(1) Duration

March 13 (Tue) - 27 (Tue), 2001

 

(2) Method

A call for comments was announced on the website of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Comments could be sent by email, facsimile, or mail.

 

62

 

The comments received on the topic of "concerning revision of the enforcement regulations of the Construction Industry Law in regard to the documents to be attached to the construction work execution registry" are as stated below.

Several of the comments touched on more than one item. We also reserved the right to summarize the comments as a matter of convenience.

In regard to describing the comments, we limited descriptions to the parts directly related to the actual revision proposal.

Please refer to the page concerning the construction industry in regard to the revised enforcement regulations of the Construction Industry Law.

 

 

1. In order to stop complete subcontracting and dumping, subcontracts, including contract money for secondary or lower subcontractors, should be submitted (21 comments).

2. The amounts of contract money for secondary or lower subcontractors should also be stated for private work (1 comment).

3. It should not only be submitted to the contracting organization but should also be made public (15 comments).

4. The relationships between master contractors and subcontractors for construction work are complicated, and it is factually difficult to understand the terms of contracts with secondary and lower subcontractors when there is no direct contract relationship.

5. Subcontract money paid as part of the construction costs represents a contract between two private organizations, and the obligation for submission is an excessive intervention of policy (4 comments).

6. Submission of the subcontract sum to the contracting organization weakens the master contractor's price negotiation power, inhibits fair contracting, and invites excessive price competition (6 comments).

7. A lot of work and time is necessary to prepare the documents (4 comments).

8. Attention should be paid to not making the time required for submission an excessive commitment of the master contractor (1 comment).

9. Submitted contract sums should not be disclosed to the public (2 comments).

10. Arrangements concerning management of disclosure/non-disclosure of contracts should be made (1 comment).

 

 

There are many cases of impropriety, such as complete subcontracting and dumping, in regard to public works.

In order to stop this from occurring and to secure accurate execution of public works, the Act for Promotion of Proper Tendering and Contracting for Public Works (Law Nr. 127, 2000) includes an absolute ban on complete subcontracting of public works and imposes the obligations to submit a copy of the construction execution system registry to the contracting organization and to utilize the construction execution system registry to fulfill the duty towards the contracting organization in regard to inspections of the work execution system on the construction site.

These measures, combined with others, are crafted to fully implement use of the work execution registry from the standpoint of further advancement of proper work execution systems for public works.

Furthermore, regarding application of the regulations after their revision, based on the actual state of work execution at construction sites for which, for example, not all subcontracts have been concluded at the time of start of construction, appropriate precautions should be taken to not demand excessive commitments from the master contractor.

Even if the copy of the work execution registry submitted by a contractor for public works corresponds to an "administrative document" of the Freedom of Information Act, if disclosure of the part stating the subcontract sum is generally considered to jeopardize the competitive position of the contractor, the disclosure is considered inappropriate.

However, when, for example, publishing the results of the Survey on the Existence of Mistrust of Complete Subcontracting, disclosure of the contract sum may be acceptable in some cases.

Furthermore, in regard to the contract sums for contract documents attached to the copy of the work execution registry, inclusion of the sums is necessary to secure transparency in the contract terms for public works.