Taiwan's Government Procurement - Ready to Open the Market?

The purpose of the GPA is to open as much government purchasing as possible to international competition. It should ensure that foreign suppliers and supplies receive the same treatment as nationals when bidding for purchasing contracts with central, state, provincial and local government authorities, and with government business enterprises and public utilities.

The GPA is a plurilateral WTO agreement. As such its particulars are binding only on the signatories to the agreement. Though all GPA members are WTO members, not all WTO members are subject to the GPA agreement. Currently, there are 25 signatories to the GPA, and several countries negotiating entry.

As a signatory of the GPA, Taiwan must provide a level playing field for both domestic and foreign bidders throughout the tender process, and must ensure effective application of GPA principles. For open tenders, the process should be open to all interested suppliers (domestic or foreign); for selective tenders, the Taiwan government is required to invite tenders from foreign suppliers in GPA countries and eliminate discriminatory qualification requirements (conditions to bid would have to be limited to those essential to ensure the bidder's capability to fulfil the contract). Further, limited tenders are not allowed except in cases of extreme urgency resulting from unforeseeable events or when the product or service can be supplied only by a particular supplier. Taiwan must also put in place domestic procedures by which aggrieved private bidders can challenge procurement decisions and obtain redress in the event such decisions were made inconsistently with the rules of the agreement. Other GPA requirements that Taiwan would need to observe are a minimum time period for preparing and submitting tenders (generally 40 days from public notice of an invitation to tender), disclosure of all relevant information related to the procurement in question, prohibition of offsets, and adoption of international standards of technical specifications.