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The 10th Inter-Ministerial General Directors' Meeting on the digitalization of Business Operators

Overview

  • Date and time: Friday, February 13, 2026, from 14:00 to 15:00
  • Location: Online
  • Agenda:
    1. Opening
    2. Agenda
      1. Expansion of the membership
      2. Progress of Stocktaking Investigation of Administrative Procedures and Investigation of Subsidies, etc. in Fiscal 2025
      3. About function in gBizPortal
      4. Efforts to Promote the Use of Low Cost Procurement Services
      5. About Procurement Using DMP
      6. Results of Final Income Tax Return for 2025 and Request for Cooperation to Raise Awareness of digitalization Promotion by Businesses
    3. Adjournment

Material

Minutes, etc.

Members present

Mr. President

  • Tomohiro OKADA (Deputy Director-General, Group of Service for Citizens, Digital Agency)

Member

  • Teiichiro SEKI (Deputy Director-General of the Cabinet Secretariat Administration (Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretariat))
    *Ayaka Yamada (Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in charge of Finance Cabinet Secretariat)
  • Rika Kishida (Deputy Director-General, Secretariat, Cabinet Secretariat Area Future Strategy Headquarters)
    *Representative: Eihiko Hirose (Deputy Director, Secretariat, Cabinet Secretariat Area Future Strategy Headquarters)
  • Hei Hiroshi Yoshida (Deputy Director-General, Secretariat of the Cabinet Secretariat Digital Administrative and Fiscal Reform Council)
  • Tomio Kuge (Director, General Affairs Division, General Affairs Office, Director-General of Cabinet Legislation Bureau
  • Yoshihisa AKIBA (National Personnel Authority General Secretariat cybersecurity, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
  • Atsuyuki OGAWA (cybersecurity and Deputy Director-General of Information Technology, Secretariat of Cabinet Office)
  • Masashi Fujita (Director, Secretarial Division, Director-General's Secretariat, The Imperial Household Agency
    *Representative: Mitsuaki KODAMA (Director, IT Promotion Office, Secretariat Division, Director-General of the The Imperial Household Agency
  • Tane Akira Tsuchiya (Deputy Director-General of National Police Agency Director-General's Secretariat)
    *Representative: Akihiro Nakamura (Director of Planning Division, Director-General's Secretariat, National Police Agency)
  • Masanori TSUKADA (Chief Deputy Director-General, Japan Fair Trade Commission Secretariat)
    *Representative: Tsukasa Suzue (Deputy Director, General Affairs Division, Secretariat, Japan Fair Trade Commission General Secretariat)
  • Takashi Nishinaka (Deputy Director-General of Personal Information Protection Commission Jimukyoku)
  • Takeshi Nishino (Director, General Affairs and Planning Department, Japan Casino Regulatory Commission Secretariat
  • Eiji NOZAKI (Deputy Director-General, Financial Services Agency Supervision Bureau)
    *Representative: Eisuke Kawaguchi (Deputy Manager, General Affairs Division, Supervisory Bureau, Financial Services Agency)
  • Katsutoshi Kano (Director in charge of Consumer Affairs Agency Digital and Business Innovation, etc.)
  • Morimasa Ozaki (Director, General Affairs Division, Director-General's Secretariat, Children and Families Agency
    *Representative: Satoshi Takizawa (Deputy Director, General Affairs Division, Director-General's Secretariat, Children and Families Agency)
  • Hayato YAMAZAKI (Director attached to Reconstruction Agency Director-General)
    *Attendance by proxy: Tadashi IMAI (Deputy Director to Director to Director-General, Reconstruction Agency)
  • Mitsuo Tanabe (Director, Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
    *Representative: Yuichi Kimura (Deputy Director, Planning Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications's Secretariat)
  • Hiroshi Takita (cybersecurity, Ministry of Justice, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
  • Fumito Miyake (cybersecurity and Informatization Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
    *Representative: Mitsue Morita (Director of Information Systems Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs's Secretariat)
  • Yujiro FUJISAKI (Deputy Director-General, Director-General's Secretariat, Ministry of Finance and National Tax Agency)
  • Jugo Imaizumi (Deputy Director-General, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
    *Representative: Kengo Shimizu (Section Chief, Administrative Reform Promotion Office, General Affairs Division, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
  • Lin Hongxiang (cybersecurity, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
  • Hiroaki Kojima (cybersecurity and Informatization Deputy Director-General, Secretariat of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
  • Takamasa Murakami (Director, Business Reform Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Secretariat)
  • Takuya Yamazaki (Director, Business Support Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency
    *Representative: Tsutomu Chiba (Section Chief, General Affairs Division, Director-General's Secretariat, Small and
  • Ken Takizawa (Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Deputy Director-General cybersecurity
  • Masashi Norihisa (cybersecurity, Deputy Director-General of Information and Communication, Secretariat of Ministry of the Environment)
    *Representative: Kentaro Kamata (Director for Policy Planning, DX Strategies, Environmental Information Office, General Affairs Division, Ministry of the Environment's Secretariat)
  • Koji Yoshino (cybersecurity, Ministry of Defense, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
    *Representative: Mitsugu Kawazoe (digitalization Promotion Coordinator, digitalization Promotion Group, Cyber Development Division, Ministry of Defense Development Planning Bureau)
  • Yoshihiro Komaki
    *Representative: Hitoshi Koga (Deputy Director-General, Operations Bureau, Bank of Japan

