Beijing city buys Microsoft after cancelling initial tender
The Beijing city government has quietly made substantial purchases of software from Microsoft after it cancelled a controversial Rmb29m ($3.5m) order for the US company's Office suite and Windows operating system late last year, according to municipal officials and industry executives.
The decision by theChinese capital to push through the purchase of Office and Windows products in spite of widespread local opposition is a boost for Microsoft, which has worked hard to fend off competition from lower-cost Chinese software rivals.
However, the municipal government's refusal to make public any information about the purchases raises serious questions about its handling of the procurement process. Under China's Law on Government Procurement, big government purchases must be “open and transparent”.
The city's finance department and its “Office of Informatisation” declined yesterday to give details of Beijing's software spending since the cancellation of the tender won by the US company last year.
The tender for Microsoft software was scrapped after local software companies complained it had been mishandled and local commentators criticised it for not giving enough support to local vendors.
However, a municipal official with knowledge of its technology policy said the city bought Microsoft's products anyway and that its purchases from the US company “were greater than those made from domestic vendors”.
A manager at a large Chinese software company said it had also heard from customers in the municipal government that it had gone ahead with purchases from Microsoft.
The Beijing Informatisation Office declined yesterday to comment on whether the softwarepurchases from Microsoft were handled accordingto law.
The purchases could reignite debate about the degree to which state software procurement should favour local suppliers.
The cancellation of the Microsoft order last year had been seen as an important victory for supporters of the local industry.
Li Wuqiang, then an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology, had heightened the pressure on Beijing officials by issuing a high-profile denunciation of the “many” local governments that ignored “national interest and security” by buying foreign software.
The municipal official with knowledge of IT issues said the decision to buy from Microsoft reflected in part the difficulty of introducing local software in time to meet a central government deadline for the the city government to stop using pirated software.
Microsoft declined to give details of Beijing city purchases. “We appreciate and support the Beijing government's decision to use legal software including Microsoft's products within its government entities,” the company said.Comment & Analysis, Page 13
POLISH TELECOMS3G auction
could attract
fourth operatorBy Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Poland's telecomm-unications regulator yesterday published the final conditions for the upcomingtender of GSM and third-generation mobile phone licences that could see a fourth operator enter the Polish market.
Last month, potential bidders were able to comment on the draft terms. However, the Office for Telecommunication and Postal Regulation (URTiP) made few changes to its requirements.
Potential bidders include Hutchison Europe, an arm of Hutchison Whampoa, Poland's existing three mobile operators PTC, Polkomtel, and PTK Centertel, as well as landline operators Netia and Tele 2.
A crucial issue for potential entrants is the ability of a new operator to use existing mobile networks while it builds its own network. However, Witold Grabos, the head of URTiP, is expected to make a decision on that issue only in the last quarter of this year.
Poland's three existing mobile operators want to ensure that any UMTS auction winner be forced to pay at least �650m ($860m), the same amount they had to pay. A lower price could prompt the existing operators to sue the government.
However, Mr Grabos said that Poland's mobile market had changed since the original licences were sold and that it would make no sense to impose the same payments on later entrants. There is also a chance that the auction could be won by one of the three current mobile operators, who would gain more frequencies and prevent the entry of a competitor.
Offers have to be filed by April 12, and the winner or winners will be announced on May 9.
The prospect of increased competition has prompted Poland's mobile operators to reduce prices and improve their services, especially in the pre-paid sector. Poland has one of the lowest mobile penetration rates in the region, only 47 per cent, according to Forrester Research. However, Poland's penetration rate is expected to approach west European levels, currently at about 80 per cent, by 2010.
北京市悄然改口 再订微软软件
据北京市府官员和业内高管称，北京市政府悄悄采购了大量微软(Microsoft)软件。北京市政府去年晚些时候曾取消向微软发出的订单，该有争议的订单价值2900万元人民币(合350万美元)，采购内容为Office套装软件和Windows操作系统。
北京市不顾国内的普遍反对，决定继续推进采购Office和Windows产品，此举对微软来说是一个利好消息。微软做出很大努力，以抵挡来自低成本中国软件对手的竞争。
然而，北京市府拒绝公开任何采购信息，这引发了外界对其采购程序处理的严重质疑。根据中国的《政府采购法》，大宗政府采购必须是“公开透明”的。
微软去年曾赢得招标。但关于自那次招标结果取消以来北京市政府的软件采购支出详细情况，北京市财政部门及其“信息办公室”昨天拒绝予以披露。
由于国内软件企业抱怨微软软件招标处理不当，国内评论员批评招标没有给国内供应商提供足够支持，因此微软软件招标一事随后被取消。
但北京市政府一位了解政府技术政策的官员表示，北京市还是购买了微软的产品，而且从这家美国公司购买的量要“多于从国内供应商采购的量”。
中国某大型软件公司的一位经理表示，公司也听到了市政府客户传来的消息，称政府已从微软进行了采购。
至于政府的微软采购行动是否是依法办事，北京信息化办公室昨天拒绝就此发表评论。
采购行动可能重新激发有关论争，即国家在采购软件时应支持国内供应商至何种程度。
这位了解信息技术事务的北京市官员表示，采购微软产品的决定部分反映市政府的难处。中央政府要求限期停用盗版软件，而市政府在及时采用国产软件方面有困难。
