Cloud Computing and virtualization in the public sector
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This article results from interviews to IT managers of five public agencies in Spain, at different levels: ministries, city halls, autonomous regions. The content reviews the experience accrued after implementing virtualization and cloud computing projects.
The officers interviewed differentiate both definitions: vistualization applies to infrastructure , while cloud computing refers to computer services such as applications.
Virtualization consists in creating several virtual serves within one serve, in a way that the computer resources are more efficient. IAAS (infrastructure as a service). Cloud computing is the access to applications from a browser and the web. SAAS (software as a service).
For more information please visit:
http://www.socinfo.es/contenido/revistas/pdf65feb20/p16-21virtual.pdf.
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UNCITRAL report on working group on procurement 18th session
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TIn 2004, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) started the revision of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement of Goods, Construction and Services. To that purpose, the working group formed was given a flexible mandate to identify the issues to be addressed in its considerations, including providing for new practices in public procurement, in particular those that resulted from the use of electronic communications.
The Working Group held its eighteenth session in New York, from 12 to 16 April 2010. The session was attended by representatives of 30 of the States members of the Working Group, 5 international organizations and 5 non-profit groups. At its eighteenth session, the group continued advancing its work on the elaboration of proposals for the revision of the Model Law.
For more information please visit:
open link
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New Version of Open e-PRIOR - Accelerating uptake of eProcurement across Member States of EU.
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The Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) has recently announced that a new version of Open e-PRIOR, the open-source version of the e-PRIOR (electronic PRocurement, Invoicing and Ordering) platform has been published on the Open Source Observatory and Repository for European public administrations (OSOR.eu).
Based on the success and the positive response received on the technical sneak preview published in November 2009, the Open e-PRIOR team has been working on adding the functionality foreseen under the IDABC (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Business and Citizens) programme, as well as taking on feedback received by different parties.
The new version of Open e-PRIOR delivers an embedded PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) Access Point, which provides a great opportunity for Customers wishing to participate in the PEPPOL pilot. Through the use of this Access Point, Customers will be able to connect to their Suppliers by exchanging Invoices over the PEPPOL network. For this purpose a PEPPOL test client is also being provided in the package together with a detailed Software Architecture Document.
For more information please visit:
http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/315303.
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China to submit new procurement proposal to WTO
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China will submit a new proposal by mid-July to the World Trade Organization to join the WTO government procurement agreement, which regulates trade in public-sector purchases.
Chinese membership in the voluntary agreement is keenly awaited by Beijing's partners, who say the scale of government purchases in China's economy is potentially huge.
Yi Xiaozhun, vice-minister of commerce, told WTO members that China would make the offer before the next meeting of the global trade body's government procurement committee.
For more information please visit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65141I20100602.
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| The 4th IPPC will be hosted in South Korea in August 2010 |
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The International Public Procurement Conference (IPPC 4) is a global forum that aims at gathering public procurement practitioners, researchers and academia from all countries to share their experience, knowledge as well as to discuss critical issues related to public procurement.
Since 2004, the Conference has been taking place on a bi-annual basis and is hosted by a different government each time (2004 – Florida, USA; 2- Rome, Italy; 3- Amsterdam, Netherlands). In August 2010, the 4th IPPC will be held in Seoul, South Korea.
This Forum is also an opportunity for those interested in public procurement to present research papers. Selected papers will be published in the Journal of Public Procurement (JoPP) and in a edited book that will be distributed at the end of the conference. The 2010 theme is “Towards New Frontiers in Public Procurement.”
For more information please visit: http://www.ippc2010.kr/
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XML Data Integrity Based on Concatenated Hash Function
Data integrity is the fundamental for applications that require data authentication such as e-GP systems. A major problem for XML data authentication is that signed XML data can be copied to another document but still keep signature valid. This could compromise bidding document’s integrity.
Through investigation, the paper discovered that besides data content integrity, XML data integrity should also protect element location information, and context referential integrity under fine-grained security situation. The aim of this paper is to propose a model for XML data integrity considering XML data features. The paper presents an XML data integrity model named as CSR (content integrity, structure integrity, context referential integrity) based on a concatenated hash function.
XML data content integrity is ensured using an iterative hash process, structure integrity is protected by hashing an absolute path string from root node, and context referential integrity is ensured by protecting context-related elements. Presented XML data integrity model can satisfy integrity requirements under situation of fine-grained security, and compatible with XML signature.
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E-Procurement in Hospital Pharmacies: An Exploratory Multi-Case Study from Switzerland
Structural changes and increasing market dynamics in the health care sector intensify the hospitals’ needs for cost-savings and process optimization.
The adoption of new information and communication technology (ICT) is thereby seen as opportunity to improve not only efficiency and effectiveness but also the quality of health services. As costs for drugs continuously increase, especially hospital pharmacies will be in need of acquiring expertise and technology in order to enhance the sourcing processes. The diffusion of e-procurement is however slow in this area.
To investigate why hospital pharmacies only have a modest adoption rate of eprocurement, case studies of three distinct Swiss hospitals with differing organizational structure and automation degrees are presented. It will be shown that technological as well as organizational change is needed in order to efficiently use e-procurement in future.
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Reaching the unreached: A Role of ICT in sustainable Rural development
We have seen in last few decades that the progress of information technology with leaps and bounds, which have completely changed the way of life in the developed nations. While internet has changed the established working practice and opened new vistas and provided a platform to connect, this gives the opportunity for collaborative work space that goes beyond the global boundary.
ICT offers an opportunity to introduce new activities, new services and applications into rural areas or to enhance existing services. With more than 70% of the Indian population living in rural areas and earns its live hood by agriculture and allied means of income.
ICTs can play a significant role in combating rural and urban poverty and fostering sustainable development through creating information rich societies and supporting livelihoods. If ICTs are appropriately deployed and realize the differential needs of urban and rural people, they can become powerful tools of economic, social and political empowerment.
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