Minutes

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Now, as time is up, I would like to open the 10th "Inter-Ministerial Meeting on digitalization, etc. by Business Operators".
Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today. I will serve as the chairperson. My name is Deputy Director-General from Digital Agency.
There are a total of six items on today's agenda as per the agenda that was sent to you in advance.
As for Q & As, we will have time after all the agenda items, so please ask questions at that time.

Now, I would like to begin the proceedings. The first item on the agenda is "Expansion of Membership." I would like to report on this matter. International Peace Cooperation Agency (Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan) has recently joined the plenary as a new observer. The purpose of this membership is to strengthen cooperation with related organizations more than ever before and to more effectively promote the efforts of business operators such as digitalization. As a result, the number of members of the plenary has increased to 28 organizations and observers to 3 organizations.

I would like to ask all the members to understand the purpose of this document and to cooperate with us in the future.

Now, I would like to ask Mr. Mitani, Director of IPA, to say a few words. Nice to meet you, Mr. Mitani.

Director Mitani: Thank you, . My name is Mitani, and I am a board member of the IPA.
As you just mentioned, I am in charge of promoting digital transformation and AI policies. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me anytime. Thank you in advance.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: , thank you very much. Next, the person in charge will explain about agenda items 2 and 3. Digital Agency no Mori Director, thank you.

MORI Director: . I would like to explain about agenda items 2 and 3.

First of all, I would like to report on the progress of the inventory survey of administrative procedures and the survey of subsidies in fiscal 2025, Document 2.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the ministries and agencies concerned for their cooperation in this survey.
The survey on administrative procedures began in November, and the survey on subsidies began in December. For both surveys, the deadline for input using the DXS survey tool is the 27th of this month.

First, regarding the status of the civil status survey, this is the number as of 9 a.m. on the 12th. Of the approximately 77000 procedures subject to the survey, 42140 have been entered, or 54.8% of the total. In particular, despite the fact that MLIT and Mr. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare have a very large number of procedures, they have already entered more than 90% of them, for which I am very grateful. In addition, Mr. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr. Japan Casino Regulatory Commission, Mr. Ministry of Defense, Mr. Cabinet Secretariat, and Mr. The Imperial Household Agency have already entered more than three quarters of them. Thank you very much. I would like to ask for your continued support until the deadline, including other ministries and agencies.

