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. 

At the same time, to explain the detailed schedule at the beginning of the fiscal year (or as early in the fiscal year as possible), the government holds a seminar for all interested domestic and overseas suppliers. The seminar is held under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the various procurement entities. The date of each seminar is published in the official gazette.

A few but not all, central government ministries publish their annual procurement plans on their website as well. In some cases, a short translation in English is provided.  Quite a number of government ministries have a prospective tender  (hacchuu mitooshi) section on their procurement websites, where upcoming tenders are announced before the official call to tender is published.

Below is a (not-exhaustive) list of links were early announcement of tenders are listed.