Digital Agency Bid Supervision Committee (1st meeting)
Overview
Date: November 8, 2022 (Tue)
Location: Digital Agency Government Office
Name of Committee member (honorific title omitted, in alphabetical order):
- Ryota Kaneko, Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kokugakuin University
- Yoshiko Kawasawa, Representative Director, Social Policy Lab Co., Ltd.
- Yuichi Mochinaga Professor, Graduate School of Accounting, Waseda University
Period for deliberation: From September 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022
Number of extracted projects: 3 (140 target projects)
Number of proposals deliberated: 3
Materials
Summary of proceedings
Contract work for the functional improvement of government procurement systems and the development of environments for periodic reviews of uniform qualifications
- Serial number 22-11-01
- Contract method: Discretionary contract (other)
- Counterparty: NTT Data Corporation
- Contract amount: 59,215,200 yen
- Contract date: December 13, 2021
| Comments and Questions | Answer |
|---|---|
| Regarding the unified participation qualification, I think that the examination is renewed once every three years, but wasn't it expected that the number of employees would be increased in the year of renewal from the beginning? Wasn't it possible to conclude a contract premised on the environmental improvement associated with the planned increase from the beginning? | The increase in the number of employees in the renewal year is included in the specifications of the contract. In the past, standby machines for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications LAN were used, but due to the launch of the Digital Agency, we had to make a procurement as the Digital Agency in a hurry. After the next time, we are considering borrowing standby machines from the GSS network operated in Digital Agency and other places. A procurement is required for the location. |
| Is screen modification the most expensive? | Yes. |
| Please tell us if there are any specific measures for the next contract, such as avoiding a discretionary contract. | We believe that there is room for competitive bidding if we can review the operation while securing security for other parts if we are premised on borrowing spare machines from GSS. |
| With regard to the procurement related to this case, is it common for the same operator to receive orders as a result of bidding based on comprehensive evaluation? | That's right. In addition to the fact that knowledge of the system and the procurement procedure itself is required, the electronic procurement system and the procurement portal are closely related systems, and it is necessary to be familiar with both systems. Therefore, there are some difficulties in terms of the project. |
| Regarding the scope of procurement, is there any idea to reduce costs by conducting a more comprehensive procurement? | In the past, divided procurement was recommended, but since management costs can be suppressed by appropriate procurement, it is recognized that it is important to consider reducing costs by procurement in a reasonable unit. |
| One of the major reasons why it became a discretionary contract is that it was necessary to take over the history of procurement in the past while Digital Agency was just established. We would like you to make efforts to make procurement more efficient for the future. In addition, it is not necessary to uniformly deny the use of discretionary contracts, but it is necessary to make efforts to make discretionary contracts closer to general competitive bidding by clarifying the period of public notice and the provision of information as much as possible. |
Issue law XML Creation for e-LAWS
- 22-11-02
- Contract method: Discretionary contract (other)
- Counterparty to the Contract: National Printing Bureau
- Contract amount: 189,750,000 yen
- Contract date: March 9, 2022
| Comments and Questions | Answer |
|---|---|
| According to the bidding information of the National Printing Bureau, it seems that the National Printing Bureau itself is also performing this operation by outsourcing. Is this operation performed not only by full-time employees but also by outsourcing? | Outsourcing is also performed, but I heard that supervision is performed by full-time employees. |
| While highly confidential information is handled, the written specifications do not require personnel other than managers to be full-time employees. It is questionable whether a system to ensure the confidentiality of information at the site can be realized. | Confidentiality is emphasized in the specifications, and it is actually implemented in a closed environment, but we recognized that the points pointed out need to be described. |
| If the National Printing Bureau is the only receiver in reality, it is more important to make efforts to reduce prices with the National Printing Bureau, not just whether other companies in private sector can do it or not. Please tell us the actual situation of the efforts to reduce prices. | As the person in charge of this system, I believe it is important to provide convenience to the people by disclosing law information accurately and promptly, and to eliminate errors in the creation of bills within the government. In addition, in the case of multi-year contracts in particular, we will check the actual results every fiscal year and try to reduce the price. In addition, it is very difficult to do it in a short period of time, but in the future, we would like to review the entire legislative process and efficiency the work. |
| Is information that leads to improvement collected from other business operators? | Regarding the review of the legislation, it is at the examination stage in demonstration experiments, and we have not yet heard the opinions of the operators, but we plan to collect information from other operators at the time of demonstration experiments. |
| In the sense that highly confidential information needs to be processed in a timely manner in closed environments, it is understandable that the National Printing Bureau is the only vendor. On the other hand, one of the reasons for the legitimacy of a discretionary contract is its extremely high confidentiality. In addition, the procurement Specifications do not clarify the confidentiality of reconsignment, which should be secured in operation, and the confidentiality of subcontractors. However, it would be more accountable to clearly indicate this in the procurement Specifications. With the very purpose of eliminating errors in the creation of bills and providing a database of bills in a more timely manner, I would like to ask you to continuously consider increasing transparency and reducing costs when possible. |
Design, construction, and transition services related to the renewal of the Common System for Internal Management Services for Travel Expenses, etc. in fiscal 2022
- 22-11-03
- Contract method: Discretionary contract (other)
- Counterparty: FUJITSU LIMITED
- Contract amount: 1,753,959,953 yen
- Contract date: March 28, 2022
| Comments and Questions | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is one party bidding continuing since the beginning because it is a package software modification by Fujitsu? | That's right. We have a history of building a system by modifying existing software to reduce costs, and we have placed orders with Fujitsu. |
| Will the second stage platform be operated using the same system based on Fujitsu's package software as before? | That's right. Since there is a time limit for transition to the second stage platform, we plan to use the system based on the current FUJITSU software in order to stably transfer the current system to the second stage. |
| This time, since it is a business related to transition to the second stage platform, is there any ingenuity to eliminate vendor lock-in? | As for transition, since stable operation is the top priority, we have decided to put the next generation system based on the current package software on the second stage platform. Regarding the operation after the transition of the second stage platform, we are planning to conduct general competitive bidding, and we are considering procurement specifications, etc., in order to eliminate vendor lock-in. In addition, we are considering the elimination of vendor lock-in for the next next stage system, and we plan to accelerate it in the future. Since the system is operating with multiple systems, we would like to promote efforts to eliminate vendor lock-in with an eye to the future while using open standard services. data connections |
| This system is familiar to public officials, so if this system is changed, I think that the improvement of other ministries and agencies will be felt most closely. I hope that you will continue to work on eliminating vendor lock-in. | |
| Is it that three years ago, in the absence of Digital Agency, consideration of the second stage platform suddenly began? | Although it was before the inauguration of Digital Agency, METI took the lead in discussions based on government-wide policies and in line with the movements of the second stage platform. |
| In terms of the amount of money, I think it is difficult to reduce the cost because it is a one party order from the beginning. What do you think about the future improvement? | We have confirmed the deletion of unnecessary work items and the validity of the estimated amount by receiving internal evaluations such as reviews by the project manager. In the future, we would like to make further efforts to eliminate vendor lock-in. |
| It seems that there are excessive requirements such as qualifications in the specifications. Is it difficult to relax a little more? | The system is a large system that stores the data of all national public employees, and it is considered necessary to require workers to have qualifications such as database construction and security. The possession of qualifications is not essential, and we are working to ensure that people of the same level can be assigned based on their business experience. |