Next, I would like to ask about the status of the subsidy survey. As of 9:00 a.m. on the 12th, 1,444 of the approximately 6,200 subsidies have been entered, which is 23.5% of the total. I believe there will be discussions from all of you on how to enter some of the subsidies, etc., and I would like to proceed while making adjustments as appropriate. I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you, but I would like to ask for your continued cooperation.

Next is Handout 3. I will explain about function in gBizPortal.
At the previous 9th meeting, I explained about the press release of gBizPortal. The same material as the previous one is included, so I will briefly explain about the same part. Today, I will mainly explain about the new information.

First of all, as you can see on page 2, the alpha version of gBizPortal is scheduled to be released in late March.

This is the same content as the last time. In the alpha version of gBizPortal, we are planning to offer three function, cross-sectional search, digital locker, and procedure journey.

This is the same content as the last time. This is the survey by DXS that I explained in Document 2 earlier. We are receiving a lot of cooperation from everyone, but among all the procedures and subsidies, we are targeting about 24000 procedures for businesses and several thousand subsidies, and we aim to make it easier for users to find them by utilizing generative AI.

Page 5 has the same content as the previous one. By using generative AI to collect information and adding attributes to the information, we would like to make it easier for users to find necessary administrative procedures and subsidies by making inferences in a close sense even if they are searched by intuitive words.

This is the image of the top page of gBizPortal's "Find Procedures" section. There are three tabs: Available Subsidies (available in jGrants), Last Year's Subsidies, and Administrative Procedures. You can select what to search from each category. In addition, in the Last Year's Subsidies and Administrative Procedures category, there is also a function that switches on and off the display of information from generative AI.

As I explained last time, as a measure against the risk of hallucination due to the use of generative AI, upon understanding that there may be inaccurate information, a pop-up asking for consent will be displayed, and if the user does not agree, the AI mode will not be turned on.
In addition, in order not to be mistaken for an official announcement, we have clearly indicated at the HTML source level that the information is AI generated information.

From here, I will talk about digital locker, which is almost the same as the last time. By digitalization the exchange of application documents, which had been done by paper or email, we will contribute to improving security and effectiveness. By using digital locker, it will be possible for both applicants and administrative agencies to exchange documents safely and efficiently. We plan to make it possible for professionals to share documents and consult in advance.
As I explained last time, I think it is very cost-ineffective to build an application system by creating a form for each procedure with a small number of procedures, such as less than 1,000 procedures per year, so I hypothesized that it would be good to use digital locker for procedures with a small number of procedures per year.

This is the same content as the last time, but in gBizPortal, the system covers the process before and after the application of each procedure.

And, the diagram on the left is the same as the one I showed you last time. On the right is an image of a simple chat function, where you can communicate with civil servants and administrative agencies. We aim to make it possible to seamlessly conduct a series of processes online, from preparation to correction of consultation materials and acceptance of materials. With this, we aim to not only reduce the burden on the supporters of applicants and civil servants, but also reduce the burden on the administrative side.

This is the same content as the previous one. While taking security into consideration, we have shown three ways of sharing digital locker so that it can be used according to the attributes and purpose of use of the users.

On this page and the next page, I would like to introduce some examples of plans to use digital locker. Consumer Affairs Agency will start a food bank certification system in April this year. In this food bank certification system, digital locker will be used.

Based on the Implementation Guidelines of the Food Bank Certification System formulated by the "Public-Private Council on Food Donation," we will make a online application to the Food Bank Certification Office. In the online application process, digital locker will be used, and the relevant parties of the Food Bank and Consumer Affairs Agency will exchange application documents. In this way, Consumer Affairs Agency will use digital locker, but we would appreciate it if each government agency would also consider the use of digital locker.

From here, it will be the procedure journey function. This is also as I explained last time, and in a specific usage scenario, regardless of the regulatory agency, multiple necessary procedures are shown in a list. We would like to make it a function that supports a series of procedures so that they can proceed without hesitation.

