Rules for Fair Competition Review in the Field of Bidding and Tendering
ISSUING AUTHORITIES:
National Development and Reform Commission
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
Ministry of Transport
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Ministry of Commerce
State Administration for Market Regulation
DATE OF ISSUANCE:
April 2, 2024
EFFECTIVE DATE:
May 1, 2024
On March 25, 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission, with other 7 government ministries jointly issued the Rules for Fair Competition Review in the Field of Bidding and Tendering (the “Rules”), effective from May 1, 2024.
The Rules have five chapters and 22 articles. On the basis of the Tendering and Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China and its implementing regulations, the Rules focus on the common problems of the business entities, and put forward more than 40 review standards in the following seven as:
1. In the organization of bidding, selection of bidding agencies, preparation of bidding documents and other aspects, it is clear that the policy-making departments shall respect and protect the rights of the tenderer, and shall not restrict the autonomy of the tenderer with unreasonable conditions.
2. In terms of ensuring the participation of business entities in bidding activities, it is clear that policy making departments shall implement the national unified market access conditions, and shall not require business entities to set up branches in the region, pay taxes and social security, or form consortia with business entities in the region, and shall not require business entities to obtain regional achievements or awards.
3. In the formulation of standard bidding documents and other aspects, it is clear that policy-making departments shall treat business entities of different regions and different forms of ownership equally, and shall not stipulate the content of excluding or restricting competition in the relevant texts by setting up differential scores and other ways.
4. In terms of the bidding process, it is clear that the policy-making departments shall respect and protect the tenderer's bidding right, implement the tenderer's main bidding responsibility, and shall not restrict the tenderer's bidding right by specifying the bidding method, the bidding unit or the bidding personnel.
5. In terms of credit evaluation, it is clear that the policy-making departments shall not adopt different credit evaluation standards for the qualifications, credentials and performance of business entities in different regions or different forms of ownership, and shall not adopt differentiated credit supervision measures according to the regions or forms of ownership of business entities. The autonomy of business entities to refer to and to use credit evaluation results shall not be restricted without legal basis.
6. In terms of supervision and services, it is clear that the policy making department that formulate policies and measures involving the supervision and services of bidding and bidding transactions shall guarantee the participation of all types of business entities equally, and shall not take discriminatory restrictive measures.
7. In terms of security deposit management, it is clear that the policy-making departments shall not formulate unreasonable policies and measures such as restricting the tenderer to legally collect security deposit and limiting the form of payment of security deposit.
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