A CONSISTENTLY DIGITAL TENDERING PROCESS

Gewobag company headquarters, Spreebogen

BERLIN, March 30 2015. ith a consistently integrated process - from the opening to the evaluation to the award - the Berlin housing construction company Gewobag Wohnungsbau-Aktiengesellschaft Berlin aims for a leading position in the area of   digital tendering. Already from April this year, the current rate of digitally submitted bids is intended to rise from the current 50 per cent to 100 per cent. By autumn, in a second stage, the digitalization of the overall process with checking conforming to VOB (German construction tendering and contract regulations) should take place on the platform. Gewobag works on the e-procurement platform iTWO-e-Vergabe public of RIB Software AG. The innovations are being developed in cooperation with the software manufacturer, with whom we have a long-standing technology partnership.

At the end of the first quarter of 2015, a new era will begin for all bidder companies wishing to submit offers for a procedure by Gewobag: As of the deadline of 01.04.2015, the housing association only accepts digital offers on the platform of RIB.  Paper offers are only possible from this date as an additional option. “It's a tough decision,” confirms Uwe Wilbrecht, head of the central procurement department at Gewobag. However, the feedback from the companies has been fully positive. “Many bidders have been in the test phase for a long time and have learned and implemented the simple processes quickly. The manufacturer’s tutorials on the platform help them to understand digital offer submission. The companies value the advantages, including immense cost savings through fewer journeys to the capital,” he continues.

Once this changeover has been mastered successfully, the implementation of a fully integrated, digital award process will follow. For this purpose, the technology partners RIB and Gewobag are currently developing their own form set, which is intended to connect the architecture firms to the process and to enable a VOB-compliant test. The required training for these new working methods for employees and participating architectural offices is currently being developed. By autumn, the housing association wants to have established the entire digital process.

Gewobag Wohnungsbau-Aktiengesellschaft Berlin has maintained close cooperation with RIB since the creation of the platform. Numerous features of the platform have been realized in the past through this technological partnership. With the fully continuous tendering process, the housing association wants once again to take on a leading position in the sector.