The PEPPOL Business Interoperability Specification, “BIS” from here on after, has been developed by the OpenPEPPOL AISBL Pre Award Coordinating Community and is published as part of the PEPPOL specifications.

Statement of copyright

This PEPPOL Business Interoperability Specification (BIS) document is based on the CEN CWA prepared by the BII workshop specified in the introduction below. The original CEN CWA document contains the following copyright notice which still applies:

© 2012 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CEN national Members.

The CEN CWA documents and profiles prepared by the BII workshop are not specific to a business area. Subject to agreement with CEN, customizations have been made by PEPPOL to establish the PEPPOL BIS, detailing and adding further guidance on the use of BII profiles.

OpenPEPPOL AISBL holds the copyright in the customizations made to the original document. The customizations appear from the corresponding conformance statement which is attached to this document. For the purpose of national implementations, customizations covered by the conformance statement may be further refined and detailed by PEPPOL Authorities and/or other entities authorized by OpenPEPPOL AISBL, provided that interoperability with PEPPOL BIS is ensured. This PEPPOL BIS document may not be modified, re-distributed, sold or repackaged in any other way without the prior consent of CEN and/or OpenPEPPOL AISBL.

1. Principle and prerequisites

1.1. Scope

This guide aims to provide insight into transaction details for the transaction model T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1. The transaction description is meant to be a standalone description to be used as a part of one or more procurement profiles. It describes syntax mappings, requirements, rules and example.

The transactions, specified in this document are intended to be exchanged between the tendering systems of economic operators and contracting bodies. This means that it is expected that the parties have connected their systems to the internet, and that they have middleware in place to enable them to send and receive the transactions in a secure way, using an agreed syntax.

The content model of the transactions can also be used in procurement platforms or notification platforms, so that these platforms as well as procurement systems of economic operators and contracting bodies are based on the same information and process models, which makes them more interoperable. Even if platforms are not technically interoperable, the content model facilitates understanding the tendering documents and to participate in the tendering process.

1.2. Parties and roles

The following parties participate as business partners in this transaction, acting in the roles as defined below

Table 1. Business partners
Business partner Description Example of roles

Customer

The Customer is the legal person or organization who is in demand of a product or service.

Examples of customer roles are Buyer, Consignee, Debtor and contracting body.

Supplier

The Supplier is the legal person or organization who provides a product or service.

Examples of Supplier roles are Seller, Consignor, Creditor and economic operator.
Table 2. roles
Role Description

Contracting body

The Contracting Authority or Contracting Entity who is buying supplies, services or tendering public works.

Economic operator

Party participating with a bid in a procurement process to sell goods, services or works.

2. Transaction business and information requirements

The following tables describe the transaction business and information requirements of "T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1", it inherits from CEN WS/BII 3 "Trdm084 Tendering Questions transaction".

Table 3. Transaction business requirements of T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1
ID Requirement

tbr84-001

The economic operator shall be identified.

tbr84-002

The contracting body shall be identified.

tbr84-003

The creation date and time of the message shall be specified.

tbr84-004

Each message shall have a message ID.

tbr84-005

The CEN/BII profile and transaction names and versions shall be identified.

tbr84-006

The message shall contain the Procurement Reference number.

tbr84-007

The message may contain the Lot ID’s.

tbr84-008

The message shall contain the request and its justification.

3. Data model: Syntax mapping and XML example

3.1. Data model and syntax mapping

The data model and syntax mapping for Tender Clarification Request can be found at Syntax mapping for T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1. The data model and syntax mapping explains how to use the UBL (or an underlying syntax) to support the Tender Clarification Request information transaction requirements. It provides the syntax mappings from each UBL (or syntax) element to the Tender Clarification Request information elements of this transaction.

3.2. XML example

The following XML example illustrates the structure of an instance of T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1.

