Preparations for tendering

Unified Supplier Qualification

Similar to tendering procedures in Europe, participation in tendering in Japan requires a fair amount of preparation. Japanese government institutions require their suppliers to qualify in advance for tendering.While at the national and regional government levels have a unified system for supplier qualification for supplying goods and services, local government entities operate their own systems to qualify.

In most cases the application procedure itself is free of charge and straightforward. The qualification will be valid for a maximum of three years, depending on the time of application. The application is however entirely in Japanese and all supporting documents will have to be translated into Japanese.

Business evaluation for public works construction

To participate in bidding involving the construction of public works, a wholly separate system, called business evaluation or keishin exists. The procedures involved require a large amount of work, where third-party companies selected by the Japanese government conduct the part of the business evaluation. Business evaluation for public works needs to be renewed annually.

Regional & local supplier qualifications

While most of the procedures are modelled after procedures used by national entities, some differences in conditions and requirements to qualify might exist. Qualifying under the national system does not automatically make a company eligible for tender participation at the local level.

Obtaining a Digital ID

A large part of the tender procedures are currently conducted through online bidding portals, although tendering on paper is still possible. The difficulty with online bidding is that a company needs to obtain a Digital ID in order to subscribe to online bidding portals, and that Digital ID’s are only available to companies that have a formal local presence in Japan.

Helpdesk support

The JTPP Helpdesk can assist you with obtaining supplier qualifications through its Supplier Qualification Support Service. It can :

• Act as your representative in Japan to obtain the Supplier Qualification;
• Arrange Japanese translations of company documents you need to submit to obtain the qualification;
• Take care of the actual submission of the application.
• For the keishin business evaluation, act as the intermediary to deal with the third-party evaluation companies.

For companies who wish to establish a formal presence in Japan, the Helpdesk can bring you into contact with an external company that will arrange this for you.