Digital signature is a kind of signature that is used by individuals and legal entities as an analog of a physical signature for giving legal effect to electronic documents. DS can be obtained by encrypted conversion of electronic data and the use of a private key, which confirms integrity of the signature and also enables the person to be identified. Such digital signature is verified with a public key. Digital signature allows private persons and legal entities to manage the circulation of documents in electronic form. This is a modern tool for optimizing business processes, because with the help of DS, the time and resources that have been spent before such as mailing certified copies of original documents or agreeing on a specific solution are saved. Documents with DS are considered legally as original documents.

The use of DS in ProZorro public procurements

In the ProZorro electronic procurement system, where electronic document management predominates, DS is widely used between both customers and participants. The customer must apply the DS on any published documents within the announced purchase. Also, if the customer specifies that the digital signature is mandatory when submitting bids, then the DS is mandatory for all participants of the procurement. You can receive DS by submitting the documents to one of the accredited key certification centers. As Ukrainian legislation has not fixed a format that would regulate the use of DS yet, the list of documents for obtaining a signature may vary depending on the certification center. The list of necessary documents is listed on the official website of each of the centers. Please note that applying DS in the ProZorro electronic system is not accompanied by additional requirements and is carried out using a private key.

Applying DS by a non-resident

Can a customer require a non-resident to apply a DS on a tender offer or a certain part of it? Here, we are dealing with a certain legal collision. After all, foreign certificates of keys, which correspond to the requirements of the legislation of the countries where they are issued, are recognized on the territory of Ukraine. However, in Ukraine, no international or EU standard has been recognized at the legislative level yet. None of the Ukrainian standards is neither international nor European. Therefore, although the customer has the right to demand the application of a DS by a non-resident in the bidding documents since the possibility of foreign economic contracts on the basis of digital signatures with foreign key certificates has been fixed at the legislative level, but so far there are no regulatory and legal mechanisms that would allow non-resident participants to do it. Therefore, by specifying a similar requirement in the documentation, it is necessary to consider this aspect.

The list of accredited key certification centers that are supported by SmartTender.biz

The SmartTender.biz electronic platform supports 18 accredited key certification centers: Accredited key certification center of the Armed Forces, Accredited key certification center of the state enterprise "Main Information and Computing Center of the State Administration of Railway Transport of Ukraine", Accredited key certification center of the Electric Energy Market, Accredited key certification center of bodies of justice of Ukraine, Accredited key certification center of the state enterprise "Ukrainian special systems", Accredited key certification center of the Information service department of the SFS, Accredited key certification center of the Public Joint Stock Company "PrivatBank Commercial Bank", Accredited key certification center of the Public Joint Stock Company "UkrSibbank", Accredited key certification center "Masterkey"LLC Art Master, Accredited key certification center of the Limited Liability Company "Key Systems" Regional of the Dnepropetrovsk region, Accredited key certification center "Ukraine", the state enterprise "Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property", Accredited key certification center "eSign" Altersain LLC, Accredited key certification center of the Private Joint Stock Company National Depository of Ukraine, Accredited key certification center of the Treasury Service, Accredited key certification center of the State Border Service, Accredited key certification center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.