TBG6 (the architecture, engineering and construction business experts group of UN/CEFACT) received national updates from attendees before work on individual projects commenced.

More work was undertaken on the eTendering Project and version 2 of the eTendering Standard. Change requests have been received from the CEN BII Workshop with new change requests also being prepared by TBG19 (e-Government) for messages to support additional notices in the tendering process. A contribution from BCIS/RICS (Standard Form of Cost Analysis) has now been incorporated into the project work and harmonisation of common core components is underway. New Schedule of Rates and Bundle Collection messages are also being defined as part of the eTendering Standard version 2.

In the Contract Financial Execution Management Project, the development work undertaken by the French delegation was presented to TBG6. The French supporters of this project are already carrying out pilot tests of the draft messages for the application for payment, valuation and payment certification processes in France to ensure the forthcoming UN/CEFACT standards will meet their requirements.

On invoicing, TBG6 continues to ensure the construction industry requirements are supported by the Cross Industry Invoice message from UN/CEFACT and is actively supporting the work needed for the publication of the next version of this message.

The Security Project achieved a significant milestone in that its key deliverable, Recommendation 37 (Signed Digital Evidence Interoperability Recommendation), has now being passed for presentation to, and voting at, the UN/CEFACT (Heads of Delegation) Plenary in December to become an official UN/CEFACT publication.

During the Forum, ‘Lunch and Learn Presentations’ on the “User Guide on CCTS 3 and NDR 3” and “TBG6 on Recommendation 37: Security for XML Documents”, were made by TBG6 delegates, Kevin Smith and François Devoret, respectively. Also during the Forum delegates were presented with information about the future direction and organization of the UN/CEFACT. Copies of these presentations and all the other presentations made at the Forum are available on the Forum web site at http://www.unece.org/cefact/cf_forums/Geneva_2010/Presentations.html

The next Interim Meeting of TBG6 will be held on 10th to 12th January 2011 with the location yet to be confirmed.

For further information about TBG6, UN/CEFACT, and the eTendering and Contract Financial Execution Management Projects please contact Kevin Smith (kevin.smith@clouddatatech.com)