| TOP |
| 6th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 16, 2000) |
1. Complainant: Korean Embassy
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Home Affairs
3. Complaint:
One of the requirements for participation in tendering for public works projects is, in principle, a total score of 1,250 points for inspection of management items. However, in some cases of public works projects ordered by local public bodies, total scores required are set at 2,000 points or more. For example, tendering requirements for the construction of the Saitama Prefectural Stadium in November 1997 called for 2,100 points, 2,000 points in the case of the Gumma Prefectural Art Museum in June 1998, 2,000 points in the case of the reconstruction of the Wakayama Prefectural Goryo Hospital in May 1999, 2,000 points in the case of seawall construction at Kobe Port Island in July 1999, and 2,000 points in the case of construction related to the City of Kawasaki Fire Service Bureau in August 1999. Since the scores required by these local public bodies are too high, foreign companies are in effect prevented from participating in tendering.
Qualifications for participation in tendering should be restricted to those essential for ensuring the capacity to fulfill the contract, and local public bodies should be instructed to set the scores required at 1,250, as is the case for construction under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Construction.
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
Local public bodies are free to set the qualifications for participation in tendering as they see fit, and the central government cannot ask them to uniformly set requirements at a certain level.
However, the Agreement on Government Procurement applies to the prefectures and to ordinance-designated cities as well, and given that Article 8 (b) of the Agreement states that "requirements for participation in tendering must be restricted solely to those essential for ensuring the capacity of the supplier to fulfill the contract concerning the tendering in question," the Ministry of Home Affairs, together with the Ministry of Construction, is issuing a notice requesting local public bodies to avoid setting score requirements unduly high in the light of the project content as a way of arbitrarily restricting who may participate in the bid competition.
Where the Korean Embassy's complaint is concerned, there was some factual discrepancy in the cases mentioned, and the facts are set out below:
(1) The system based on total score for inspection of management items was amended in July 1998; since April 1999, the standard for evaluation points (impartial scoring) for inspection of management items, for projects under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Construction, was set at 1,250 points, in principle; previous to that, a score of 1,500 was required.
(2) Tendering requirements for construction of an offshore seawall at Kobe Port Island in July 1999, and for construction related to the City of Kawasaki Fire Service Bureau in August 1999, were set at 1,500 points, not 2,000 points.
(3) Accordingly, since the time of setting the standard of 1,250 points for projects under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Construction, there have been no cases of local public bodies requiring 2,000 points or more.
(4) Additionally, in all five cases cited as examples, the local public bodies in question subsequently lowered the score requirements which had been set, after carefully reconsidering harmonization with the Agreement on Government Procurement.
5. Remarks
The complainant accepted this policy.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, together with the Ministry of Construction, issued a notice to the prefectures and to ordinance-designated cities on February 16, 2000, to ensure appropriate setting of requirements concerning scores for inspection of management items needed for participation in tendering in public works projects by local public bodies to which the Agreement on Government Procurement applies.