The government on Thursday forwarded a draft bill on online invoices in public procurement procedures, with Economy Minister Darko Horvat saying that once the entire public procurement procedure was digitised, it could help save the government more than 2.6 billion kuna (€352 million).

With the bill, the existing law on online invoices in public procurement would become aligned with a European Parliament directive, which said that all institutions obliged to conduct public procurement procedures would have to start accepting electronic invoices as of December 2018, and start issuing them as of July 2019.

Horvat added that the bill was part of the government’s national reform programme for 2018, and that its purpose was the 100-percent introduction of e-invoices in public procurement.

The move is expected to reduce administrative costs, speed up procedures, and ensure safekeeping of e-invoices in electronic archives, said Horvat.

He added that the cost of processing e-invoices will also be much lower compared to hard copy documents.

“With the establishment of a comprehensive electronic public procurement system, the possible savings have been estimated to total 6-13 percent of the total value of public procurement, which could save the state more than 2.6 billion kuna (€352 million) ,” Horvat said.

He added that the exchange of e-invoices at the state and local level required ensuring a central platform for communication and inter-connectivity between the public sector and its clients and suppliers.

The government-sponsored draft bill would expand the role of the Financial Agency (Fina) as an IT mediator to include the receiving and sending of electronic invoices.

(€1 = 7.38 kuna)

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