In the alpha version of gBizPortal, we plan to post the three procedural journeys listed here, which are the procedure for opening a cafe, the procedure for starting a business, and the procedure for food bank certification. In publishing it, we received a great deal of cooperation from the ministries and agencies listed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them again. In the future, we would like to increase this kind of procedural journey to improve the convenience of users, so I would like to ask for your cooperation.

Pages 17 to 19 are images of the pages that summarize each procedure, so please check them later.

Up to page 20, please. This organizes the future roles of gBizPortal, and this fiscal year is in the middle, but in the alpha version, we aim to make it easier to access information on procedures by centrally managing reference, searching, and preparatory work for procedures. Furthermore, from fiscal 2026 onwards, we will consolidate the front service for application procedures used by users in gBizPortal, leave the procedures themselves to the back-end administrative processing system, and aim for a more integrated system that eliminates the need for each top page.

Based on this arrangement of roles, I will also explain the proposed development schedule for gBizPortal in fiscal 2026. As I have explained earlier, we plan to release the alpha version of the G-Biz portal at the end of next month. For next fiscal year, we plan to make improvements based on the knowledge gained from the demonstration, expand usage scenarios for the full-scale operation, and strengthen cooperation with systems in the Digital Agency, such as jGrants.
Lastly, for your reference, information about gBizPortal is also being disseminated on Digital Agency's website and Youtube channel, so we would appreciate it if you could take a look.

This is the end of gBizPortal's explanation, but I would like to ask for a few words from the relevant ministries and agencies. First of all, I would like to ask for a comment from the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, which cooperated with us in our startup journey. I would like to ask for Assistant Miyata of the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency's Business Support Department's Startup and New Business Promotion Office.

PM Miyata: Small and Medium Enterprise Agency. Thank you for allowing me to participate in the meeting today.

We are in charge of starting small and medium-sized enterprises and promoting new businesses. At the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, we set up a study group last December to examine the ideal way of starting a business, and we are discussing with experts the challenges of starting a business, measures to be taken, and the ideal way of starting a business in the first place. As in the discussion at the study group, or as we visit various sites and interview various people including small and medium-sized enterprises, supporters of local support efforts, and local governments, we have heard many people say that one of the major challenges related to starting a business is that it is difficult to look up the procedures related to starting a business, or that support measures for starting a business have not been compiled and it is very inefficient to look up them, or that the procedures are inconvenient because they are not digital in the first place. Based on these opinions, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency also thought it would be good if there was a portal site that compiled the procedures and support measures necessary for starting a business. This gBizPortal that Mr. Digital Agency is working on this time is expected to realize that.

An alpha version will be released next month, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency would like to make this initiative known to all related parties as part of our support for start-ups. I believe that the version will be upgraded in the future. In order for the portal site to be utilized even more in the field, we are also collecting various opinions from the local field. By delivering such opinions, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency would like to cooperate with the initiative in the gBizPortal.

That is all from the Small Business Administration. Thank you.

MORI Director: , thank you very much. We would very much appreciate it if the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency would cooperate in promoting gBizPortal not only with the founders but also with business operators and the commerce and industry organizations that support business operators.

PM Miyata: , please.

MORI Director: . Thank you very much. Also, we have received comments from Mr. Fire and Disaster Management Agency and Mr. Consumer Affairs Agency in advance, so I would like to take this opportunity to introduce them.

First of all, this is from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency Prevention Division of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, who cooperated with us in the opening procedure journey of the cafe. Regarding the administrative procedures related to the Fire and Disaster laws and regulations, I understand that efforts to raise awareness are being made by the municipal fire departments as appropriate. Since the journey summarized in Digital Agency this time is considered to be an opportunity to raise awareness to a wider range of people, I expect that as many violations of the Fire and Disaster laws and regulations at restaurants will be corrected before the opening of the cafe through this effort and that local fire prevention will be further promoted.

