In 2023, the national electronic tendering website eTenders, switched to a new service provider. To enable ongoing access to past procurement competition data that was hosted on the old website public buyers and suppliers have been able to access the old) eTenders website. This is changing soon, and access to the old website is ceasing in May 2024.
Public procurement buyers should take action now to make sure that they keep the procurement competition data they need.
What changes are taking place?
The national electronic tendering platform eTenders switched to a new service provider in May 2023, marking the first time in a decade that the system had changed to a new provider.
The national electronic tendering website eTenders switched to a new service provider in May 2023, marking the first time in a decade that the website had changed to a new provider.
While eTenders was never intended to be used for long-term record keeping, for some public buyers, the old eTenders website may have been used as part of their approach to meeting their record keeping and data retention obligations. However, the national public procurement guidelines clearly state that “eTenders should not be used as a storage facility and that all relevant documentation records should be maintained off the platform by the contracting authority”. On that basis, and due to scale, complexity and associated risks to data integrity, past procurement competition data could not be transferred from the old eTenders website to the current eTenders website
To facilitate access to past procurement data during this changeover period since May 2023, the previous eTenders website has remained online and accessible to buyers and suppliers. However, access to the old site will end for all users in May 2024, and the OGP is encouraging public procurement buyers to take action now to make sure they retrieve the procurement competition data required from the old website in advance of this date.
Any data associated with past procurement competitions that was published on the old website will be affected. In the majority of cases, this will mean any procurement competition that was published before 15 May 2023 (before the launch of the current eTenders website).
What action do I need to take?
There are three key steps public buyers should take to retrieve data associated with past procurement competitions from the old eTenders website :
• 1) Close: Close any procurement competition on the old site that you want to retrieve data for.
• 2) Archive: Closed competitions can now be moved to the Archive area on the old eTenders site.
• 3) Download: Once a procurement competition has been closed and moved to the Archive area, you can download the Archive file to your designated local storage location.
You can find a more detailed guide on how to download files from the old eTenders system below.
Will I be able to access the files on the old website after May 2024?
No, you will not be able to access any files that were stored on the old system after May 2024. Access to the old website will cease in May 2024.
Who can I contact if I have any issues?
if you encounter any issues relating to closing or archiving competitions on the old eTenders website you can contact EU Supply, at 021 243 9277, or email etenders@eu-supply.com.
