Contractor selection process for Taipei mass rapid transit system

It is normal practice for developing countries to use a large industrial or technological project as a means to transfer foreign expertise and experience into the country, and the government of Taiwan has pursued this path in building the Taipei mass rapid transit system (MRTS). To satisfy the foregoing objective, the Department of Rapid Transit System (DORTS) set the following criteria for tendering contracts. Civil works that did not require a high level of technology were channeled to domestic firms. More complex projects were assigned to private and government-owned companies that had accumulated a higher level of expertise because of joint ventures and their active involvement in international projects during the past three decades. The most technically challenging projects are given to international consortia in the form of either joint ventures or technical collaboration agreements with domestic companies. This paper discusses the goals of DORTS during the past several years as they relate to promoting (1) increased domestic input, (2) technology transfer, and (3) a higher level of achievement.