Presentation
Electronic Bidding Pilot System - Overview of Development Project

Mr. Akira Enomoto
Director, Digital Government Information System Development Office, IT Policy Promotion Division, Japan Information Processing Development Corporation (JIPDEC), Japan

An electronic bidding system has been built for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and JIPDEC was involved in this process. JIPDEC has been particularly involved in managing the development of information systems and technical support in the informatization process.

The Japanese government has undertaken various measures in the move to an information society, such as the "Revision on the Basic Plan for Promotion of Administrative Informatization" and the announcement of the concept for a "Virtual Agency" in 1998. The electronic integration of government procurement was one of the aims of the government taskforce that was created to support informatization. The development of e-procurement was further encouraged by the "Millennium Project" of 1999.

The objectives for the development of e-procurement were to develop a secure and efficient Electronic Bidding Pilot System through the Internet. Demonstration tests have been undertaken to verify the effectiveness of the Electronic Bidding Opening Process. All three types of contracting, public, private and free, can be handled using the e-procurement system. The issues of maintaining the confidentiality of the bid price, adherence to deadlines and validating the authenticity of bids were problems that had to be resolved in the development of the e-procurement system.

The system that was developed is aimed at bridging the digital divide, as it allows for paper bids, the details of which are input into the system; therefore, the system still allows small companies that are not online to bid for government contracts. The new system is also compatible with established systems and efforts are underway to accommodate the requirements of new systems developed by other ministries.

In the electronic bidding system, it was necessary to make the process as user-friendly as possible, and the system now incorporates bid support functions, such as query management, bid process history management, and the creation of procurement information items.

Evaluation of the system focused mainly on suppliers in the computer and office equipment industries. Procurement office respondents to a survey questionnaire reported that they were enthusiastic about e-procurement in public and private contracts, but saw no benefits in the free contracts. Suppliers were enthusiastic about e-procurement in all three types of contracts. As a result of the evaluation, the following challenges have been identified:
- Review of an integrated interface for government agencies;
- Establishment of a contingency plan; and
- Review of methods to empower suppliers.