New Rules Starting September 1st: All Public Procurement Contracts Transition Exclusively to Digital Signatures

Autumn brings a major and important change for all businesses and contracting authorities participating in public procurement procedures. As of September 1st, paper contracts and physical stamps become a thing of the past – all contracts resulting from public procurement procedures must be signed exclusively with a digital (electronic) signature. If your company does business with state institutions, cities, municipalities, or public companies, this is a rule you need to adapt to today so you don’t slow down processes or jeopardize awarded contracts.
Here is exactly what you need to know and how to prepare on time.

What Exactly Is Changing?

Previous practice often involved printing contracts, signing them with a pen, stamping them, and sending multiple physical copies by mail. From September 1st, that process becomes fully digitized.

• Qualified Electronic Signature: You can no longer use a simple scanned signature “pasted” onto a PDF. A cryptographic Qualified Electronic Signature is strictly required, which carries the exact same legal weight under the law as a handwritten signature on paper.
• No More Physical Exchange: All documentation related to contract execution will be exchanged electronically between the contracting authority and the selected bidder.

Who Does This Apply To?

The rule is binding for both parties in the procedure:

1. Contracting Authorities (Public Sector): Ministries, agencies, hospitals, schools, cities, and all other institutions subject to the Public Procurement Act.
2. Bidders (Private Sector): All companies, sole proprietorships, and bidder consortia selected as winning service providers or suppliers of goods.

How Does Our Application Simplify This Transition for You?

Transitioning to digital business doesn’t have to be complicated or stressful. To make complying with the new legal requirements as easy as possible for you, we have developed our own digital signature application that makes the entire process fast, intuitive, and 100% legally compliant.

Here is why our solution is ideal for your business:

• Broad Certificate Support: We don’t limit you. Our platform seamlessly supports signing via FINA and Certilia certificates, all standard cryptographic devices (smart cards and USB tokens), as well as Swisscom. Work with what you already have!
• Don’t Have a Certificate? Get It From Us: We know that bureaucracy and searching for authorized trust service providers can take up a lot of time. If you or any of your signers don’t have an e-signature certificate yet, don’t worry – you can easily get one directly through our application.
• Everything in One Place: Forget about installing various add-ons and incompatible software. Upload the public procurement contract into our application, sign it in a few clicks, and securely send it to the contracting authority.

Advantages of Switching to Digital Signatures

Although this becomes mandatory as of September 1st, digital signatures bring measurable benefits to your daily business operations:

• Simple Archiving: Digital contracts are incomparably easier to store, search, and keep in an electronic archive.
• Save Time and Money: No more waiting for courier services, standing in line at the post office, or paying for paper and postage.
• Greater Legal Security: A digital signature cryptographically locks the document. Any subsequent modification to the PDF visually invalidates the signature, keeping you protected from contract tampering.

Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute!

E-Procurement rules are changing, and we are here to ensure a smooth transition for you. Try our digital signature application, secure your certificate on time, and welcome September fully prepared for new business victories.