In addition, this is a comment from the digital locker Food Loss Reduction Promotion Office, who is cooperating with the utilization of Consumer Affairs Agency in food bank certification and the procedure journey. For food bank certification, we decided to adopt online application from the viewpoint of reducing the burden on applicants by simplifying and speeding up the application process. However, since this is a new program and it is difficult to predict the number of applications, we decided to use gBizPortal's digital locker because it is necessary to carefully consider the construction of individual systems from the perspective of cost effectiveness. We received a comment that we are grateful and think it is useful that this function can be used without the burden of each ministry and agency.

If there are any other comments from the relevant ministries and agencies present today, I will take them. What do you think?

Member Takizawa: I am Takizawa of cybersecurity and Informatization Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) intends to actively advance the investigation of the relationship between administrative procedures and subsidies in (2) today. As you explained, the stocktaking of administrative procedures, etc. has exceeded 10,000 cases, and it is progressing smoothly.

On the other hand, regarding the survey on subsidies, I understand that the scope of the survey was scrutinized a few days ago, and we will respond based on that. We will respond while consulting on various matters such as the relationship with various work, so I would like you to keep that in mind. Thank you.

MORI Director: Thank you for your comments.
The gBizPortal will be released at the end of March, so I would like to consider the relationship with the overall schedule in the future. I would appreciate your cooperation.
That is all from me. The alpha version of the G-Biz Portal will be released at the end of next month, and we are currently working hard on it. If you have any specific questions or requests regarding the function or usage method, please do not hesitate to contact us, whether before or after the release. Thank you.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.
Next, the person in charge will explain about agenda item 4. My name is Director Ohtsuka from Digital Agency.

Director Otsuka: This is Mr. Otsuka from , in charge of Director Electronic Procurement System.

At the previous meeting in October, we explained our efforts to promote the use of the Small Amount of Goods Procurement Service, and we will explain the status of its use to further promote its use.

As I explained last time, the small-amount procurement service is a sub function of the e-procurement system that was newly introduced in March last year to enable electronic contracts for the procurement of small-amount items of 3 million yen or less, such as stationery and office furniture, which were not subject to the e-procurement system in the past. As for the usage status, as shown in the graph on the lower left, as of the end of August in the previous report, 19 ministries and agencies and 65 government offices used it, but as of the end of December, the number of ministries and agencies increased by two, and the number of government offices increased by about three times, and the number of orders also increased steadily. On the other hand, as shown in the graph on the lower right, there is a large gap in the usage performance of each ministry and agency, and 13 ministries and agencies have not yet used it.

The electronic contract rate in the electronic procurement system is shown in this table, but from next fiscal year, we plan to publish the figures including contracts using the procurement of small amount of goods. The new indicator written in this table is that. As I have been saying for some time, the number of cases for the procurement of small amount of goods tends to be larger than other procurements, so it will have the effect of significantly increasing the electronic contract rate. When comparing the value of the electronic contract rate by the end of October this year between the old indicator and the new indicator, it has increased by more than 5% in ministries and agencies that use the procurement of small amount of goods a lot. On the other hand, there is no change in the value for ministries and agencies that are not using it, so please use it actively.

Regarding the advantages of using small-amount procurement services, in addition to the effects of reducing the labor of obtaining estimates from multiple companies, shortening delivery dates, and reducing procurement prices in the previous meeting, we are currently working on significant improvements to accounting operations through financial accounting DX, and further efficiency improvements are expected.

In addition to that, we have seen further benefits since we started using it. For example, delivery fees are uniform throughout the country, information related to contracts is basically stored in GEPS, and security is ensured by unifying certification up to G, and there was a case where bear spray was found in the procurement of small-amount items amid inventory shortage. Regarding delivery fees, I think it will be very useful for local officials.

