JTPP Helpdesk announced in December 2016 that Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) will use the Business Chance Navi 2020 Portal (BCN2020) for the publication of Tokyo2020 related tenders from April 2017.

Pre-registration necessary

The BCN2020 portal will become the main platform for TOCOG in its transactions with suppliers, according to the procurement guide (Japanese) published at the TOCOG website. Prospective suppliers will be required to pre-register with the portal site and undergo a preliminary assessment to be accepted as a participant in tender procedures. Also the Committee will use the portal to communicate with prospective suppliers during the tender proceedings.  

Hurdle for foreign-based companies

At the moment, the BCN2020 portal has over 13,000 registered companies and the content only in Japanese. In fact, foreign companies that have no legal presence in Japan currently cannot pre-register with the portal site.

JTPP Helpdesk contacted BCN2020 about this and was informed that TOCOG is currently having this under investigation. In the TOCOG guide however, it is stated that the organisation plans to offer fair and equal opportunities to all companies, both domestic and abroad, so one would expect that TOCOG will solve this matter before it starts publishing tender notices in April. JTPP Helpdesk will continue to monitor the developments concerning Tokyo2020 procurement opportunities, to ensure that EU based SMEs can have an equal opportunity in open tender procedures for the OLympics.

English translation of TOCOG procurement guide

JTPP Helpdesk has made a provisional translation of the TOCOG procurement guide at the link below:

Click here to open the English translation of the Japanese-language TOCOG Procurement guide (PDF)