Electronic Bidding
Introduction
Electronic procurement or E-Procurement (in English) is the business-to-business buying and selling of supplies, work and services
(business-to-business B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-government (B2G), over the Internet, as well as other information systems and network connections, such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
Typically, e-procurement websites allow qualified and registered users to search for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify or invite auctions. Transactions can be initiated and completed; Continued operations may qualify customers for volume discounts or special offers. E-procurement programs can make it possible to automate some buying and selling activities. Participating companies hope to be able to control back inventories more effectively, reduce excess middlemen, and improve manufacturing cycles. It is expected that e-procurement will be integrated into the broader Purchase-to-pay (P2P) value chain, with the trend towards computerized supply chain management.
The e-procurement is developed with some software application that includes features for management and complex auctions. The new generation of e-procurement is on-demand or program(s) as a service (software-as-a-service).
There are seven main types of e-procurement:
1. Web based ERP (Web based ERP): create and approve purchase requisitions, place purchase orders and receive goods and services through the use of a software solution based on Internet technology.
2. e-MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul): Same as Web-based ERP, except the goods and services ordered are non-product MRO supplies.
3. e-sourcing (e-profiling): Identify new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing requirements using Internet technologies.
4. e-tendering (e-tendering): Send requests for information and prices to suppliers and receive their responses, using Internet technologies.
5. e-reverse auctioning: Using Internet technologies to purchase goods and services from a number of known and unknown suppliers.
6. e-informing (e-information): Gather and distribute operational information to both internal and external entities using Internet technologies.