Related
Tender monitoring & informations

Early announcement of tenders

Early announcement of tenders is one of the voluntary measures taken by the Japanese government to facilitate access for foreign companies in the Japanese public procurement market.  As early as possible at the beginning of the fiscal year, in the April-May period procurement of large-scale goods and services are publics in the “Kanpo” Government Gazette.  Early announcement of tenders is largely limited to national government entities and affiliated organizations. 

Kankouju: ‘Public Agency Orders’ Tenders reserved for SMEs

Kankouju or ‘Public Agency Orders’ relates to the budget of public procurement spending reserved specifically for SMEs.  This earmarked budget is regulated by the Act on Ensuring Receipt of Orders from the Government and Other Public Agencies by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises established in 1966.  

In fact, more than half of the tenders are reserved for SMEs. The Japanese government sets a target for each year, in FY 2013. 56% of the total expected demand of €61.7 billion was reserved for SMEs.

Tender notice portals

 

English language portals

Japanese language portals

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

Read more - Direct link

Government Procurement Information Website

Current market

Governments require a vast array of goods and services, to perform their duties, which makes it difficult to give a specific indication for specific products.  Foreign companies are currently primarily active in the following sectors (value-based), but still have relatively small shares:

Statistics

There are just a few comprehensive statistics available about public procurement in Japan, to obtain a good overview about how and where Japanese government institutions spend their money.  Although various statistics can be found, they are difficult to compare as often different thresholds are applied when compiling the statistics.  On this page you will find a selection of statistical resources regarding public procurement in Japan.

Reports by the Japanese government to WTO

Legal framework

The framework of laws, ordinances and regulations regulating Government Procurement is one of high complexity, involving dozens of legal texts.  Procurement by national entities is subject to the Accounts Law; on the other hand procurement by local government falls under the Local Autonomy Law. This has resulted in the development of two separate legal structures government procurement.

WTO

Japan signed up to the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Public Procurement (GPA) in 1994, to create better opportunities for foreign companies in the signees’ respective countries.  Concretely this means that country who joined the GPA take measures to ensure fair and equal treatment of suppliers irrespective of whether they are a domestically based company or based in one of the other signees’ countries. 

Tendering procedures

Type of procedure

Occurrence

Tender size

Open Tendering

Common

Any

Selective Tendering

Rare

Any

Public Procurement in Japan : An outline

The Japanese public procurement (PP) market is one of huge potential, with EU-estimates ranging from EUR 550 billion to EUR 565 billion. EU-companies are relatively underrepresented in the PP-market in Japan, partly due to non-regulatory barriers and the geographical distance and lack of knowledge of the market. EU companies that are presently active in this market are primarily larger global players, with a sizeable presence in Japan.

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Events

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Online and in Japan
17/06/2024 - 12/07/2024
17-21 June 2024, → mandatory week online (open to SMEs and large companies) 08-12 July 2024, → optional week in Japan (open only to SMEs who have completed the first online week) PROGRAMME…
Japan
01/08/2024 - 31/03/2025
  The organization of the Vulcanus Programme is pending reception of a grant by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation for the Japanese fiscal year 2024-2025: Please note that this call is…
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