In Japan’s construction industry, one result of the Bill for Ensuring the Quality of Public Works that took effect in 2005 has been a shift in the mainstream bidding method for public works from the cost evaluation bidding format and selection of the lowest-cost bid to the comprehensive evaluation bidding format that considers technological capabilities and other factors along with price.

For bidders with competitive technological and proposal capabilities, the comprehensive evaluation bidding format offers more attractive business opportunities because it takes technology, price and other factors into account. We demonstrated our competitiveness under the new format by winning numerous contracts for public works during fiscal 2008. For example, dam projects won included Tokunoshima Dam, Yunishigawa Dam and Tobetsu Dam. We also won contracts for the Central Circular Shinagawa Route Shield Tunnel and the Ohashi Junction of the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo. We anticipate more opportunities to demonstrate a bigger presence and achieve further growth in this sector.

Our sophisticated technology proposal capabilities are a result of our ability to fully exercise our comprehensive strengths by having the project manager work closely with technical teams to accurately understand customer needs. Our strong presence in the public sector attests to the sophistication of our comprehensive capabilities.

In the currently unfavorable operating environment, we will fully deploy our technology and proposal capabilities to take maximum advantage of the comprehensive evaluation bidding format to steadily win contracts in the public sector with appropriate prices. This is one of our most important missions, and a key to restoring the earnings of the domestic construction business.

Tobetsu Dam in Hokkaido is representative of the high regard the public sector has for our technology proposal capabilities. Our proposal applied a new technology, the Cemented Sand and Gravel (CSG) Method,¹ for the first time in a bid for the main body of a dam (52 meters high, and a volume of 800 thousand cubic meters). The technology proposal for controlling the quality of the CSG that will be the material for the main body of the dam brought together our experience and technologies. As a result, we won the contract in competition with six bidders.

The Metropolitan Expressway Central Circular Shinagawa Route Shield Tunnel is an ultra-long, large-section underground tunnel that exceeds 12 meters in diameter. Eight kilometers in length, it is unprecedented worldwide as a tunnel constructed using a single shield machine. With an innovative proposal highlighting the application of the Relay Bit Method² and other technologies to streamline construction, we were selected as the contractor for this project.