Link to example file

Example file for T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Enquiry xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Enquiry-2"
         xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2"
         xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="
            urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Enquiry-2 http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.2/xsdrt/maindoc/UBL-Enquiry-2.2.xsd
            urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2 http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.2/xsdrt/common/UBL-CommonBasicComponents-2.2.xsd
            urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2 http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.2/xsdrt/common/UBL-CommonAggregateComponents-2.2.xsd">
    <cbc:UBLVersionID>2.2</cbc:UBLVersionID>
    <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:prac:trns:t009:1.1</cbc:CustomizationID>
    <cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:prac:bis:p005:1.1</cbc:ProfileID>
    <cbc:ID schemeURI="urn:uuid">6bc5f7fe-cb0f-4640-bda6-f1ee7f02576a</cbc:ID>
    <cbc:IssueDate>2020-05-10</cbc:IssueDate>
    <cbc:IssueTime>14:34:27+01:00</cbc:IssueTime>
    <cac:RequestorParty>
        <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9946">500820007</cbc:EndpointID>
        <cac:PartyIdentification>
            <cbc:ID schemeID="0088">7300010000001</cbc:ID>
        </cac:PartyIdentification>
        <cac:PartyName>
            <cbc:Name>Beschaffungsamt des BMI</cbc:Name>
        </cac:PartyName>
    </cac:RequestorParty>
    <cac:ResponderParty>
        <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9930">DE122268496</cbc:EndpointID>
        <cac:PartyIdentification>
            <cbc:ID schemeID="0204">991-1234512345-06</cbc:ID>
        </cac:PartyIdentification>
        <cac:PartyName>
            <cbc:Name>The economic operator</cbc:Name>
        </cac:PartyName>
    </cac:ResponderParty>
    <cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
        <cbc:ID schemeName="ContractFolderID">6ebc4e19-eba6-4b0a-9155-b59471f20ea0</cbc:ID> (1)
        <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[1]</cbc:XPath> (2)
    </cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
        <cbc:ID schemeName="Lot">LOT-0001</cbc:ID> (3)
        <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[2]</cbc:XPath> (4)
        <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[3]</cbc:XPath>
    </cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cac:Attachment>
        <cac:ExternalReference>
            <cbc:Description>Place your tender clarification request here?</cbc:Description> (5)
        </cac:ExternalReference>
    </cac:Attachment>
    <cac:Attachment>
        <cac:ExternalReference>
            <cbc:Description>Place your tender clarification request for LOT-0001 here?</cbc:Description>
        </cac:ExternalReference>
    </cac:Attachment>
    <cac:Attachment>
        <cac:ExternalReference>
            <cbc:MimeCode>application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet</cbc:MimeCode>
            <cbc:FileName>Pricesheet.xlsx</cbc:FileName> (6)
        </cac:ExternalReference>
    </cac:Attachment>
</Enquiry>

4. Code lists

Any element with the semantic data type = code, can mandate the use of a specific code list (or a fixed value). The applicable code lists can be found in the Code list section. In this section, you can find the valid codes, their names and description, and also links to where the same code list is used elsewhere in the transaction, or in other PEPPOL BIS transactions.

Information elements that are ruled by codelists in this transaction are also described in the Syntax mapping for Tender Clarification Request: Syntax mapping for T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1

The following code lists for coded elements and identifier schemes are used by the transaction.

4.1. Code list for identifier schemes

Table 4. Code list for identifier schemes
Business Term Allowed Scheme Applicable Xpath

Economic operator electronic address identifier

schemeID attribute is mandatory and must use values from EAS codes

cac:RequestorParty/cbc:EndpointID/@schemeID

Contracting body electronic address identifier

schemeID attribute is mandatory and must use values from EAS codes

cac:ResponderParty/cbc:EndpointID/@schemeID

Economic operator identifier

schemeID attribute is mandatory and must use values from ICD codes

cac:RequestorParty/cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID/@schemeID

Contracting body identifier

schemeID attribute is mandatory and must use values from ICD codes

cac:ResponderParty/cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID/@schemeID

5. PEPPOL Identifiers

PEPPOL has defined a Policy for use of Identifiers that specifies how to use identifiers in both its transport infrastructure and within the documents exchanged across that infrastructure. It also introduces principles for any identifiers used in the PEPPOL environment. The e-Tendering pilot adopts and extends the PEPPOL Policy in the following ways:

5.1. Party Identifiers used in business (UBL) documents

All party identifiers (cac:PartyIdentification/cbc:ID) have an optional scheme identifier attribute '@schemeID'. If used, the value shall be chosen from the code list ICD codes.

Examples of usage in cac:PartyIdentification
<cac:PartyIdentification>
        <cbc:ID schemeID="0088">5790000435968</cbc:ID> (1)
</cac:PartyIdentification>
1 schemeID attribute is optional, but when used, the codes must be from ICD codes

5.2. Electronic address identifier used in business (UBL) documents

All electronic address identifiers (cbc:EndpointID/@schemeID) use the Electronic Address Scheme code list (EAS), maintained by CEF (CEF Code lists).

Valid values are found here: EAS codes.

