Intel Japan has been hit with a two-month government procurement ban.

According to a Japan Today report from 20 April, the Kinki (!)Regional Development Bureau, part of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, knocked Intel Japan off its list of bidders for IT procurement contracts.

The punitive ban lasts for two months, and comes after the Japanese Fair Trade Commission told Intel to stop providing local computer makers with rebates in return for only ordering Intel processors.

Intel has promised to do so, though it maintains that its activity - which it has never denied - is legal and acceptable when measured against international standards of business behaviour.

As a company that claims to have been adversely affected by the rebate policy, AMD disagrees with its arch-rival's analysis of the situation, and has been calling on government IT procurers around the world to end vendor-prejudicial tender terms and conditions.

Last month, the Japanese Secretariat to the Inter-Ministry/Cabinet Consultative Committee on Information Technology System Procurement effectively told government procurement staff to use objective benchmarks and performance measures for contract specifications.

The US Office of Management and Budget made much the same demands, as did the French Ministry of Economy and Finances when, in March, it instructed government technology buyers to stop using either brand names or minimum clock frequency specifications in tenders' processor descriptions. ®

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