Recently, the People's Government of Zhejiang Province issued several opinions on further building a standardized and orderly bidding and tendering market, effective from August 1, 2024. The specific contents are as follows:

I. Build a three-dimensional and multi-dimensional regulatory system

(1) Further clarify the division of responsibilities. The Provincial Development and Reform Commission is responsible for comprehensively guiding and coordinating the province's bidding and tendering work and organizing the formulation of comprehensive bidding and tendering policies. The relevant industry administrative departments in charge, including those for economy and information technology, natural resources, construction, transportation, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, commerce, and energy, are responsible for guiding and urging bidding and tendering work in their respective industries (fields), establishing and improving a tiered regulatory system for bidding and tendering activities in their respective industries (fields), supervising and managing specific bidding and tendering activities according to their authority, handling complaints and reports, and investigating and punishing illegal and non-compliant acts in accordance with the law. Local governments at or above the county level shall strengthen leadership over local bidding and tendering work, rationalize local regulatory systems and mechanisms, clarify the comprehensive guidance and coordination department responsible for bidding and tendering work at the same level and the specific administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities in each industry (field), and implement the regulatory requirements of relevant provincial departments.

(2) Promote full-chain and whole-process supervision. Relevant provincial industry administrative departments in charge shall, in accordance with the law, formulate a province-wide unified industry credit evaluation system for bidding and tendering activities in their respective industries (fields), scientifically set credit evaluation indicators, reasonably and standardly apply credit evaluation results, form a full-chain regulatory mechanism that runs through before, during, and after bidding, and guide and urge administrative departments at all levels in their industries to further strengthen whole-process supervision of projects. Local industry administrative departments in charge at all levels shall take the lead in implementing whole-process supervision requirements for their respective industries (fields), seriously investigate and punish illegal and non-compliant acts such as excluding or restricting potential bidders, avoiding bidding, fraud, collusive bidding, subcontracting, illegal subcontracting, lending or affiliating qualifications, and seeking winning bids through bribery, strengthen administrative supervision over the conclusion, performance, and modification of contracts in accordance with the law, intensify inspections of the bidding and tendering market and project construction quality and safety, realize linkage between the bidding market and the contract performance site, and promote the healthy development of the market.

(3) Implement catalog management of systems and rules. Improve the mechanisms for collecting clues on market barriers in bidding and tendering, evaluating and cleaning up policies and measures, and managing the catalog of provincial bidding and tendering policies, laws, and regulatory documents. The catalog of provincial bidding and tendering policies, laws, and regulatory documents shall be formulated by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, taking the lead together with the Provincial Department of Justice and relevant provincial industry administrative departments in charge, published through the provincial public resource trading service platform, and dynamically cleaned up and updated. Policy and system documents not included in the catalog may not serve as a basis for supervision. Policy-making units shall earnestly implement the Rules for Fair Competition Review in the Field of Bidding and Tendering, strictly implement requirements such as public solicitation of opinions, legality review, and fair competition review, may not interfere with the autonomy of tenderees and bidders, and are prohibited from unlawfully setting restrictions in areas such as region, industry, and form of ownership. Except for exceptions to fair competition review stipulated by laws, regulations, or the State Council, no relevant system documents, policy measures, or model texts may be issued without fair competition review or where review finds circumstances of excluding or restricting competition.

(4) Unify model texts for prequalification documents and bidding documents. Relevant provincial industry administrative departments in charge shall, according to industry realities, formulate province-wide unified model texts for prequalification documents and bidding documents for their respective industries (fields) and publish them on the provincial public resource trading service platform. Where province-wide unified model texts already exist, localities may not independently formulate and issue model texts for prequalification documents and bidding documents or require tenderees to use them. Model texts shall implement nationwide unified market access conditions, respect and safeguard the autonomy of tenderees in preparing prequalification documents and bidding documents, support equal participation in bidding by first-of-its-kind major technical equipment, support equal participation in bidding by the broad masses of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises, guide tenderees to reasonably set green procurement standards, and implement environmental protection, energy conservation, and low-carbon requirements.

(5) Strengthen multi-span collaborative governance of bidding and tendering. The Provincial Development and Reform Commission shall take the lead in accelerating data integration in the province's bidding and tendering field and jointly build and share the province's smart bidding and tendering supervision system. Industry administrative departments in charge at all levels and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities shall further strengthen coordination and cooperation with discipline inspection and supervision, development and reform, public security, justice, audit, market regulation, comprehensive administrative law enforcement, and other units, improve the coordination and linkage between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, audit supervision, and others, improve the two-way mechanism for transferring, receiving, assigning, and providing feedback on case clues, strengthen case investigation assistance and cooperation, deepen information sharing and application, strengthen supervision of tenderees, bidding agencies, bidders, bid evaluation experts, and other entities in their respective industries (fields), standardize the conduct of all parties, intensify investigation and punishment of illegal and non-compliant acts, and carry out comprehensive governance in the bidding and tendering field. State-owned asset regulatory institutions at all levels shall incorporate state-owned enterprises' organization of bidding and participation in bidding into the system for accountability in business and investment and manage them strictly.

II. Promote standardized and orderly bidding conduct

(6) Strictly approve and verify bidding matters. For projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law and that need to undergo project approval or verification procedures in accordance with relevant state provisions, the scope of bidding, bidding method, and bidding organization form shall be applied for simultaneously by the tenderee at the time of project approval or verification, and the project approval or verification department shall specify them together in the project approval or verification document. Where a project that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law is proposed not to undergo bidding, or where a project that should be subject to public bidding in accordance with the law is proposed to undergo invited bidding, it must conform to circumstances stipulated by laws and regulations and undergo the prescribed procedures; except where state secrets or commercial secrets are involved, the specific reasons and legal and regulatory basis shall be publicly announced before procurement is implemented.