Examples of usage in cbc:EndpointID
<cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0184">DK87654321</cbc:EndpointID> (1)
1 schemeID attribute is mandatory and must use values from EAS codes

5.3. Document Identifiers used in business (UBL) documents

5.3.1. UBL Version ID

This transaction model is using the UBL 2.2 syntax. The namespace of the XML-message does only communicate the major version number. Since it is important for the receiver to also know what minor version of the syntax that is used, the element UBLVersionID must be stated with the value 2.2:

Examples of usage in PartyIdentification and EndpointID
<cbc:UBLVersionID>2.2</cbc:UBLVersionID>

5.3.2. Profile ID

ProfileID identifies what business process a given message is part of, and are connected to one business process, and may contain multiple document types.

Valid profile identifiers are described in the Syntax mapping for Tender Clarification Request - Syntax mapping for T009 - Tender Clarification Request 1.1 - and the corresponding BIS document, see Main documentation site.

5.3.3. Customization ID

The PEPPOL Customization ID identifies the specification of content and rules that apply to the transaction. Profiles are connected to one business process (ProfileID), and may contain multiple transactions. Valid document instances shall contain corresponding ProfileID and CustomizationID.

CustomizationID is a string without spaces. Which customization identification should be used, is based on which transaction is sent.
For implementers, please note that the process identifiers in the document instance MUST correspond to the SMP process identifier.
Table 5. Customization ID to be used for this transaction.
TransactionID Transaction name Short Description cbc:CustomizationID

T009

Tender Clarification Request

The CA sends clarification request to the EO.

urn:fdc:peppol.eu:prac:trns:t009:1.1

6. Descriptions of selected parts of the transaction

The transaction including business terms, business rules and code lists are based upon the definitions of "Trdm084 Tendering Questions transaction" described in "Profile 50 — Tender Clarification" (CWA 17027-115:2016).

6.1. AdditionalDocumentReferences and Attachments

The Enquiry element should be build as follows:

  1. The first cac:AdditionalDocumentReference within the Enquiry must have an cbc:ID having the attribute schemeName set to ContractFolderID and the value has to be the contract folder id.

  2. An Enquiry element can have multiple cac:AdditionalDocumentReference refer to a LotsGroup, a lot or a part.

  3. All questions are placed in an cac:Attachment element. The attachment can have one or more questions within the cbc:Description element or refer to a file in the ASiC-e by using the cbc:FileName element.

  4. The relation between cac:AdditionalDocumentReference and cac:Attachment is done by a cbc:XPath element in the cac:AdditionalDocumentReference

  5. The cbc:XPath can only contain references to an cac:Attachment and has to match the following expression: /Enquiry/cac:Attachment[number] where number represents a 1-base index in the list of the attachments.

This ruleset gives the most flexible relation between question or attachments to a special part of a procurement procedure. The following are examples of combining questions in a transaction with different parts of the procurement procedure.

6.1.1. Question

A simple question to clarify a tender has to look like this:

<cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cbc:ID schemeName="ContractFolderID">6ebc4e19-eba6-4b0a-9155-b59471f20ea0</cbc:ID> (1)
    <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[1]</cbc:XPath> (2)
</cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
<cac:Attachment>
    <cac:ExternalReference>
        <cbc:Description>Place your tender clarification request here?</cbc:Description> (3)
    </cac:ExternalReference>
</cac:Attachment>
1 The Contract Folder ID of the procurement procedure.
2 A reference to an element where one or more questions are located. The number in square brackets is the position in the list of attachments. The position starts with 1 (1-based indexing).
3 The Questions are placed in an cac:Attachment element.

6.1.2. Send an attached file within ASiC-e

<cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cbc:ID schemeName="Lot">LOT-0001</cbc:ID> (1)
    <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[2]</cbc:XPath> (2)
    <cbc:XPath>/Enquiry/cac:Attachment[3]</cbc:XPath>
</cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
<cac:Attachment>
    <cac:ExternalReference>
        <cbc:Description>Place your tender clarification request for LOT-0001 here?</cbc:Description>
    </cac:ExternalReference>
</cac:Attachment>
<cac:Attachment>
    <cac:ExternalReference>
        <cbc:MimeCode>application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet</cbc:MimeCode>
        <cbc:FileName>Pricesheet.xlsx</cbc:FileName> (3)
    </cac:ExternalReference>
</cac:Attachment>
1 The Lot ID of the procurement procedure.
2 A reference to an element where one or more questions or external files are located. The number in square brackets is the position in the list of attachments. The position starts with 1 (1-based indexing).
3 A reference to a file within the ASiC-e.