution. | ● Digitalizing the project’s lifecycle, starting with the planning phase and providing all needed documentation online. ● ● Digitalizing the project lifecycle from planning to execution and maintenance to improve transparency and decrease the contestation time. | ● Procurement authorities. ● Private consultants. ● National governments. ● European Commission. | ● Develop guidelines for an online procurement platform (e.g. – what should it contain, functionality, users) and consult all relevant stakeholders on the needed features. ● Implement/improve national/regional procurement platforms so as to reduce tender duration through timely communication and increase transparency and accessibility by providing all necessary documents online. |
● Poor data-management and data-sharing on procurement across the region (e.g. data on problematic companies, SOEs, court proceedings). | ● Increase cross-border data sharing to improve quality of tendering and prevent fraudulent bids. | ● Procurement authorities. ● Private consultants. ● National governments. ● European Commission. | ● Establish an online European data sharing platform that allows procurement authorities to provide inputs on the bidders, contracts, legislative updates and procurement know-hows implemented at the local or national levels. |
● Lack of transparency throughout the procurement process. | ● Develop an easy to navigate and user-friendly procurement platform that encourages transparency in procurement. ● ● Ensure consistent data-management and process solutions for public procurement. | ● Tendering authorities. ● Contractors. ● Financing institutions. ● European Commission. | ● . ● Establish a working group of relevant stakeholders, including financing institutions to set up a bonus system for project proposals that have outlined a digitalization strategy for the project’s lifecycle. ● Design a policy proposal to support digitalization of the project lifecycle – or at least parts of it, through a joint input of procurement authorities, private consultants, financing institutions and other relevant stakeholders |
Existence of different solutions and interfaces for e-Procurement.
Challenge | Solutions | Actors | Implementation |
● Existence of different solutions and interfaces for e-procurement, national and local level platforms, implemented by different authorities. | ● Implement a standardized European e-procurement platform. ● Establish regional and European intergovernmental partnerships to promote information sharing on projects and tendering procedures. ● European Commission to encourage states to implement and adopt the use of a general European e-procurement platform/model. | ● European Commission MS governments. ● Local Authorities. ● Municipalities. ● SMEs from the IT sector. ● OpenPEPPOL. | ● Promoted the usage of a Standardized European e-procurement platform by cooperating with PEPPOL project[2] (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) and connect the already existing country level platforms to build an inclusive, standardized european e-procurement platform. ○ Open e-PRIOR[3] platform allows cross-border e-Procurement through PEPPOL standards. ○ Use the TED platform as the base/model for developing a new Standardized European Platform.[4] |
Poor engagement with Building Information Modelling (BIM)[5]across the CEEC.
Challenge | Solutions | Actors | Implement |
● Poor engagement with Building Information Modelling (BIM)[6]across the CEEC. | ● Encourage and incentivise the usage of BIM through public policies and training programs. ● Focus on people in order to change their attitude towards BIM. (combat the natural instinct to resist change) – information campaigns. ● Provide a clear vision of BIM, as well as long-term commitment to its adoption and use through public leadership. ● Public and private sector to work together on developing the vision and approach towards BIM adoption and use. | ● Procurement authorities in given countries. ● National governments. ● Public sector sponsors or champions (individuals or groups of stakeholders). | ● Organize a public communication campaign to support ministries to adopt a vision to “digitalize the entire industry”, so that all the value chain stakeholders benefit. ● Organize a regional “BIM in construction” conference to highlight the importance of BIM and attract interest toward it from all industry stakeholders. ● Compile a list of BIM champions, comprising companies that have knowledge and experience in using BIM and are open to share this knowledge with the others through online training sessions. |
● Lack of awareness or financial capacity of small companies to prepare for increasing digitalization (e.g. BIM) of the supply chain. | ● Support companies to speed up digitalization across the construction industry (e.g. BIM) by: ○ Establishing EU and national funds dedicated to the digitalization of the construction industry actors. ○ Organizing online conferences on digitalization. ○ Organizing an online knowledge platform for BIM, offering training. | ● International financing institutions. ● European Commission. ● National governments. ● Universities, research and training centers. ● BIM experts | ● Organize online educational modules that would provide training for BIM usage, both for the beginners as well as for more experienced specialists. ● Establish a group of experts at the European level such as the EU BIM Task Group that would be the ”go to” source for expert advice/consultancy. ● Establish national groups of experts on BIM (one per country), which will communicate directly with the European level group of BIM experts, and will coordinate directly with the public and private sectors the support for BIM implementation. |
Lack of digital solutions for oversight authorities.
Challenge | Solutions | Actors | Implementation |
● Lack of digital solutions for oversight authorities to monitor construction sites, workers rights and application of existing norms. | ● Digitalize construction sites (e.g. Austrian system of “digital blue cards” for workers with all the relevant information regarding his/her employment, place of work). | ● National governments. ● Consulting companies. ● European Commission. ● Syndicates. | ● ● Through a stakeholder engagement campaign develop a roadmap for implementing digitalization at the site level. The roadmap to contain relevant information on what are the existing best practices and how can those be transposed to the regional/national context. ● Conduct dialogues and knowledge sharing between relevant actors in order to transpose best practices and models of digitalizing construction sites such as the Austrian “digital blue cards”. |
[1] Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.
[2] PEPPOL is a set of artifacts and specifications enabling cross-border eProcurement. The use of PEPPOL is governed by a multilateral agreement structure which is owned and maintained by OpenPEPPOL. https://peppol.eu/
[3] Open e-PRIOR is a free open source e-Procurement platform that allows public administrations to implement interoperable electronic services. It plays the role of intermediary between the back-office applications of the public administration and the Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine (PEPPOL) interoperability initiative. https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/solutions/open-e-prior_en
[4] TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online version of the ‘Supplement to the Official Journal’ of the EU, dedicated to European public procurement.
[5] Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.
[6] Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.
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