EU B2G E-invoicing received 9 million Euro in 2014 from the CEF Facility

European Business to government e-invoicing received 9 million Euro in funding from the Connecting Europe Facility. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the new 2014-2020 programme for investing in EU infrastructure priorities in the fields of energy, telecommunications and transport.

The CEF, on its turn, is anchored to the Europe 2020 Strategy. Which on its turn, is connected to the Digital Agenda for Europe initiative. Get it? Well, just in case, underneath are the highlights from the CEF Work Programme 2014.

Background and objective

The specific objective of this facility is to improve the functioning of the Single Market by introducing mechanisms that lower market access barriers in cross-border procurement, building on existing experience (the Commission supports and implements a number of projects to facilitate the roll-out of e-invoicing in the EU, including the Large Scale Pilot PEPPOL whose e-invoicing component has been trialled in a dozen Member States).

To improve the situation and make a decisive move towards fuller usage of electronic invoices, on 26 June 2013 the Commission proposed a Directive on e-invoicing in public procurement, COM(2013) 449. Once adopted, the DSI will be upgraded to ensure full alignment with the Directive.

Actions in 2014

The 2014 actions serve to deploy a number of operational services enabling a comprehensive technical and organisational solution for e-invoicing in public procurement. It builds on the work undertaken under the CIP programme, with particular reference to the results of the PEPPOL Large Scale Project and, in the longer run, the eSENS Large Scale Project.

This includes the launch, maintenance and operation of the e-invoicing core service platform to enable its autonomous operation for a period of four years. The main tasks for the launch and operation of the e-invoicing core service.

Type of financial support

The operation of the e-invoicing core service platform will be procured, with an indicative budget of EUR 9 million for a contract duration of four years.

Actions envisaged beyond 2014

In 2014, funding has been foreseen for the migration of the e-invoicing software and service components to a consolidated deployable version established by the eSENS Large Scale Pilot project in 2016 or earlier.

Subject to the availability of sufficient financial resources, grants are expected be made available for generic services in 2015 or 2016 if the uptake is considered too low to ensure continuous usage and financial sustainability