State meets market: Claranet supports German platform for public contracts
Summary:
Challenge: Secure operation and high availability of the Germany-wide platform Deutsches Vergabeportal (DTVP) to handle communication in procurement procedures completely digitally
Solution: Quick move to a new, redundant operating platform, for which Claranet is responsible
Result: The portal with its modular architecture concept runs stably and successfully under high security precautions
E-awarding online: for large and small awarding authorities
The German Public Procurement Portal (DTVP) is a joint venture founded by Bundesanzeiger Verlag and cosinex to realise one of the first (awarding) marketplaces for public procurement as an innovative cloud service in Germany.
When cosinex revolutionised the previously paper-based procurement file of public procurement bodies with its procurement management system, the idea for a centralised procurement portal was not far off.
A joint venture with Bundesanzeiger Verlag as a partner, which has an enormous wealth of experience in procurement law, and the selection of a suitable managed service provider to operate the cloud platform were the basic parameters of the ambitious project.
The portal was to offer both large and small contracting authorities the opportunity to handle communication in procurement procedures completely digitally - e-procurement on a national platform.
Marketplace for (almost) everything
"The large federal states were the pioneers of e-procurement with some of their own solutions," explains Dr Antanina Kuljanin, one of the two managing directors of DTVP GmbH. "However, the smaller public companies and local authorities could not afford their own platforms or software systems. We solved this problem using a modular architecture with so-called satellite servers - they are completely independent and yet fully integrated into the Germany-wide portal."
For DTVP, a secure, highly available and easily scalable environment and 24/7 operation of the systems, applications and databases was essential.
Secure solution concept
Technically, the solution was created in a redundant architecture with eight virtual machines based on Claranet's own MAH platform. By intelligently mirroring the user data on different cluster nodes, the platform offers an inherent disaster recovery solution.
The platform is operated in two data centres; even if the main data centre fails, all VMs are available at short notice in the second data centre. Increased storage access performance is achieved with the help of Nutanix technology. A comprehensive 24/7 monitoring system with system documentation, IT Infrastructure Library processes and regular, complete and incremental backups round off the solution.
We had exceptionally high data protection and availability requirements. And the migration had to be realised within an extremely tight time frame. Everything had to run immediately: without gaps, without outages, scalable, expandable and, above all, secure. We were able to implement this extremely successfully with Claranet."
A complete success - throughout Germany!
Despite the tight time frame, the data migration was completed in a single weekend after a project duration of just six weeks without any relevant downtimes.
"That's the way it has to be: software has to work - and it's best not to even notice it! The portal ran securely and smoothly right from the start," summarises Uwe Mähren, Head of Specialist Publishing at the Bundesanzeiger and Managing Director of DTVP, and is delighted with the success of the portal, which has been active since 2013: "It's hard to imagine the volume of public contracts from all sectors that are put out to tender every day. This ranges from small trade contracts to pharmaceutical discount contracts worth billions."
The portal is constantly being expanded and the modular architecture concept is being optimised in compliance with the highest security precautions. Over 2,000 contracting and procurement authorities throughout Germany are already working with the basic technology of the German Procurement Portal, including state administrations of the federal states (e.g. Lower Saxony) or large authorities such as the Techniker Krankenkasse and the AOK. However, numerous municipalities and municipally owned companies such as hospitals and universities also use DTVP.
On the bidder side, well over 50,000 small and large companies throughout Germany now take part in procurement procedures via the German Procurement Portal, including the "Who's Who" of German business, including Daimler AG, T-Systems International, Deutsche Post, EnBW, ratiopharm and E.ON.