In Digital Agency, we are continuing to carry out various activities to promote the use of small-scale procurement services. First of all, as a top-down initiative, while disseminating the information at plenary meetings, etc., we are also focusing on bottom-up support to the field, such as information briefing sessions hosted by Ministry of Finance and individual briefing sessions hosted by each ministry and agency. From next spring, we plan to hold an exhibition where you can touch and see the actual products. We are always open for briefing sessions and consultations, so please be proactive.
I would like to introduce initiatives for dissemination that have actually been effective at each ministry and agency. First of all, there is an example in which the use of the system spread to local branch offices at once due to a top-down notification from the ministry. In addition, there are ministries and agencies that have solved unclear points by creating simple manuals tailored to their own rules and holding briefing sessions including local branch offices, making the introduction smooth. In addition, there are examples in which we asked internal catalog operators to enter the market in order to handle special products, and we have established rules for receiving them at the joint government building. In each case, a little ingenuity tailored to the situation of the ministries and agencies is the key to success.

This slide, which I introduced last time, is a list of materials that you should always refer to when you start using it. Frequently asked questions, first time users, materials for training sessions, and procedures for essential items are all on the government's common information board. Especially for ministries and agencies with local organizations, the issuance of notices and administrative communications to local areas has been a big support for starting to use it. If you get lost, please refer to the materials here first, and it will go smoothly.

In the e-procurement system, we will introduce a new function, the limited tender contract open counter method, in March of this year, for the procurement of services and special items that are difficult to handle by the small-amount procurement service. Currently, if you want to procure services such as installation work along with the purchase of bookshelves worth 3 million yen or less through limited tender contracts, participating business operators are required to submit quotations through the e-procurement system with unified qualifications and electronic certificate for all ministries and agencies, which has a disadvantage of limiting the number of participating business operators. Therefore, in order to allow more business operators to participate, we have introduced the limited tender contract open counter method and made it possible for them to submit quotations using gBizID. This will make it easier for local companies and specialized business operators to participate in quotations, and is expected to improve procurement efficiency and promote price competition. This function will be a major improvement for those who procure non-commodity items. We request you to actively use this new function as well.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.
Next, the person in charge will explain agenda item 5. My name is Chief Nagaoka from Digital Agency. Nice to meet you.

Chief Nagaoka: Nice to meet you. Thank you for your support. I am Nagaoka of the DMP group in charge of procurement support reform in the Digital Agency Strategic Organization Group. Nice to meet you.

With regard to IT procurement using DMP, I would like to explain the efforts of DMP so that each government agency can make effective use of it in future IT procurement.

First of all, digital marketplace (DMP) is a new IT procurement platform for government agencies. It aims to update IT procurement by creating an environment in which government agencies can quickly procure cloud software, so-called SaaS, and by diversifying procurement sources through the entry of small and medium-sized vendors and start-up companies. In conventional IT procurement, which is centered on general competition, the general method is to request proposal details and prices from each business operator according to the required system specifications and select them through comprehensive evaluation. However, there have been issues such as the long period required for procurement and the complexity of necessary documents and procedures, including procurement specifications, which impose a heavy burden on both government agencies and business operators and make it difficult for new business operators to enter the market.

As for the mechanism of DMP, it is possible for business operators to register SaaS products, which are software packaged in the cloud in advance using the catalog site platform, and for administrative agencies to search for and select products that meet their specifications. We believe that this will simplify procurement processes and cumbersome procedures, reduce operating costs for business operators and lower entry barriers, and by extension, increase market transparency.
We believe that it will be easier for administrative agencies to select cloud software suitable for their purposes from a wide range of cloud software in the market, and that the use of already-built SaaS can be expected to speed up the use of software.

Regarding the procurement system using DMP, business operators who register SaaS on DMP must first satisfy the two requirements of possessing unified qualifications for all ministries and agencies and obtaining an gBizID account, and register software after concluding a basic contract with Digital Agency on the DMP site. On the other hand, administrative users can start using it as administrative users after agreeing to the terms of use and registering as a user.

