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Taiwan enjoys a significant and growing construction and government procurement market. Taipei 101 is now the tallest building in the world. A 345 km high-speed rail system is moving rapidly toward completion, and several large shopping centers are underway. Kaohsiung is building a rapid transit system, and several other cities plan to do the same. Taiwan has enacted a Government Procurement Law, and may soon sign the Government Procurement Agreement, a major WTO-related international treaty. On the other hand, construction and procurement practices in Taiwan vary from the standards of other advanced markets. Bidding qualifications often favor Taiwan experience over foreign experience. Deadlines can be short, and procedures can be unclear. Terms and conditions often are vague and inconsistent, may appear to allocate all risks to suppliers, and may fail to cap consequential damages. In such a market, a foreign supplier must proceed cautiously and must balance written documentation with unwritten local practice.
Yangming Partners' construction and procurement practice assists contractors and other suppliers through all stages of a contract. We assist potential bidders to analyze the legal risks in tender documents, and if appropriate, submit questions to the procurement agency. We assist winning suppliers in generating and preserving written evidence of controversial issues, including issues of contract interpretation, characterization of delays and the handling of change orders. We assist losing suppliers in analyzing whether a procurement award has been made in breach of applicable law, and if appropriate, in filing a protest with the procurement authority and a complaint with the Public Construction Commission. In the event of a dispute with the procurement agency, we represent suppliers in administrative proceedings, mediation and arbitration.
The following is a sample of the matters handled recently by the construction and public procurement practice group:
- Representation of a European contractor in arbitration arising out of the sale of equipment to Taiwan's military;
- Representation of a major non-Taiwan transportation company in bids on various public transportation projects in Taipei and Kaohsiung;
- Representation of a major European company in connection with a bid in Taiwan's aviation industry;
- Representation of a consortium of North American construction/engineering companies in a bid on a significant build-operate-transfer project in Taiwan's transportation sector;
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Representation of a European engineering consulting company in the purchase of a Taiwan engineering company;
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Representation of a European-owned engineering company in the negotiation of a contract to provide transportation consulting services to a Taiwan government agency;
- Representation of a European-owned engineering company in the purchase of an equity position in a Taiwan government consulting company;
- Representation of a German energy company in connection with build-operate-transfer projects in the waste disposal industry.
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