eInvoicing in public procurement
Public procurement contracting authorities are legally obliged to accept electronic invoices from suppliers where those invoices comply with the European eInvoicing Standard. Declan McCormack, Principal Officer with responsibility for the eInvoicing Ireland programme in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), outlines the importance of awareness among public bodies of their legal obligations, the national standards-based approach and above all, the role of suppliers, in helping to reap the benefits of eInvoicing for all stakeholders in public procurement.
Since April 2020, public bodies in all EU member states have been required to meet their legal obligations arising from the European eInvoicing Directive (2014/55/EU) which applies to invoices related to public procurement contracts. Over the last number of years, the eInvoicing Ireland programme has helped public bodies to understand how they can meet this legal requirement and to understand the broader benefits of digitalisation.
The Directive sets out that contracting authorities and contracting entities must receive and process electronic invoices that comply with the European Standard (EN-16931) for eInvoicing (‘the EN’). The EN at a basic level is a data model and defines the information, structure and format of compliant eInvoices. Compliant eInvoices can be formatted in one of two listed XML formats. Ireland has chosen the Peppol (Pan European Public Procurement Online) network as the eDelivery network through which EN compliant eInvoices should be delivered to public bodies. The Peppol network allows businesses to connect once and connect to all public administrations and business in Ireland and Europe on the network.
The advantages of European standards-based electronic invoicing for public contracting authorities and suppliers include reduced administrative burden and efficiency gains in invoice receipt, access to better data for decision making, the automation of tax reporting obligations in some EU member states, and also an improvement in legal certainty and a reduction in barriers to cross-border trade in Europe and internationally.
Submitting electronic invoices is now a real and widespread option for suppliers to the public sector, via the Peppol network. Each public body is expected to avail of a shared services solution or establish their own eInvoicing capability. Collaboration to establish a standardised model for eInvoicing, across the whole of the public sector was vital in order to accommodate the decentralised nature of invoice processing. “While the initiative is led by the Office of Government Procurement, the eInvoicing Ireland programme is very much a collaboration with business and technology services leaders from across our public sector partners, in health, central government, local government, and education. This collaboration and moving forward together has been the programme’s real strength,” explains McCormack.
While there is an obligation on public bodies to be able to receive and process, it remains optional for suppliers to choose to submit their invoices electronically in accordance with the European eInvoicing Standard.
“While the initiative is led by the Office of Government Procurement, the eInvoicing Ireland programme is very much a collaboration with business and technology services leaders from across our public sector partners, in health, central government, local government, and education.”
Informed suppliers are key to driving uptake
Several initiatives are underway across the public sector, as the main finance shared services functions and a number of individual public bodies, look to suppliers to increase the volume of invoices being submitted electronically and help them jointly reap the benefits of the digitalisation of invoice processing.
McCormack believes “the national eInvoicing approach aims to be supplier-centric, facilitating a common method for suppliers to submit eInvoices to all public bodies, providing a ‘connect once and connect to all’ option for suppliers to reach their public sector clients”. McCormack also acknowledges that a limited awareness among suppliers of the standardised eInvoicing model in public procurement is a key challenge to driving uptake: “Support by all public bodies for the European eInvoicing Standard, and the use of the Peppol network for delivery of eInvoices, simplifies the choices for suppliers and helps to reduce or avoid costs when they are considering investing in doing business digitally with public sector clients at home and internationally. This is a message we need to continue to communicate with the help of our sector partners, to help businesses make an informed choice on eInvoicing.”
A supplier information sheet is available online at the OGP’s eInvoicing Ireland website (See Figure 1).
Office of Government Procurement eInvoicing supports for public bodies
To facilitate public bodies in reaching compliance with the eInvoicing Directive, the Office of Government Procurement established a National Framework Agreement for the provision of eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland. The eInvoicing Ireland Steering Committee, comprising senior representatives from the four OGP sector partners across central and local government, health, and education, informed the establishment of the framework. The comprehensive framework, with three separate lots, offers services and solutions which are compliant with the European Standard on eInvoicing as prescribed by the eInvoicing Directive and caters for the diverse range of needs and requirements across all public sector bodies.
The eInvoicing service providers on the framework are connecting public bodies to the Peppol network and offering solutions and services to enable basic compliance with the Directive as well as a more fully integrated approach to eInvoicing, facilitating ‘straight-through processing’.
Figure 1
For further information
Please visit https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/office-of-government-procurement or contact: einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie
Accessing the framework
For anyone looking to access the OGP eInvoicing Framework, please log onto the OGP Buyer Zone via https://buyerzone.gov.ie/ and select/ search as follows:
Category: Managed Services
Keyword: ‘PEPPOL’ or ‘eInvoicing systems’
OGP Clients must register to gain access to the Buyer zone available to all public service buyers accessing live contracts/frameworks.
E: declan.mccormack@ogp.gov.ie
eInvoicing ireland@ogp.gov.ie
T: +353 85 803 5902
