Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma's request was made in response to recent questions raised by city councilors over the city government's procurement practices.
Four DPP city councilors claim that about 1,000 out of the over 5,700 tenders held by the 932 bureaus and departments of the city government over the past 14 months -- from July 1999 to August this year -- saw the final bidding prices either higher than, similar to or identical to the ceiling prices, or maximum allowable for any given project.
The councilors also pointed out that statistics showed that the Bureau of Cultural Affairs (
The Government Procurement Act, which went into effect on May 27 of last year, aims at better integrating governmental acquisition procedures. It stipulates three major ways to handle tenders for government projects: open bidding, optional bidding, and limited bidding.
Responding to councilors questions on behalf of the mayor, King Pu-tsung (金浦聰), director of the city's information department, said in the last 14 months, 40 of the total 3,100 tenders, or 1.35 percent of the total number, prices were higher than the ceiling prices; over 470, or about 15 percent of the total number, had their prices identical to the ceiling prices; and roughly 860, or over 27 percent of the total number, had their prices roughly the same as the ceiling prices, he said.
King said 51 cases, or 18 percent of the total number -- with the amount of NT$3.3 billion, or 7.38 percent of the total amount -- were instances of limited bidding, which only allows two bidders, King said.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS