How are the security and reliability of the electronic transmission of bids guaranteed?

The electronic transmission of submissions, and particularly of bids, requires a high level of security and reliability to guarantee a confidence level at least as high as for handling paper formats with transmission by post or courier. As concerns security, system audits have been carried out by the appropriate supervisory authorities within the administration. Reliability is an important objective and will be monitored in use.

It is also important that submissions received are the true expression of a commitment by the companies which sent them; whence the use of an electronic signature procedure with a digital certificate.

Finally, the confidentiality of bids must be guaranteed both during their transfer over the Internet and during their storage before submissions are officially opened. Submissions will therefore be automatically encrypted as soon as they are received. For each purchasing agency, one or several persons will be designated by the PRM (awarding authority) as having access to the solicitations “safe” and to the keys that can open the folders received electronically and which concern them. Each of these individuals will have a personalised digital certificate that will allow them to authenticate their identity.