System enables online sale of goods to govt

Daily Express - 23 April 2004

Kota Kinabalu: An electronic procurement system ePerolehan, launched by Sabah Federal Secretary Datuk Sulaiman Iberahim here Thursday, will enable suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through the Internet.

Explaining the system at a media conference, Federal Finance Ministrys ePerolehan Project Director, Datuk Mohamedsha Mislam, said the system means every transaction between the suppliers and government departments or agencies would be done through the Internet except for the delivery of the goods, which still has to be done physically.

"Payment will be made through fund transfer. The suppliers will no longer receive their payment through cheque. When the goods are received, an invoice will be sent and payment will be made. The system is actually similar to the old except that now it is through electronic means," he said.

He said in the initial stage, they would only do four modules - Central Contract, Direct Purchase, Request for Quotation and Request for Tender.

"We have earlier started registering the suppliers for them to be enabled, so they can use the system. However, they have to meet certain criteria in that they must, firstly, have a computer and Internet line, secondly, a smartcard/smartcard reader and thirdly, some knowledge of the system, which they can obtain through training courses.

"Also, they must catalogue their products. Lets say a certain company supplies chairs.

Description (including pictures) of this product must be catalogued so potential buyers would be able to see what they are getting," he said.

According to him, the catalogue has its rates: "The rates for the first 10 different products, which are changeable, are free, after which a certain rate will be imposed."

On the deadline for delivery of goods, Mohamedsha said it was up to the agreement between the procurer and supplier. If the procurer wants it in three days and if the supplier agrees, then the deal is on.

"And the goods can also be sent anywhere. For example, some goods may be required by the Education Department but for a school in another area, say, Sandakan. With the flexibility of the ePerolehan, this can be done, meaning, transportation of the goods is also taken care of, without the hassle and unnecessary costs of having to move them two or three times."

As for the inevitable "teething problems", he said they have identified two major ones, "from our experience in the peninsula."

"The first is, attitude of the user, both from the government and the suppliers. It involves changing the mindset. We find difficulty in handling the refusal or reluctance of people to shift from the old system to the new system.

"Thats why both the Government and Commerce Dot Com Sdn Bhd (CDC, the company appointed by the Federal Finance Ministry to jointly manage the ePerolehan for the nation) are embarking on a roadshow.

"We have plans to hold courses for Sabah and Sarawak in May or June to train not only the suppliers but also the users in government departments. In fact, they can start using the system anytime, as long as they have computer labs to access it online. So its not just a matter of learning to understand the system but identifying the problems they may face."

The second hitch concerns the stability of the communication line. "You know, there are bound to be problems with the Internet line or the telephone line. Even for personal use we have difficulties in using the Internet line. But this we can handle quite easily because we have assistance from such organisations as Telekom, the Malaysian Administrative Moderation Management Planning Unit (Mampu), CDC and others," he added.

Meanwhile, CDC Vice-President, Reza Ali, said to-date, some 51,000 suppliers have registered with the Finance Ministry through the Internet. From the number, about 6,000 suppliers were prepared to conduct business with the Government with about 120,000 electronic catalogues fed into the system, he said.

"We estimate that by December 2004, the number of these ready suppliers would increase to 20,000 with the registration reaching 60,000." Reza also disclosed that all the government agencies in Klang Valley were already using the system.

"Together with the Ministry, we have actually been getting other government agencies outside of Klang Valley since February to adopt the system. We hope to do the same in Sabah and Sarawak in the middle of this year. We figure there are 800 agencies in Sabah and Sarawak. From this data, we estimate that procurement through the system would be about RM1 billion this year and likely to increase yearly," he said.

He said to help manage the transition from manual to electronic, CDC developed several strategies. "The first strategy is, CDC would have an army of people whose purpose is to visit government agencies and provide a face to face, hands-on session to familiarise the users with the system.

"The second is for the suppliers-we have developed a very comprehensive training curriculum to ensure they gain knowledge in using the system.

"The third is, recognising that infrastructure is a problem for the suppliers. So CDC has also developed what we called ePSP or ePerolehan Service Points shop. Its basically a CDC outlet where expertise as well as computers and Internet facilities would be provided on site. We have one ePSP shop in Putrajaya, one in Cyberjaya, one in Kuala Lumpur. I am very happy to say that we have just opened one in Kuching and also one in Kota Kinabalu. So if any of the suppliers want assistance they can come to our outlets."