Minister of State O’Donovan gives update on Sub-Central Government eInvoicing April 2020 deadline

Minister of State O’Donovan, today (17 October 2019) announced that there is now six months before the Sub-Central Government legal deadline of 18 April 2020 for eInvoicing in public procurement. By this date, all Sub-Central contracting authorities and contracting entities need to be able to process electronic invoices (eInvoices) in accordance with European Directives and Standards. 85% of Central Government are already using eInvoicing since the April 2019 timeline.

Speaking at the Public Affairs Ireland (PAI) Public Procurement Annual Conference today, the Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan TD with responsibility for Public Procurement, Open Government and eGovernment commented: “The Irish public service must fully embrace digital transformation to modernise its front and back office processes, making our public services more efficient and responsive. The European eInvoicing Standard and the PEPPOL eDelivery network, which the Irish Government has chosen as the network for transmitting eProcurement documents including eInvoices, offer Irish companies the opportunity to do business with public and private sectors across Europe, and beyond, through the greater use of digital – one of six high-level outcomes in Our Public Service 2020”.

Mr Paul Quinn, Government Chief Procurement Officer and CEO of the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), explained: “By adopting an open-standards based approach to eInvoicing in Ireland we are supporting the Government’s focus on increasing the digitisation of services. Facilitating the harmonisation of information transmitted by suppliers to buyers within the EU improves interoperability across all member states, supporting Europe’s move towards a greener Digital Market.”

Mr. Declan McCormack, eInvoicing Ireland, Programme Manager told the Conference: ‘Six months is the perfect opportunity to start planning, we’re encouraging all public bodies, if they haven’t yet, to start their eInvoicing digital transformation today.”

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About the national approach to eInvoicing in Ireland

The national approach to eInvoicing in Ireland has progressed in the last two years since the European Standard on eInvoicing was launched, on 17 October 2017, triggering the April 2019 and April 2020 timelines for Central and Sub-Central Government to become compliant with the European Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement ‘the eInvoicing Directive’. Ireland has chosen the PEPPOL network as the eDelivery network for the transmission of eInvoices and eProcurement documents. Ireland chose the PEPPOL network because of the advantages for businesses, when businesses connect once to the network they are connected to all public and private organisations on the network- bringing down traditional barriers to trade.

eInvoicing implementation across the public sector in Ireland aims to leverage the shared services and co-ordinating facilities. However for public bodies who will not come under a shared services/ central co-ordinating facility prior to the legal timelines the OGP’s framework agreement for the provision of eInvoicing systems and services will also cater for their individual needs. The eInvoicing Framework offers solutions and services to enable Central and Sub-Central Government to meet the obligations of the eInvoicing Directive providing either basic compliance options or more integrated options that can interface directly with existing accounts payable/ processing systems.

Sections of Sub-Central Government are already mobilising eInvoicing implementation, the Education Shared Business Service, have adopted eInvoicing and are processing eInvoices on a regular basis. Local Government have just completed their eInvoicing pilot project and are currently preparing to enhance their existing eInvoicing shared service facility to support the European eInvoicing standard and the PEPPOL network. Similarly, Health Business Services are at an advanced stage in preparing to enhance their existing eInvoicing shared service facility to support receiving the European eInvoicing standard through the PEPPOL network.

With six months to go eInvoicing Ireland are advising that Sub-Central Government start assessing their current invoice processing environments, understand the obligations under the Directive and the potential benefits, to start planning for eInvoicing. The OGP’s eInvoicing Ireland programme is supporting all of Government in becoming eInvoicing enabled, through their sector partner Steering Committee of representatives from Central and Local Government, Health and Education. Informed by the Central Government experience earlier this year, eInvoicing Ireland have been updating their information materials to support public bodies planning and implementing eInvoicing.

Accessing the Framework

For those looking to access the OGP eInvoicing Framework, please log onto www.ogp.gov.ie and the Buyer zone 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.

Accessing the Standard

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has provided sponsored access to the European Standard on eInvoicing the I.S. EN 16931-1:2017 and S.R. CEN/TS 16931-2:2017 through their Standards distributor, accessible at the following link:

https://shop.standards.ie/en-ie/Standards/SR-CEN-TS-16931-2-2017-880594_SAIG_NSAI_NSAI_2092015/

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For further information: please visit www.ogp.gov.ie/eInvoicing or contact the eInvoicing Ireland team directly at eInvoicing@ogp.gov.ie