Digital Agency Information Systems procurement Reform Study Meeting (7th)

Overview

Date and time: Monday, February 6, 2023, from 13:00 to 14:00
Location: Digital Agency Shared Conference Room
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Proceedings
  1. Final Report
  2. Free discussion
3. Adjournment

Materials

Relevant policies

Ensuring fairness and transparency in procurement / procurement reform to utilize new technologies

Summary of proceedings

Date

Tuesday, February 6, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Location

Digital Agency 20F Central Conference Room

Members in attendance

Member Kajikawa, Member Arikawa, Member Kawazawa, Member Kimura, Member Sakashita, Member Sumiya

Summary of proceedings

The Secretariat explained the "Final Report (Draft) of the Digital Agency Information Systems procurement Reform Review Committee" based on the simplified version materials, and made a transition for free discussion by each committee member.
After that, Chairman Kajikawa expressed his opinion on the entire Study Group, and finally, Deputy Director Yamamoto commented on Digital Agency's future action plan based on the contents of the discussion at this Study Group.
The main opinions from each committee member are as follows.

Final Report (Draft) of the Digital Agency Information Systems procurement Reform Study Group

There are 45 short-term measures. I think it is better to advance even one of them than to try to implement all of them and delay the progress as a whole. I would like you to advance from what can be advanced based on priority and difficulty.
Regarding the creation of templates for contract models and procurement specifications for the main measure "② Improvement of the capability of the ordering party in System procurement," when I look at private sector companies, I have the impression that many companies are doing well until they create a model, but at the stage of using it, they do not know where to change for each project or what kind of counterproposal to make when a discussion occurs. I think Digital Agency will also be short of manpower for such support, so I would like to see efficient promotion of measures so that we can reduce the number of man-hours required for mechanical work such as checking for typographical errors and omissions by using digital technology.
Regarding the main measure "(v) Ensuring transparency through internal controls, etc.", there is a description that "each organization that supports procurement will implement monitoring and active advice and support." It is fine to utilize existing organization for monitoring, but it should be recognized that other ministries and agencies do not necessarily have human resources who can appropriately monitor procurement of information systems. Based on this, in order to expand it to all ministries and agencies in the future, a review of the system should also be proposed.
The figure on P3 of the Executive Summary contains a description of the "unit of discussion at the Review Board." This is probably a requirement. Since the validation to be held in the future will be a validation of whether or not the response to this requirement is sufficiently satisfied in both the short and medium terms, it is desirable that the conditions be sufficiently organized. For example, even if this report is to be used in local government, etc., it is assumed that it will be difficult to form a consensus among internal accountants, etc. If the conditions are clearly presented through the validation at the central government office, the situation will be greatly improved.
I recognize that this is exactly the start. It is important how implementation will be done in the future. It is wasteful to just consider and try it in Digital Agency from next fiscal year. I would like you to work on it after sufficiently considering how implementation should be promoted. I would like you to openly communicate the progress of validation.
In the future, based on the development of measures in other ministries and agencies, I would like you to consider promoting them with the involvement of other ministries and agencies and external parties from the validation stage in fiscal 2023. I think that the structure and system of thinking together from the validation stage will make it easier for the entire government to implement subsequent measures.
Since four of the five pillars of the measures other than internal controls will be new measures, it is important to examine the evaluation method of the effects. It is important to determine by what criteria the measures that are not effective, how to perform factor analysis, and how to correct the direction. In addition to the measures summarized here, I think there are new Issue that will occur, so I would like you to consider how to incorporate them. In addition, in order to request the promotion of each measure by other ministries and agencies in the future, it is important to actively disclose information on validation and analysis in Digital Agency.
Regarding the main measure "(v) Ensuring transparency through internal controls, etc.", there is a description of "Ensuring effectiveness by enhancing internal controls, etc. that support transparency and cooperating with support departments" in the main part of the report, but there is no description about ensuring effectiveness in the simplified version. Therefore, it is desirable to add it to the simplified version if possible.
In order to ensure transparency, it is important to disclose the selection process of business operators when they are involved in the new measures (from (I) to (iv)) set this time. We would like to see information disclosure in response to information disclosure requests from external parties advanced.
The procurement Support Team is supposed to take on the overall coordination function, but it is necessary to clarify who will do what in the analysis and evaluation of measures that are not effective and in the incorporation of new Issue. I would like the simplified version to include a heading to the extent possible that the procurement Support Team will play a central role in performing the control and coordination function.
Regarding the main measure "③ Expansion of opportunities for SMEs and start-up companies to enter the market," we think that not only central government agencies but also local government and independent administrative agencies should be covered in the survey for simplification of administrative procedures, etc., and in the search, comparison, and selection of DMP services. We hope that the survey for simplification and the operation of catalog sites will be widely considered in order to increase the effect.
Regarding the investigation and analysis of one party bidding and response measures for the main measure "④ Elimination of vendor lock-in," I would like Digital Agency to consider actively providing information to each ministry and agency about information systems, including companies that may participate but did not participate, and industry trends.
Regarding the roadmap, I agree with the general trend of reviewing the direction of the subsequent efforts after confirming the progress of the effects and understanding the Issue for promotion at the end of FY 2023. In order to deploy it smoothly throughout the government after FY 2024, I think it would be good if the evaluation of the measures including procurement could be coordinated from the stage of FY 2023 by involving not all ministries and agencies but also ministries and agencies that have a large budget for information systems digitalization and ministries and agencies that have been actively engaged in Issue.
Various ministries and agencies are considering the establishment of a procurement consultation service using the system. For example, in Consumer Affairs Agency, there is a system called PIO-NET that summarizes consumer consultations in local government. Based on the validation in this measure, I think it is good for Digital Agency to pattern and summarize these consultation service systems and transmit them to the entire government. efficiency

Comments from the Chair

I will check the report reflecting the opinions of each committee member today and share it with all concerned.
As for short-term measures, I would like to see them implemented sequentially, starting with those that are easy to start. I would like to see monitoring, evaluation, and analysis conducted in the course of these measures, leading to the next Issue. In addition, DMP, a highly novel measure, and vendor lock-in measures have challenging parts, and there may be various problems, but I would like to see them further effective by discovering Issue one by one.
I would like to set up a place for evaluation next year or before that. In the mid - to long-term measures, there is a possibility that Root Cause talks such as human resources systems will come up. In addition, I would like to see Issue, which is cross-ministerial, such as the sharing of source code, create a direction step by step in the new era of the establishment of Digital Agency.

End