-What is E-Procurement?

E-Procurement is the purchasing of goods and services using the internet. It
-	Covers full life cycle of purchasing (indent to receipt of goods)
-	Connects buyers and suppliers through electronic exchange of Tenders, catalogs, contracts, POs, invoices etc
-	Electronic Tendering is carrying out the traditional tendering process in an electronic form, using the internet. Using E-Tendering The Departments of Andhra Pradesh can:
-	Includes on-contract and off-contract buying
-	Includes a variety of off techniques such as RFPs, quotes, auctions and reverse auctions.

- What is Electronic Tendering?

Electronic Tendering is carrying out the traditional tendering process in an electronic form, using the internet. Using E-Tendering The Departments of Andhra Pradesh can:
-	Raise Indents as per the requirement ·
-	Approve indents online ·
-	Sell Tenders
-	Receive Bids
-	Award Contract / PO
-	Evaluate Tenders
-	Create and publish NIT
-	Includes a variety of off techniques such as RFPs, quotes, auctions and reverse auctions.
Using E-Tendering, the suppliers can
-	Receive notification of the relevant tenders
-	Purchase tenders document
-	Submit Bids Online
-	Track the status of their bids

-What are the sources of Tenders?

The tenders are published by the various departments of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Using the E-Tendering System, the users of the participating department will:
-	Raise indents as per the requirements
-	Approve Indents online
-	Create Tender
-	Approve Tender and
-	Publish Tender online

- How Secure is it?

The security features incorporated in the application ensures that all activities are logged, no unauthorised person has access to data, all sensitive data is encrypted and system can be restore in a minimal possible time in case of a disaster or system crash.
-	Audit Trail The Solution has been so designed that all the activities, transactions and changes in configuration are logged and a log report is made available to the concerned people. Further, a log is also available of activities at the database level thereby ensuring that a robust audit trail is always available of all the activities either at the application level or the database level.
-	Data Encryption The solution supports 128 bit encryption and all the price bids received against a tender are encrypted at the database level. Further, the login passwords of all the users and the suppliers are also encrypted at the database level.
-	Secure Administrator acccess To prevent an administrator from misusing his access privileges, the TMS requires two level password verification before allowing an administrator access to the admin module. The first password is provided by the administrator himself and the second password is provided by some designated senior person within the buying organization. The administrator will be authenticated on advanced technologies using biometrics.
-	Process Validation The Solution has been so architected that a user cannot view the commercial bid of a supplier till the technical evaluation of the tender is complete and the date & time specified for the opening of the commercial bid is due.
-	SSL Certificate The solution uses 128 bit SSL Certificate from Verisign for communication between the browser and the web server. This ensures that all the data is encrypted and cannot be hacked/misused by anyone
-	Unauthorised Access - The entire solution is behind a firewall and intrusion detection system that protects it against unauthorised access and hackers