Over the last two years ESA has been undergoing a major reform of its financial management (FINREF). Among other changes, this has led to the creation of an integrated unique SAP-based tool ‘esa-p’ to manage all financially relevant processes of the Agency, including the entire procure-to-pay process.

The new Navigation Reporting Pane is in operation ...

'Surf' any contract in no time

esa-p is the new supplier portal for ESA’s contractual partners, with the following main features:

• controlled access and visibility on ESA contracts (contractual, invoicing and payment information) to Prime- and Sub-contractors;
• submission and approval of electronic invoices and Milestone Achievement Certificates

1. What are the main changes for suppliers?

esa-p is replacing the EFIS electronic invoicing system. EFIS will remain open in ‘View-only’ mode to access original e-invoices submitted before 2010.

Every invoice must be complemented by a ‘Milestone Achievement Certificate (MAC, in esa-p this is also labelled as ‘Confirmation’). As for invoices, the submission of a MAC per Milestone in electronic format is now mandatory for ESA contracts. For a Quick Guide on how to submit an invoice/MAC electronically in a few steps see the link in the right-hand navigation bar.

The role known as ‘Obligation Administration’ from EFIS will be initially performed by ESA only. Primes who previously executed this role of entering and maintaining contractual information before 2010 will be contacted after a period of esa-p stabilisation by the ESA customer, in order to mutually agree on a shared responsibility for administering contractual information in esa-p.

Change of ESA contract numbers for ongoing contracts: The old ESA contract number (in EFIS terminology: “obligation number”) will be contained in the new esa-p contract number in the following format: If your old obligation number was cXXXXX, then your new contract number is 42000XXXXX (for example old = c12345; new=4200012345). Please note that in esa-p both ESA contracts and ESA Purchase Orders are referred to as “Purchase Orders”.

EMITS will remain in operation and cover the electronic tendering process, including ‘expression of interest’.

For a more detailed overview on the main innovations and rationale of the ESA Financial Management reform FINREF see chapter 1 of the presentation ‘Supplier Training Workshop’ (link in the right-hand navigation bar).

2. How can I access esa-p?

The new esa-p system can be accessed via the following link: https://esa-p.sso.esa.int/irj/portal.
You can use the same user name and password previously used for EFIS to login.

In case you have forgotten your userID or password: please request a re-isssue by the Helpdesk. If you require a new user account >> see FAQ #5 ‘How do we get a new user account for esa-p’ (FAQ list in right-hand navigation bar).

3. How can I get support?

Standardised training material is linked in the right-hand navigation bar. For eInvoice and eMAC submission we advise to consult first the ‘Job Aid_MAC and invoices for Suppliers’ explaining how to submit an invoice/MAC in 4 steps. This guide also includes a description of temporary work-arounds. “Work instructions” describe in more detail how to submit an eInvoice / eMAC. Together with the FAQ list the majority of information needs should be covered.

FASP Help Desk If the training materials and FAQs do not answer your question, as for any service related issues, please contact the CASP Help Desk via e-mail:

As with any change in systems, there will be disturbances in the early stage of the deployment. However, the Agency will make all possible effort to minimise the disruption and to expeditiously process all invoices received from today onwards. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused. We want to assure you that ESA is taking all possible measures to ensure this change is as smooth as possible for our partners.