Decision of the 22nd Meeting of the Committee for
Drawing Up and Promoting the Action Program
The Government of Japan has voluntarily decided upon the "Operational Guidelines with respect to Measures on Japanese Public Sector Procurement of Telecommunications Products and Services," as outlined herein.
The Guidelines will be implemented as of November 1, 1994, except for procurements in which a Notice of Procurement or a Request for Comments was published before November 1, 1994.
OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES WITH RESPECT TO MEASURES ON JAPANESE PUBLIC SECTOR PROCUREMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
The Government of Japan has decided to issue and implement these Operational Guidelines to supplement and clarify the Measures on Japanese Public Sector Procurement of Telecommunications Products and Services (hereinafter referred to as "the Measures") which were decided by the Committee for Drawing Up and Promoting the Action Program on 28th March, 1994, as follows. In carrying out the Measures, the Guidelines will be fully implemented and respected.
When an entity publishes in the Kanpo procurement information on telecommunications products and services covered by the Measures as set forth in Section III.l, the entity will invite suppliers to submit materials, comments and other necessary information on the procurement. Entities will give full consideration to any information submitted by suppliers.
(l) In the case of Request for Submission of Materials set forth in Section III.5.l, suppliers can submit materials and comments on the entity's actual needs with regard to the procurement for which a Request for Submission of Materials has been issued.
(2) With respect to Section III.5.l, all procurements in which the contract award is expected to be greater than 800,000 SDRs are deemed to be those in which entities face difficulties in developing appropriate specifications without requesting the submission of materials from suppliers. This may not be the case, where the established specifications are repeatedly used to meet requirements of compatibility with already existing equipment.
(3) For procurements in which the contract award is expected to be 800,000 SDRs or below, entities may use the Request for Submission of Materials procedures when they determine that they face difficulties in developing appropriate specifications without requesting the submission of materials from suppliers.
(4) The phrase in Section III. 5.2 of the Measures, which states "entities will take the following measures in order to ensure that interested supplies submit their comments on draft specifications prepared by the entities" is not intended to limit comments submitted to those on draft specifications. Suppliers can submit materials and comments on, in addition to draft specifications, other technical information or any other aspect of the procurement, including the supplier's view on the estimated cost of the procurement.
In implementing Section III. 6.1(2), in the case where international standards do not exist, the entity will give full consideration to using de facto international standards, in addition to using national technical regulations and recognized national standards as the basis of technical specifications.
(1) Subparagraph (iii)of III.10.4(1) means that entities will use the overall greatest value methodology for off-the-shelf products or services with a value greater than 800,000 SDRs for which the same specifications are repeatedly used.
(2) The evaluation method described in Section III.10.4(2) will be used for all procurements other than those specified in paragraph 10.4(1), unless the entity chooses to use the overall greatest value methodology described in Section III.10.4(1).
With respect to the threshold that applies to overall greatest value evaluation and Request for Comments, as set out in Sections III.5.1, III.5.2 and III.10.4 of the measures and paragraphs 2(2), 2(3) and 4(1) of these Guidelines, the Government will lower the threshold from 800,000 SDRs to 600,000 SDRs on April 1, 1996, to 400,000 SDRs on April 1, 1997, and to 385,000 SDRs on April 1, 1998.
In addition to the measures described in Section III.13, when an entity publishes in the Kanpo procurement information of telecommunications products and services as set forth in Section III.1 of the Measures, the entity will invite suppliers to express interest in subcontracts involved in those procurements. Each entity will compile lists of potential subcontractors which have responded to the invitations issued in accordance with Section III.13 of the Measures and this paragraph of these Guidelines, and will attach these lists to tender documentation distributed to suppliers, with the presumption that the entity is not responsible for the competency of the suppliers listed.
The committee set forth in Section IV.2.1 has the objective of developing a standardized manual for non-discriminatory and simplified specifications, and will seek to identify appropriate fields for developing uniform specifications.
Entities which procured in the previous fiscal year a total of five million SDRs or more of telecommunications products and services covered by the Measures will hold their own meetings.
(l) Products covered by the Measures
"Telecommunications products" as described in Annex 3 to the Measures means all types of terminals, switching equipment, transmission equipment, wireless equipment and telecommunications cable.(2) Services covered by the Measures
New enhanced or value-added services that emerge in the future will be included in the services covered by the Measures.(i) that convert the content, code, protocol or similar aspects of the subscriber's transmitted information (conversions performed solely for the benefit of the network shall not be included within the scope of this definition);
(ii) that provide the subscriber with additional, different or restructured information; and
(iii) that involve subscriber interaction with stored information (a service involving the storage and automatic delivery of information to the recipient will be allowed whenever the service includes one of the processing applications described in subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of this Paragraph, or whenever the storage and delivery function provides a service of value to the sender or recipient).