The council calls all its suppliers to inform them that, after a delay, it will only accept electronic invoices. Andreu Brú, from PIMEC, describes it as a "tractor town hall"
The mayor of Sant Just Desvern, Josep Perpinyà, was very direct in the inauguration of the meeting with suppliers that took place on 2 October. "We have summoned you for a common sense issue. The adoption of the electronic invoice is a benefit over time.
Pere Galindo, head of computer science at Sant Just City Council, explained that as a result of the approval of theOrdinance regulating e-government, this local body (despite some exceptions -Article 18.3 of the Ordinance-) will only accept that the invoices that are sent in the field of administrative contracting have an electronic format. Despite this, the City Council has opted for flexibility and gives a margin of time that extends throughout 2014, setting the final horizon in 2015 in which all its suppliers will have to process their invoices electronically. In addition, it makes all the help they need available to suppliers; they have even traveled to more than one company to explain the electronic invoice and advise them.
The person in charge of the e.FACT service of the AOC Consortium, Beatriu Tudel, in addition to clarifying how the service works and commenting on the possible maneres of issuing an e-invoice, influenced its benefits. Apart from the free nature and the fact that there are no technological impositions with the e.FACT model, according to several studies “it is estimated that the cost savings per electronic invoice for the company are 6 euros and 8,5 euros for the Administration”. In addition, with services such as e.FACT the Administration offers many advantages to users, such as the possibility of downloading an electronic receipt, knowing the statuses associated with the management of the invoice at all times from an email, the conservation of invoices through theEACAT or electronic signature verification.
The employer also offered its resources throughout the process of adopting the electronic invoice; even acting as an intermediary between companies and software vendors as they have detected that one of the difficulties companies face is that in billing programs there is no “generate electronic invoice and send” button. Andreu Brú, director of the new technologies department of PIMEC, wanted to emphasize that they were not afraid of the electronic invoice: “it's easy, everything is technology. You have to do your job and leave the difficulty to the computer program that you have to make invoices ”. His advice was very clear: “invoice as you wish but if you opt for electronic invoicing, do all the invoices this way. The most similar thing you will find is the certified letter with acknowledgment of receipt, which does not save time, money, efficiency and speed of the electronic invoice ”. According to Bru, Sant Just City Council has opted for what is called a "tractor project".
In this sense, the head of the purchasing service of the City Council, Carles Palau, closed the session stating that with the commitment to electronic invoicing the Administration is advancing for the first time to the private company and that the Sant Just City Council "wants to be an example for other administrations".
The AOC Consortium values this initiative of Sant Just City Council as very positive, which coordinates initiatives in different areas: regulations (ordinance), political leadership, the alignment of the entire organization, technology and communication and support to those affected by the changes (in this case, the supplier companies). A good example of how to manage organizational change, traditionally the main stumbling block for the implementation of e-Government projects.
