Measures Released on Government Procurement of Information Systems

On December 26, 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued the Interim Measures for Administration of Government Procurement of Government Information Systems which went into effect on January 1, 2018. The Measures are drafted to implement the State Council's Notice on Issuing the Implementation Plan for Integration and Sharing of Government Information Systems which was issued on May 18, 2013. Please refer to the attachment for an unofficial USITO translation of the measures. 

The Measures define 'government information systems' as "all kinds of information systems that are purchased by the government, built jointly by the government and social enterprises, need to be operated and maintained by the government or for which the government has to outsource services, and that are used to support government departments in fulfilling management and service functions, including goods and services such as computers, software and peripheral equipment used to process government information." (Article 2)

When conducting government procurement, 'purchasers' should determine procurement demand which should include information such as budget amount, funding channel, operation and maintenance requirements, data sharing requirements, security review and confidentially requirements, classified protection requirements, etc. (Article 4). For systems that have strong technical or professional requirements, the purchaser can invite industry experts or third party specialists to determine demand (Article 5). 

Notably, Article 7 states that procurement should implement requirements of national policies supporting cloud computing. Government information systems that do not contain state secrets should follow the cloud computing model, and should also support IPv6. Article 8, states that procurement should also implement relevant national laws, regulations, policies, and standards related to encryption management