Discussion

Dr. Loc from Vietnam stated his appreciation of the presentations. Concerning procurement in China, Dr. Loc asked if it was the case that bidding was open to foreign companies and if bidding information was available in English. Ms. Yang responded that an English page for government procurement was under construction and that Chinese government regulations limited tenders on government procurement projects to domestic companies.

Dr. Loc asked a question concerning the security of bidding online, focusing on authentication and certification, and which service provider was used in the secure bidding process.

Mr. Sogo responded that in the case of public works procurement, the ministry would oversee the work, but the certification would be issued on the part of the government by a private company. In this regard, he noted that every ministry is building different systems.

Mr. Enomoto noted that each ministry would use its own certification authority (CA). However, he noted that private CAs could be used for private sectors under the implementation of the electronic signature law.

Ms. Pekkala asked if there were any plans to introduce a registration system in the future, enabling companies to gain information without having to expend efforts in searches.

Mr. Kanda replied that the system did not include such an option, but such a feature could be an option for the future if favorable progress was made.

Ms. Neri asked if the evaluation of bids was wide open in both China and Japan. Ms. Yang responded that this was the case in China, and she undertook to provide further material to Ms. Neri later.

Mr. Sogo noted that the result of the bidding process for public projects is announced on the Internet in the case of larger projects, but the smaller projects are not publicized. Mr. Enomoto added that the new METI pilot system displays the results of public bids on the Internet, and in the case of private bids only the successful bidder is notified.

Ms. Yang gave the address of the web page that contained information about government procurement in China and urged people to look at this site.

Dr. Park asked whether China was practicing e-bidding or not, to which Ms. Yang responded that it was envisaged that bidding could be opened to foreign bidders by May 2001. She then pointed out that priority would still be given to domestic bidders, as the opening of the bidding system had been agreed upon on a non-binding basis.