--- title: "What Is Eprocurement?" url: https://www.uncap.com/glossary/eprocurement author: "Denis Dyli" published: 2026-10-28 updated: 2026-10-28 summary: "Eprocurement is the buying of goods and services through electronic systems instead of paper. The buyer publishes solicitations, issues purchase orders and receives invoices online, and suppliers respond, quote and invoice inside the buyer's eprocurement portal or procurement software. Government agencies and enterprise buyers both run purchasing this way." --- # What Is Eprocurement? > Eprocurement is the buying of goods and services through electronic systems instead of paper. The buyer publishes solicitations, issues purchase orders and receives invoices online, and suppliers respond, quote and invoice inside the buyer's eprocurement portal or procurement software. Government agencies and enterprise buyers both run purchasing this way. **Eprocurement**: Eprocurement is the buying of goods and services through electronic systems instead of paper. The buyer publishes solicitations, issues purchase orders and receives invoices online, and suppliers respond, quote and invoice inside the buyer's eprocurement portal or procurement software. Government agencies and enterprise buyers both run purchasing this way. ## How it works Eprocurement is the electronic version of the purchasing process. The City of Chicago defines it as an advancement to business-to-government that applies digital technology to the acquisition of goods and services. US federal rules use the broader term electronic commerce. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 2.101) defines it as electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions, including electronic mail or messaging, World Wide Web technology, purchase cards, electronic funds transfer and electronic data interchange. FAR 4.502 says the Federal Government shall use electronic commerce whenever practicable or cost-effective, and requires a single means of public notice of acquisition opportunities with a way to respond electronically. **A purchase through an eprocurement portal** ### 1. Solicit, Bid or quote The buyer posts a solicitation, and suppliers respond to bids, RFPs and RFQs online. ### 2. Order, Purchase order The buyer issues the purchase order to the chosen supplier through the system. ### 3. Invoice, Electronic invoice The supplier submits its invoice electronically instead of on paper. ### 4. Pay, Payment tracking The supplier views and tracks its payments and invoices online. ## What suppliers do in an eprocurement system Chicago's vendor portal lets suppliers respond to bids, RFPs and RFQs online, view and track payments and invoices, and submit invoices electronically. The city lists its goals as streamlining contract approvals, letting vendors download and respond to solicitations electronically, and eliminating some paper-based processes. Buyers gain purchasing data. North Carolina says its eprocurement program lets government entities aggregate their purchasing data in order to obtain better prices from suppliers, and gives the state greater visibility into statewide procurement. ## Eprocurement vs. EDI and punchout Eprocurement is the whole electronic buying process. [EDI](/glossary/edi) is one technique inside it: FAR 2.101 lists electronic data interchange among the techniques of electronic commerce. Punchout is another connection inside it: the buyer's procurement software opens a session on the supplier's online store, and the finished cart returns to the buyer's system as a requisition. ## Example A hospital system's procurement team posts a request for quotes for 2,000 boxes of exam gloves. Three distributors respond online. The winning bid is $9.50 a box, so the purchase order is 2,000 x $9.50 = $19,000. The distributor ships, submits a $19,000 electronic invoice in the portal, and tracks the payment there instead of mailing paper and calling accounts payable. ## On Shopify Shopify lists PO numbers, net terms and payment reminders among the B2B features on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans. Those cover the purchase order reference and the payment terms that an eprocurement buyer's order carries. ## How Uncap helps Uncap's guide to [selling into enterprise procurement systems](/post/punchout-coupa-ariba-sap-procurement) walks through punchout enablement buyer by buyer. With cXML, the buyer's system opens your session with a PunchoutSetupRequest carrying their identity and context; the finished cart returns as a PunchoutOrderMessage that becomes a requisition on their side. Underneath sits one architecture: a punchout layer in front of your Shopify B2B storefront, built once, then configured per buyer. The basics are in Uncap's [PunchOut catalog explainer](/post/punchout-catalogs-shopify-b2b). ## Related terms - cXML - Purchase requisition - Procure-to-pay - Purchase order - RFQ - Purchasing card ## Sources - City of Chicago: eProcurement - Acquisition.gov: FAR 4.502, Policy (electronic commerce) - Acquisition.gov: FAR 2.101, Definitions ## Frequently asked questions ### How does eprocurement work? In eprocurement, the buyer runs purchasing through an electronic system. In public portals such as the City of Chicago's, the buyer posts solicitations that suppliers answer online, purchase orders are issued, invoices are submitted electronically, and suppliers track their payments in the same system. ### What are the main functions of eprocurement? Public eprocurement programs show the main functions. The City of Chicago's portal lets suppliers respond to bids, RFPs and RFQs online, submit invoices electronically and track payments and invoices, and North Carolina's program issues purchase orders and lets government entities aggregate purchasing data to obtain better prices from suppliers. ### Is eprocurement the same as EDI? No. Eprocurement is the whole electronic buying process, while EDI is one technique within it. The Federal Acquisition Regulation lists electronic data interchange alongside email, web technology, purchase cards and electronic funds transfer as techniques of electronic commerce.