### 2. Ensuring the quality of public works and implementing appropriate tender contracts

On the basis of the “Act on Promoting Quality Assurance in Public Works” (Public Works QA Act), in order to ensure the enhanced quality of public works, as a general rule, a comprehensive evaluation scheme $ ^{1} $ is implemented for every public works project from FY 2008, and a comprehensive evaluation scheme has been fully implemented for construction consultant businesses. Against the obstacles towards quality assurance and the negative effects towards subcontractors due to lowering prices, MLIT is implementing a comprehensive evaluation scheme of construction system verification, special focal examinations and reviewing benchmark prices for examining unreasonable low tender prices. Moreover, aiming to ensure the quality of the project’s final product, the promotion of information sharing between the designers and constructor, such as communicating the design concept and verification of the operational status of the project throughout the working processes, are being put in practice. To reflect those results, the implementation of “examinations throughout the working processes” is being trialed. For regional public organizations, MLIT requests them to promote the introduction/expansion of the comprehensive evaluation scheme, properly review the benchmark of bidding prices as well as the release day of bidding prices and promote the elimination of bidding at dumping prices.

To plan for further improvement of the contract-bidding scheme, the central government and local public organizations are promoting the utilization of expansion of general competitive bidding and expansion of the comprehensive evaluation scheme, the utilization of bidding bonds $ ^{2} $ as the basic condition for realizing the expansion of general competitive bidding, and the utilization of diversified order methods, such as package orders for both design and implementation and the CM model $ ^{3} $ . In FY 2008, MLIT applied general competitive bidding on 95% of projects and the comprehensive evaluation scheme on 99.7% of projects (both on an amount base). In FY 2009 and coming years, MLIT has been continuously carrying out excellent procurement with both price and quality. For local public organizations, MLIT requests them to stop early release of the bidding price, performing proper settings of bidding conditions such as local requirements, implementing proper measures of contract amendment and promotes contract bidding at an appropriate price. In addition, MLIT is reviewing the process for CM-model contracts and digitalization of bidding bonds.

Furthermore, policies are compiled regarding ensuring the transparency of the comprehensive evaluation scheme, the improvement of business management inspections, such as enforcing preventive policies against application fraud and reviewing examination standards, the expansion of bidding bonds, and policies for subcontractors, such as revising the standard subcontract provisions and examining the introduction of a new subcontractor cost upkeep policy in March 2010. In FY 2010 and the coming years, MLIT will be implementing policies that can be applied gradually.

### 3. Strategic maintenance management and renovation of social infrastructure in the era of aging infrastructure

The social infrastructure of our country was steadily introduced along with the rapid economic growth after the war. However, from here on, our country is facing the problem of the rapid and continuous aging with social infrastructure.

Under such circumstances, while it is predicted that there will be a rapid increase in maintenance management cost and renovation cost, a sharp rise in the risk of serious accidents and fatal damage is also expected due to a great increase in the proportion of aging facilities.

Therefore, MLIT takes a necessary shift from “post management” that takes action after an incident occurs, to “preventive maintenance management” that conducts preliminary inspections and takes swift actions when anomalies are observed or predicted before fatal defects are actualized. Through this Strategic Maintenance Management, MLIT will try to protect the lives and assets of citizens to ensure their safety/security as well as to reduce lifecycle costs by extending the life of these facilities.