Check P7M files before a public tender

In electronic tenders the application, the ESPD (the European single procurement document), the declarations, the technical offer and the economic offer almost always travel signed. A file signed by the wrong person, with an expired certificate, or containing the draft from the day before, is discovered late if the first check is the upload of the final hour. This guide is a checklist to run beforehand, on your computer. It does not interpret the tender rules and it does not replace the platform.

The format is not something to guess. Many platforms accept CAdES and PAdES. Some rules name one format. The .p7m is frequent because it can also hold spreadsheets and archives, not only PDFs. Read the special rules of the procedure. The public contracts code does not tell you the file name of that tender.

The checklist, file by file

For every signed document, before you upload it:

1. Content. Open the preview and check that it is the final version, with the right prices and dates. A draft signed by mistake remains a signed draft.
2. Signer. It is the legal representative or the attorney named in the tender papers, not a technician who used their own certificate.
3. Certificate. Look at expiry, the integrity result and revocation. “Unavailable” is not a positive result. Repeat it when the network is there.
4. Required signatures. In a joint venture, count the parties. Do not stop at the first name.
5. Format. CAdES or PAdES, as the rules ask. The difference is in CAdES and PAdES.
6. Name. Consistent with the platform’s instructions, without .p7m removed in order to “simplify”.

How to run the check on the .p7m

Open Lettore P7M and select the file. On the device, not on a conversion server: in the hours before the deadline the economic offer is data you should not scatter.

The reader shows you the preview, the signers, integrity, the available chain and revocation. .p7m.p7m layers stay separate. Countersignatures are not verified. A claimed date is not a time stamp and does not, on its own, prove the certificate status at a past moment. If you see an indication that revocation came before the signature, that is because verified time evidence later than the revocation exists. Otherwise do not infer it.

The preview is free. If you must save a reading copy for the internal file, the license is described on Pricing. That copy is not the file to upload, unless the rules ask for an unsigned copy.

The reader does not know the CIG (the Italian tender identifier), does not fill in the ESPD and does not say whether a discount threshold is consistent. It is not the contracting authority’s verification.

Mistakes a visual check catches

Signing the nearby file, not the final one. Two PDFs with similar names in the same folder produce two envelopes. The preview shows the text. Read it. Do not stop at the name.

Signature by the wrong person. It happens when a colleague’s token is plugged in. The certificate subject, even when shown in partial form, must be compared with the power of attorney.

A certificate expiring in the week of the tender. Look at it when the procedure opens, not on the evening of the deadline. Renewal is an operation with the provider, described in How to get a digital signature in Italy, and it is not solved by renaming the file.

An extra signature nobody asked for. Signing twice can produce .p7m.p7m. That is not in itself a broken file, but it can confuse the person who uploads and the person who examines. If the rules do not ask for it, avoid the gesture and check how many layers you see.

A change after the signature. Compressing, merging PDFs or touching a page after the signature breaks integrity. Correct the original and have it signed again. If the reader does not confirm integrity, do not upload on the grounds that “the preview is visible anyway”.

Joint ventures, consortia, time

In temporary joint ventures some documents must be signed by every member. Signatures may sit in the same envelope or in successive envelopes. Open the final file and tick the names the rules require. If one is missing, do not add it by pasting an extracted PDF. Go back to the unsigned file and collect the signatures in the way the signing software and the rules allow.

Organise the file like this:

• one folder with the CIG in the name;
• subfolders for the administrative, technical and economic envelopes;
• a list with document, signer, time of the check and result, including revocation checks that were unavailable;
• reading copies outside the folder you will use for upload.

Leave a margin of one working day between the last signature and the upload, when the procedure allows it. Check that the phones for the remote-signature OTP can be reached. A qualified certificate used as a remote signature is, in general, a qualified signature. Any limit of the single tender sits in the rules, not in a supplier’s slogan.

If a file will not open while you prepare the envelope, use A P7M file will not open before you conclude that the signature is “wrong”. Non-standard Base64 or a PEC attachment mistaken for the offer are different problems from a revoked certificate.

Example: the signed draft instead of the offer

In the folder CIG-1234567890/economica there are offerta_v3.pdf and offerta_v3.pdf.p7m, but also offerta_bozza.pdf.p7m from two days earlier. The name “v3” is not enough. Open the envelope in the reader and look in the preview for the date and the amount the responsible person approved. If you see the draft, do not upload it and do not “fix” it by extracting the PDF, editing it and renaming it .p7m. Have offerta_v3.pdf signed.

In the internal register write one line: file, signer read on screen, integrity result, revocation result, time of the check. If revocation is unavailable because the office network is unstable, leave the line open and repeat the check before upload. Do not copy “not revoked” from another file of the same token. Each envelope has its own result.

For the ESPD signed by three members, the list must show three parties. If the reader lists two and an inner layer, open that layer and finish the tick. Then upload, from the originals folder, the .p7m you have just checked, not the reading PDF saved for the board. The platform will run its own checks. Your register exists so that you do not arrive at that moment with the draft. Also note who ran the check, so that the next day a colleague does not start again from scratch.

Frequently asked questions

Does the reader replace the tender platform’s check?

No. It is a preliminary check on your computer. The result that matters for the procedure is the platform’s, under the contracting authority’s rules.

Can I upload the extracted PDF instead of the .p7m?

Only if the tender rules ask for an unsigned PDF or for PAdES. If they ask for the signed CAdES file, upload the .p7m envelope, not the reading copy.

Is a remote signature allowed in a tender?

If it is a qualified signature, in general it can be. The tender rules and the platform may add requirements. Read them before you sign, not once upload has started.

What do I check in a joint venture?

That every required signer appears. Parallel signatures and nested envelopes show as layers or as a list, not as a single name.

Upload the envelope, not the convenience

Check content, signer, integrity, revocation and format. Then upload the file the rules describe. The reader lets you see the envelope in advance. The platform and the contracting authority remain the judgement on the procedure. If the document is instead meant for a court file, the boundary is that of Italian court filings, not that of the tender.