The Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) has recently announced that a new version of Open e-PRIOR, the open-source version of the e-PRIOR (electronic PRocurement, Invoicing and Ordering) platform has been published on the Open Source Observatory and Repository for European public administrations (OSOR.eu). 

Based on the success and the positive response received on the technical sneak preview published in November 2009, the Open e-PRIOR team has been working on adding the functionality foreseen under the IDABC (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Business and Citizens) programme, as well as taking on feedback received by different parties. 

The new version of Open e-PRIOR delivers an embedded PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) Access Point, which provides a great opportunity for Customers wishing to participate in the PEPPOL pilot that will commence in May 2010.  Through the use of this Access Point, Customers will be able to connect to their Suppliers by exchanging Invoices over the PEPPOL network.  For this purpose a PEPPOL test client is also being provided in the package together with a detailed Software Architecture Document. 

Open e-PRIOR is the first eProcurement implementation which enables the exchange of electronic business documents using the data models of CEN/ISSS WS/BII.

Those willing to know more about Open e-PRIOR can:

• download the new version of Open e-PRIOR from OSOR.eu at http://forge.osor.eu/frs/?group_id=188
• join the Open e-PRIOR community in order to learn more about the project, contribute with their feedback and participate in the making of this platform through http://www.osor.eu/projects/openeprior
• read documentation about Open e-PRIOR, including a guide on how to get Open e-PRIOR running and to understand the Software Architecture through http://forge.osor.eu/docman/?group_id=188

Interested parties can contact the dedicated team who is ready to share knowledge, experiences and to provide support, by e-mail DIGIT-EPRIOR-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu or through OSOR at https://forge.osor.eu/forum/forum.php?forum_id=508.

Background Information

Open e-PRIOR is developed and deployed by the European Commission to allow the exchange of structured eProcurement documents between the Commission and its suppliers. It is being developed under the IDABC programme and was initiated by Directorate-General for Internal Market (DG-MARKT) and Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) of the European Commission.

Open e-PRIOR provides an opportunity for reusability of an open-source solution that has already been implemented at the Commission and which provides a secure platform for document exchange.  This is an opportunity for sharing practical experiences and lessons learnt with the aim of accelerating uptake of eProcurement across Member States.

Further Information

• Original news article - OSOR.EU
• PEPPOL project
• New version of Open e-PRIOR for download - OSOR.EU
• Open e-PRIOR community - OSOR.EU
• User's Manual for Open e-PRIOR and its Software Architecture - OSOR.EU