When the Board of Audit investigated the contracts that each ministry and agency had signed with private companies for the digitization of the administration, it was found that despite competitive bidding, only one company participated in more than 70% of the bids. It was.
In a situation where price competition is difficult to work, the Board of Audit submitted a report to the Diet stating that "it is necessary to devise ways to ensure competitiveness."
At the request of the Diet, the Board of Audit investigated the status of contracts for "information systems" that each ministry and agency signed with private companies in FY2018 toward the digitization of administration.
As a result, it was found that "competitive bidding" was held in 423 cases, of which 73.9% were "one-party bidding" in which only one bidder participated in the bidding.
The average winning bid rate against the planned price remained high at 96%, which was 13.5 points higher than the case where multiple vendors participated in the bidding.
Price competition was difficult to work and the contract amount was high, and most of the contracts related to "repair" of the system were single-party bids.
The Board of Audit said that the contractors of the system tend to be fixed to specific companies and it is difficult for new entrants to enter. "Each ministry and agency needs to take measures to ensure competitiveness by having many vendors participate in bidding." On the 26th, I submitted a report to the Diet.
The IT General Strategy Office of the Cabinet Secretariat says, "We would like to make efforts to improve it so that many companies can easily enter, such as each ministry and agency presenting clear requirements when placing an order."