Lu Minsheng, attending the fifth China Beijing International High-Tech Expo to bid for government procurement projects on behalf of his company in Qingdao said through his excitement, "It is a fair play under the government."

It is calculated that the products to be purchased within the government procurement scheme at the expo are worth more than 300 million yuan (36.1 million U.S. dollars).

The government procurement mechanism is becoming more deeply incorporated into China's market economy, bringing about an open, just and fair framework in line with international norms.

Government procurement, known as the "under sunshine" system in China, refers to the lawful procurement activities conducted by governments at all levels to serve the needs of public administration, and all the activities are subject to public supervision.

"A key goal in building a government procurement mechanism in China is to curb corruption at the root, and the fairness of competition is a prerequisite to measure the process," said Gao Zhigang, an official in charge of government procurement at the Ministry of Finance.

In the past, government units purchased products or services with funds granted by superior organs.

The new method of getting products or services through open invitation and bidding saves money for the government and prevents corruption through "under table" operation, with the assistance of supervising and auditing institutions, according to another official with the procurement office of Xicheng District, Beijing.

Hebei, a neighboring province of Beijing, has saved 500 million yuan (over 60 million U.S. dollars) since it adopted government procurement three years ago -- a huge proportion of its total purchasing costs of three billion yuan (361 million U.S. dollars) during the period.

Public representation has also been adopted to improve the openness and transparency of the system, which is expected to be developed in conformity with international practices.

"I'm working as a member of the supervising team to tell the government what the people want and try to maintain a close link between government and society," said Wang Xuelin, who got the job for just offering a suggestion on government procurement practices.

There is much room for the growth of government procurement in China

The first government procurement law of China is expected to be published in June, if the draft is approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), Ju Jiaren, director of the financial office under the NPC, revealed.

China's government procurement has climbed to 65.3 billion yuan (7.9 billion U.S. dollars) last year, and the figure will probably jump to a record 100 billion yuan (12 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of this year, Ju forecast.

In developed countries, expenditure of government procurement accounts for about 30 percent of national financial expenditure.

Given this standard, there is much room for the growth of government procurement in China since its financial expenditure last year was about 150 million yuan (18 million U.S. dollars), according to Gao.

Yu Cisheng, an official with Beijing Science and Technology Committee, told a software forum of the expo that government procurement was a vital stimulant for the growth of China's software industry.

She revealed that the production scale of domestic software companies was too small. Purchasing large amounts of software products from domestic companies with legal copyrights would help curb piracy and support the development of smaller companies.

But such purchasing moves do not violate the WTO rules concerning non-tariff barriers, which would become effective in China in about two years, she stressed.

China was in full conformity with its commitments to the WTO, she stated, adding that the United States had its own law concerning purchasing U.S.-made products and the Small Enterprises Act to encourage government organs and enterprises to buy home- made products.

( May 29, 2002)