The main use of DMP is to investigate and examine the specifications required from the planning and examination stage of IT procurement. It is also possible to select products according to the specifications after the procurement specifications are finalized and use the selection results as supporting documents. If more than one company is selected, designated competitive bidding will be conducted, and if one company is selected, an individual contract can be concluded through discretionary bidding.

Next, I would like to explain the characteristics of using DMP. First of all, there is a procurement specification check sheet in DMP. It replaces the conventional procurement specifications and does not require the creation of existing procurement specifications. This procurement specification check sheet predetermines the items that should be organized as a standard when procuring SaaS, and it is designed to reduce the burden of creating specifications. In addition, the procurement specification check sheet and the results of searching and selecting on the catalog site according to it can be used as the basis for selection.

This is for your reference, but it is an excerpt from a part of the image of the procurement specifications check sheet. The input items are predetermined, and it is an image of creating it by selecting and entering the document.

In addition, from the perspective of shortening the procurement period, the provision of shortening the public notice period set forth in Article 5, Paragraph 1, Item 3 of the Cabinet Order on Special Measures for Procurement Procedures for Government Products or Specified Services is applicable to DMP for specified procurement of 100,000 SDRs or more. This is organized in Annex 5 of the Operational Guidelines for Government Procurement Procedures, etc., and it allows for a margin in the procurement schedule, so I hope you will also recognize this point.

This is an excerpt of the shortening rule for your reference, so please refer to it.

This is also helpful, but on the DMP catalog site, there is a procurement usage guidebook that organizes the concept of contracts using DMP and its Q & A, so I hope you will also refer to this.
Next, we would like to share the current registration and usage status of DMP. As of the end of January, the number of business operators registered in DMP is currently 363, of which about 76% are SMEs and start-ups. The number of registered software is about 441 per year, and new registration applications from business operators are still ongoing.

The trend in the number of registered software shows that many of them are services that can be promoted for DX of back office operations such as general affairs and counter response, and the number of registered software that can be used for policy purposes such as disaster prevention and education.

On the other hand, the usage of the catalog site is such that searches are performed about 1,000 times every week. The number of users of administrative agencies is 673, and it seems that the number of users who are looking ahead to procurement in the next fiscal year has been increasing rapidly since last December. About 20% of them are central government agencies, and about 80% are local governments.

Next, I would like to talk about the procurement results using DMP. DMP was fully put into service on March 18, 2025 last year, but it was difficult to use it for IT procurement related to the initial contract for FY1907 due to the timing of the release. On the other hand, this fiscal year, procurement results using financial resources such as the supplementary budget within the fiscal year are increasing at the central government and local governments. We hope that DMP will continue to be actively used for procurement under the supplementary budget for FY1907 or the initial budget for FY1908.

In addition, on December 19 last year, we released an additional function for the catalog site. In this release, we have improved convenience mainly for government users in line with the procurement process, and for business operators, we have published a dashboard function equipped with function to obtain the number of searches and views of the software they registered. Details of the release information are published in the form of release notes on the catalog site, so we would appreciate it if you could refer to this as well.

This is part of the additional function, and it is topic information that enhances the convenience of the procurement process. At this time, we will only be sharing the materials.

Finally, I would like to summarize. Although DMP itself is still a relatively new service since it was released, the number of registered SaaS products has exceeded 400, and the number of applications for registration from business operators has been continuously increasing. I believe it has grown into an information-rich platform. For this fiscal year, SaaS procurement using supplementary budgets and other financial resources is being used as an opportunity. Furthermore, in December last year, we made an additional function release for the catalog site itself, and are working to further improve the convenience of the system.

We will continue to enrich the amount of information and procurement results provided by DMP, obtain feedback from users, improve the quality of services, improve the efficiency of IT procurement, and increase user satisfaction. We hope that DMP will be used effectively in future IT procurement, including procurement plans for the initial budget for fiscal 2026. We hope that participants will develop the use of IT procurement by DMP within each government agency.

