China’s new military procurement app to boost efficiency

A mobile app for military procurement has been operational since early August, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) flagship newspaper, the PLA Daily, reported on Friday.

The app, an offshoot of the PLA purchasing website plap.cn, was developed around the beginning of this year and can provide relevant information about military procurement in an efficient, fast and direct manner.

The app can broaden the channels for the release of military procurement information, as well as enhance the quality and efficiency of military procurement, the report noted.

Currently, the app cannot be downloaded in Apple’s mobile app store.

The app has five sections, including business notices, suppliers and after-sales services.

The PLA Daily report also noted that the app releases information such as the credit record of the suppliers and punishment notices.

The Global Times learned on Friday from a military source, who asked not to be named, that the app is yet to be used in his military region, which is based in eastern China.

According to the source, the procurement in his military region is quite large. “We publish procurement tenders about twice a week,” he said.

The military procurement website also contains information about procurement tenders. Those cover a wide variety of goods, ranging from food and coal to training facilities and office equipment.

Many bidding announcements on the website noted that suppliers must have been established for some time – in some cases, more than one year; in others, more than three years – and cannot be overseas companies.

Private companies can also compete with State-owned companies in military bidding. For example, according to an announcement on plap.cn on Friday, China’s leading private home appliances maker Gree Electric Appliances has participated in a military bid process, and seems to be the frontrunner, according to the evaluation team.