Choices expand for those buying electronically

If you said electronic procurement two years ago, most people thought of big cyber marketplaces, where companies could scout for deals.

Overseas, billions of dollars have been thrown at schemes designed to bring buyers and seller together.

Most failed, but a greater understanding of procurement as a business process has now emerged.Some key local players are:

GoProcure - GoProcure is the face government departments and agencies will show to suppliers. It is a way for the Government to exercise its buying power more effectively and cut its administration costs. The contract to build and run GoProcure, worth $7.5 million over five years, was won by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Oracle.

LGOL. Procure - This portal is being developed for Local Government Online using the Bank of New Zealand Edis system. Edis started as an electronic data interchange bureau, and a group of new investors headed by merchant banker John Brabazon has shifted its focus to the internet, and Edis has become a electronic procurement product. It involves a consortium which that includes consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, TelstraClear, Geac and Fujitsu. Brabazon said the portal would concentrate on linking councils to their top 30 suppliers. A fee of $1.40 a transaction can be paid by the buyer or seller or split between them. BNZ will charge a further 25c a transaction settlement fee if required.

SupplyNet - This is the electronic marketplace and procurement service built by Professional Service Brokers, owners of GSB Supplycorp, using the latest version 4.1 of Commerce One's MarketSite software. The $7.5 million price tag reflects PSB's international ambitions - SupplyNet is linked to Cable & Wireless Optus's Australian site, and is designed to integrate with a worldwide trading community of more than 150 online markets based around MarketSite. PSB chief executive Carl Mitchell-Turner said SupplyNet had about 500 suppliers and customers connected. It charges $1.80 a transaction or 1 per cent of the total, whichever is less.

e://volution - Grown from the Norcross printing company, e://volution built its own electronic procurement system using IBM WebSphere technology. It has since broadened its offering to cover a wider range of procurement and e-business services.

Orderware - Formerly Genie Systems, Auckland-based Orderware builds software for electronic commerce, including it Data Transformation Manager, which simplifies integration of disparate systems. Customers include the giant Toys'R'Us chain in the United States.

SAP, Oracle and other enterprise application vendors - Once Applications like electronic procurement become established traditional enterprise software vendors will build their own e-procurement applications, or partner with, or acquire an e-procurement company. Electronic procurement is fast becoming a feature of enterprise software rather than a separate product.