Government’s procurement policy panned
Years after acceding into the World Trade Organization, Taiwan is still barring foreign bidders from accessing government procurement projects, the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei said yesterday.
“There is still a trend to prohibit international companies from bidding in government projects like the CKS (International Airport Access MRT system),” a visibly frustrated Geoffrey Spencer, co-chair of the ECCT Project and Procurement Committee, told a news conference announcing the chamber’s 2005-2006 Position Papers.
“The civil works tender (for the said project had been issued) a couple of months ago, and international bidders were not allowed to bid. This is supposedly protecting the Taiwanese industry but (you are actually) losing out because you are not getting (any) international expertise and missing out on the latest trends.”
Taipei’s accession has been hampered by China’s request to revise the wording of Taiwan’s GPA accession documents which the latter finds unacceptable. The country promised to be a signatory to GPA in January 2003.
Taiwan however could still comply with GPA regulations even without signing the document, the chamber said.
“Yes, they can absolutely do that but they aren’t doing it,” Spencer said.
“When Taiwan is fully done with all the government infrastructure projects here, local companies can only grow by expanding into Asia. But how can they do that if they don’t have the experience and the expertise?”
Foreign contractors’ contribution to the Taiwan economy is not to be sneezed at, he added.
“They are actually providing employment, and giving local companies the knowledge they need to participate in overseas infrastructure projects,” he said.
In the meantime, foreign bidders who want to participate in Taiwan’s major infrastructure projects are almost always still left out in the cold, said Spencer.
Taiwanese consumers are hurt as well.
“A number of European firms have left Taiwan after repeated failures to get fair access to government procurement projects,” the ECCT said in a statement. “This reduces competition, which in turn results in poorer quality and higher costs, which are ultimately borne by Taiwan’s taxpayers.”
European companies are not asking for special benefits, ECCT Chairman Dirk Sanger said in an earlier interview.
“We are asking for an open, level playing field,” Sanger said. “We have companies throughout the world that can work under the same conditions and offer the best product and the best price. The best offer (should win), and at the moment, that situation does not exist.”
Source: Taiwan News