nuclear-news

Lack of competition in biddings for Fukushima decontamination,auditors say

Feb. 3, 2023

Japan’s Board of Audit has found that nearly half of the tenders related to reconstruction work related to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident had only one bidder.

The auditors on Friday submitted their report on government projects such as decontamination and waste disposal in the aftermath of the 2011 accident.

The Environment Ministry’s Fukushima office held 735 public tenders in the five and a half years until September 2021. Of these, 49.3 percent had one bidder.

The percentage is about 15 points higher than the average for public tenders held by the government.

The auditors also found that, on average, the prices offered by successful bidders were 94.6 percent of the prices set by the government.

This is more than 13 points higher than the average for tenders with two or more bidders.

The Board of Audit is calling on the government to ensure fair competition in public biddings.

Sophia University Professor Kusunoki Shigeki says the findings raise suspicion of a structural problem that allows only one bidder to take part.

He says that when a bidder is confident of winning, it usually sets a high price.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230203_30/

February 13, 2023 - Posted by dunrenard | Uncategorized | Biddings, decontamination, Fukushima Prefecture