"Concerning the promotion of further improvements in the procedures and conduct of tendering and contracting for the public works of regional public organizations"
The Ministries of Construction and Home Affairs have sent several notifications and appeals to regional public organizations and have conducted factual investigations at fixed intervals in accordance with the December 1993 and February 1998 proposals of the Central Construction Industry Committee and the "3-year plan for the promotion of relaxation of regulations" decided by cabinet in March 1998 to achieve faster completion of improvement in the procedures and conduct of tendering and contracting for public works.
Recently, the results of this year's factual investigation were compiled, and based on the results, promotion of further improvement of the procedures for and conduct of tendering and contracting for public works has been requested.
1.Concerning factual investigation of the procedures for tendering and contracting of regional public organizations (January 20, 2000)
In order to understand the status of improvement of the tendering and contracting procedures of regional public organizations, a survey was conducted beginning on June 1, 1999 targeting all regional public organizations [47 prefectures, 12 ordinance-designed cities, and 3,240 municipalities (incl. Tokyo's 23 districts) for a total of 3,299 organizations], the results of which were recently compiled and announced.
2. "Concerning the promotion of further improvements in the procedures for and conduct of tendering and contracting for the public works of regional public organizations" (joint notice from the heads of the Construction Economics Bureau of the Ministry of Construction and the Policies Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs; dated February 1, 2000)
According to the results in 1, even though overall progress can be seen in the improvement, it is also evident that the thoroughness of implementation of improvement aims, mainly in municipalities, is insufficient.
Therefore, a joint notice from the Ministries of Construction and Home Affairs was sent to prefectural governors addressing the following points:
1 Adoption of adequate tendering methods
2 Introduction of various tendering and contracting methods
3 Securing transparency and impartiality in tendering procedures
4 Switching over to low tendering price surveillance systems and public announcements of the results of low tendering price surveillance
5 Application of a grading system
6 Public announcement of grades
7 Decisions concerning a bid-rigging information manual
8 Subsequent announcement of the estimated price
9 Abolition of the system of completion guarantors for construction work and switch to a new system of completion guarantees
10 Proper exclusion of delinquent and disqualified business operators and the so-called "uwa-uke"*
11 Reinforcement of the contracting organization system
12 Thoroughness of inspections
13 Improvements in municipalities
* "Uwa-uke": The improper practice of small companies handing over accepted work to large-scale companies in order to earn a marginal profit.