In addition, as much as possible, we, the Digital Agency DMP group, will provide individual backup support such as understanding of the system and how to use it, so if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the DMP consultation desk, which is also listed on this slide.

That's all from me. Thank you very much.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.
Next, Mr. National Tax Agency will explain about agenda item 6. Starting with Mr. Deputy Director-General Fujisaki.

Deputy Director-General Fujisaki: I am Fujisaki from Deputy Director-General in National Tax Agency, . I would like to explain based on material 6.

As I requested at the previous liaison meeting, at the end of October last year, a person in charge at the NTA sent a publicity request regarding the 2025 income tax returns and the promotion of digitalization by business operators. As shown in the table (2) on the right, more than 3,200 organizations were notified this time. I would like to thank all of you from the Cabinet Office and each ministry and agency for taking time out of your busy schedules to cooperate with the notification request. Tax returns for 2025 will start next week, and with this notification, we would like to further promote tax returns by e-Tax from your home using My Number Card.

The method of submitting the withholding exemption certificate will be changed from January 2027 next year. At present, it is required to submit the Written report of salary payment to the municipality and the withholding exemption certificate to the tax office, but from 2027, it will not be necessary to submit the withholding exemption certificate to the tax office if the Written report of salary payment is submitted to the municipality. We will make efforts to publicize the contents of this revision. In addition, from the viewpoint of further promoting Mynaportal cooperation of salary information, we plan to encourage the submission of the Written report of salary payment using eLTAX in cooperation with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. In the publicity that will be implemented from April this year, we would like to make it known to business operators in advance with the cooperation of related ministries and agencies. We appreciate your continued understanding and cooperation. Regarding the specific contents, we would like to have the person in charge contact each ministry and agency in the future.

In this fiscal year's revision of the tax system Act, revisions related to the digitalization of business operators will be made. In National Tax Agency, we are working to promote so-called digital seamlessness, in which all processes from transactions to accounting and taxation can be completed digitally for the digitalization of business operators. Although digital invoices are positioned as the core of this, measures related to the review of the special deduction for blue income tax returns, which will serve as a further incentive for the introduction of digital invoices, were included in the 2026 tax system Amendment Outline of the ruling parties at the end of last year.

As for the specific details, under the current system, as for the requirements in the upper part of the table on the left (outlined in blue), in that case, a maximum of 650,000 yen was to be deducted from the amount of income tax. However, under the tax system Amendment Outline 2026, the maximum amount of deduction will be raised from 650,000 yen to 750,000 yen if electronic books that meet certain conditions, such as records of corrections and deletions, and automatic linkage with invoices, are created and stored. Automatic linkage with invoice data is truly part of digital seamless, and I believe that such measures will contribute to the incentive for the introduction of digital invoices and the spread of digital seamless.

National Tax Agency intends to make ambitious efforts to spread and expand the use of digital invoices, and we ask for the continued cooperation of all relevant ministries and agencies.

That's all from me. Thank you very much.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.
Now, I would like to move on to the Q & A session. If you have any comments or questions regarding today's explanation of all the items on the agenda, please press the button to raise your hand. We will name them in order. Do you have any?

It seems that there are no questions or opinions, so I would like to end the Q & A session here. If you have any questions or other unclear points at a later date, please contact the secretariat by e-mail.

This is the end of today's agenda. I would like to ask you to continue to cooperate with the relevant ministries and agencies on digital transformation initiatives in your fields, and to share any information or projects that you would like to work on with local businesses at this liaison meeting. Digital Agency will provide support as well, and by further deepening cooperation and collaboration with the relevant ministries and agencies, we will promote digital transformation of public procedures and businesses.

The Secretariat will inform you of the date of the next meeting at a later date.

Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us today.