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| Government procurement expands to car maintenance service |
| CCTV.COM 2003-07-31 13:07:13 |
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Fees for the maintenance of government vehicles have traditionally been high, officials say. Because of a lack of transparency, no effective price control system, and the fact that different levels of government or departments were often responsible for arranging their own vehicle maintenance services. In order to keep costs down, the central government's procurement center will start inviting bids for the maintenance of its entire fleet of vehicles, starting in Beijing.
This will mark the first time that government procurement has moved into the service sector. After careful selection, 27 car maintenance companies were selected to participate in the final bid process on Wednesday in Beijing. The companies are bidding for a two－year contract to maintain the Beijing government's 10,000 vehicles. The total value of the contract is estimated to be worth some 200 million yuan, or 24 million US dollars. Experts expect the bidding will effectively help the government to reduce its expenditure on car maintenance by about 10 percent a year.
Shang Xiaoting, director of Governmentt Procurement Center, said, "Spending on car maintenance accounts for a considerable part of the government's total fiscal budget. The procurement can save about 10 percent of the spending."
10 percent actually means 20 million yuan, or 2.4 million US dollars. Insiders believe the move by the Beijing city government will change the way provincial governments nationwide handle their car maintenance needs, and they will too put the lucrative business out to bid. The government says the bid process by central procurement offices will expand to other sectors such as car insurance, printing, and meeting within this year.
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Editor: Yang Feiyang CCTV.com
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