Recently, eight departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Fair Competition Review Rules in the Field of Bidding and Tendering," which, for the first time, sets out a "negative list" of policy measures for the bidding and tendering field.

　　According to an official from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Rules are the first departmental regulation on fair competition review in the bidding and tendering field. From the perspective of regulating local government policy-making activities for bidding and tendering, they explicitly require that fair competition review be conducted before relevant policies are introduced; where no fair competition review has been conducted, or where review finds circumstances of excluding or restricting competition, the relevant policy measures may not be introduced, so as to reduce from the source regulations and practices in the bidding and tendering field that exclude or restrict fair competition.

　　The Rules closely integrate the characteristics of and concerns about the bidding and tendering market and put forward targeted measures through research. They consist of 5 chapters and 22 articles, mainly covering the general provisions, review standards, review mechanisms, supervision and management, and supplementary provisions of fair competition review in the bidding and tendering field.

　　With regard to review standards, the Rules address various types of unreasonable restrictions that occur frequently in bidding and tendering practice, setting out more than 40 specific review standards in 7 areas and specifying detailed review requirements. They focus on resolving transaction barriers in areas such as prequalification, bid evaluation methods, bid evaluation standards, bid award standards, credit evaluation, and the collection of bid bonds.

　　With regard to the review mechanism, the Rules clarify the working mechanism, workflow, and review conclusions for policy-making organs conducting fair competition review. They emphasize that policy measures should complete fair competition review before being submitted for deliberation or approval, and that relevant business entities, industry associations and chambers of commerce, and others should be heard in an appropriate manner during the review process.

　　To improve supervision and management, the Rules require relevant departments to regularly carry out evaluation and cleanup of policy measures, establish a mechanism for collecting clues on barriers in the bidding and tendering market, dynamically clean up and repeal various policy measures that violate fair competition, and effectively promote the implementation and effectiveness of the fair competition review system.

　　To consolidate responsibility, the Rules specify that policy-making organs should establish their own fair competition review working mechanisms and designate a dedicated body responsible for review work; where multiple departments are involved, the lead department shall conduct the review and issue a written review conclusion.

　　According to the introduction, the Rules take effect on May 1, 2024.