Public Construction Commission Exceutive Yuan

Recent suggestions from various sectors of the engineering industry covered two aspects i.e., "improve the government procurement regime" and "assist the development of engineering industry". A total of 15 improvement measures were proposed. PCC, after observing the current implementation status of public works in Taiwan, has proposed 13 strategies basing upon life circle accessment. All measures and strategies are fully recognized by the engineering industry.

 

In the recent two years, under the leadership of Minister Wu Tse-Cheng, PCC has looked into the needs of the industry. Their suggestions could be summarized into two aspects: "improve the government procurement regime" and "assist the development of engineering industry".

For the first aspect, PCC has completed 10 improvement measures covering the following：

1. The latest amendment to the “Government Procurement Act” was promulgated on May, 22, 2019, which covers several issues, one of them is that prior to debarment of the rights of a supplier in tendering, the entity shall provide the supplier an opportunity to give statement and evaluate the circumstances to determine in accordance with the principle of proportionality.
2. Amendment of the price adjustment clauses in the model contract for construction work which may reduce the suppliers’ risk in the event of fluctuation of prices during the period of contract performance.
3. Raise the 2020 Common Budgetary Benchmark of Regular Housing Building by 3%~23% in April of 2019.
4. Publication of “The User Manual of the Government Procurement Act” in November of 2019 as an introductory handbook for conducting government procurement.

For second aspect of "assisting engineering industry development ", PCC has already proposed 5 improvement measures covering the following：

1. The engineering industry has been encouraged to expand into the market of New Southbound Policy region. Over the past three years, the number of bids won by engineering consulting firms and construction companies has been increased from 17 in 2017 to 41 in 2019.
2. Draft amendment to the Professional Engineers Act has been sent to the Legislative Yuan for review in order to establish a preview mechanism for identifying the appropriateness while an appraisal case to the discipline committee is reported by the interested party.
3. Without undermining the professional responsibility of professional engineers, streamlining the submission of drawings and documents signed and stamped with practice seal by a professional engineer in practice.
4. Assistance in providing the strategies of procurement and establishment of certificate regulations related to railway and offshore wind turbine projects to facilitate the localization of industries.

Moreover, PCC has studied the reasons of failed tenders on a case-by-case basis, the shortage of labor force, and the collapse of the Nanfang’ao Bridge, and then has proposed “life cycle accessment for public works”. These comprehensive and systematic improvement strategies were proposed based on the findings throughout the infrastructure life cycle from master plan, planning and design, project bidding, construction, maintenance and management.

The key points of the above strategies include：

1. The idea of a holistic master plan for each major type of infrastructure is suggested for consideration in order to achieve better synergy among individual construction project. The holistic master plan shall be drafted basing on the national land plan. Then, for example, a systematic overall transportation network with cross-carriers and cross-region considerations shall be merged. Finally, while the holistic master plan is established, each entity may conduct the feasibility study for individual public construction project accordingly.
2. Seamless cooperation among "education", "examination", and "industry" aiming to improve the design and planning capabilities and engineering ethics. PCC also recommends that entities make good use of the procurement strategies, such as reasonably evaluating tenders to push the suppliers to take their design responsibilities, or adopting a design-build procurement to combine design and construction work effectively, so as to make the design results more feasible for construction.
3. Taking into account the ecological environment, PCC keeps on strengthening the implementation of ecological review for public works, emphasizing information disclosure and citizen participation as well.
4. Motivating multi-purpose utilization of recycled materials while as viable, promoting circular economy, and deploying innovative technology on a case by case basis.
5. Cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, on the improvement of labor regulation, and labor training policies, in order to solve the problem of labor shortage in the construction industry.
6. In addition to bridges, public construction authorities shall verify the circumstance of inspections and maintenance for all construction works, and establish the management mechanism.

PCC will continue to implement and promote improvement measures and strategies as mentioned above. Opinions and suggestions are welcome in order to keep on improving the performance of public construction and the engineering industry environment.