(7) Unify the media for publishing bidding information. In addition to the media designated by the state, the provincial public resource trading service platform shall be the province-wide unified medium for publishing bidding and tendering information for projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law. For projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law, bidding and tendering information such as prequalification announcements and bidding announcements shall be published through the provincial public resource trading service platform; where the state provides otherwise, they shall also be published on the media designated by the state, except for content that must be kept confidential in accordance with the law or involves commercial secrets.

(8) Standardize the preparation of prequalification documents and bidding documents. For projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law, tenderees shall use the province-wide unified model texts when preparing prequalification documents and bidding documents and shall strictly implement the "seven prohibitions" of bidding and tendering during the bidding process. Tenderees shall reasonably select bid evaluation and review methods according to the actual circumstances of the project and centrally state in the prequalification documents and bidding documents the clauses under which qualification review will not be passed and the clauses for rejecting bids; strictly implement qualification management provisions, set bidder qualification conditions according to the minimum requirements needed to complete the project, and where bidders are required to have similar performance, the performance conditions set may not exceed the relevant indicator requirements of the bid section; in the bidding qualification conditions for construction general contracting bidding projects, no separate professional qualification requirements within the scope of general contracting qualifications may be set; where the same bidding project has multiple bidding qualification requirements, consortium bidders may not be excluded.

(9) Increase the publicity of prequalification documents and bidding documents. Where a project that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law adopts public bidding, the tenderee shall, before publishing the prequalification announcement and bidding announcement, publicize the prequalification documents and bidding documents to be published on the provincial public resource trading service platform for no less than 5 days to solicit opinions and suggestions from potential bidders and the public. The bidding announcement shall state the administrative supervision department for bidding and tendering. The provincial public resource trading service platform shall, at the same time as publishing the prequalification announcement and bidding announcement, push the prequalification documents, bidding documents, and their publicity status to relevant industry administrative departments in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities. Relevant administrative supervision departments shall intensify random spot checks of bidding documents and conduct key verification of abnormal bidding documents. Tenderees of projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law and in which state-owned funds occupy a controlling or dominant position are encouraged to conduct fair competition review of prequalification documents and bidding documents before publishing the prequalification announcement and bidding announcement.

III. Improve the mechanism for selecting the best through transaction competition

(10) Promote full-process electronic transactions. Except for special circumstances such as those involving national security, state secrets, or technical conditions limitations, bidding and tendering activities for projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law shall adopt electronic bidding and tendering methods and enter the trading platforms of public resource trading centers at all levels for transactions. Public resource trading centers at all levels shall, in accordance with relevant national laws, regulations, and technical specifications, establish and improve standardized operation and safety management systems for trading venues, platforms, systems, databases, and others to ensure transaction security; promptly implement regulatory requirements, provide data, information, authority, channels, venues, and others required for supervision, and cooperate with relevant industry administrative departments in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities in implementing supervision. Comprehensively promote technical applications such as remote online bid evaluation across locations, mutual recognition of digital certificates, electronic business licenses, and electronic guarantees (insurance), and continuously improve the level of full-process electronic transactions.

(11) Optimize bid evaluation methods and mechanisms. Where the bid evaluation committee believes that a bid document contains circumstances under which the bid should be rejected, it shall, before rejecting the bid, conduct a written (online) inquiry and verification with the bidder regarding the proposed rejection circumstances and make a written (online) record of the inquiry and the bidder's feedback. After completing bid evaluation, the bid evaluation committee shall submit a written bid evaluation report to the tenderee, recommend winning candidates in the number specified in the bidding documents, and explain the review circumstances and recommendation reasons for each winning candidate.

(12) Respect and safeguard the autonomy of tenderees. Implement the primary responsibility of tenderees; tenderees bear overall responsibility for the bidding process and results. Tenderees shall, before the publicity of winning candidates, carefully review the written bid evaluation report submitted by the bid evaluation committee and, upon discovering abnormal circumstances, conduct review and correction in accordance with laws and regulations. Tenderees shall verify whether winning candidates respond to the substantive requirements of the bidding documents, ensure that tenderees independently choose the bid award method according to project needs and characteristics, and clearly stipulate it in the bidding documents. Explore the mechanism for tenderees to independently study and determine the winning bidder within the scope of winning candidates recommended by the bid evaluation committee. Improve bid award procedures with whole-process records and traceability. Tenderees shall, within 3 days from the date of determining the winning bidder, disclose the quantitative evaluation results of the bid evaluation committee on the provincial public resource trading service platform, with the names of bid evaluation committee members displayed by random numbers. Where a bidder withdraws its bid document, abandons the winning bid without justified reasons, fails to sign a written contract with the tenderee, or is verified by an administrative supervision department to have committed illegal or non-compliant acts resulting in the tenderee re-tendering, the tenderee may clearly stipulate in the bidding documents that the bidder is refused to bid again for the project.

(13) Severely crack down on collusive bidding. In the electronic bidding and tendering process, where the file production machine codes or file creation identification codes of electronic bid documents of different bidders for the same project are the same, combined with relevant facts and evidence, it shall be comprehensively determined to fall under the circumstance stipulated in Article 40(1) of the Implementing Regulations of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, namely that "bid documents of different bidders are prepared by the same unit or individual"; where different bidders download bidding documents, upload bid documents, purchase electronic guarantees from the IP address of the same bidding unit or the same natural person, or the personnel participating in bidding activities are in-service personnel of other bidders in the same bid section, combined with relevant facts and evidence, it shall be comprehensively determined to fall under the circumstance stipulated in Article 40(2) of the Implementing Regulations of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, namely that "different bidders entrust the same unit or individual to handle bidding matters"; where different bidders purchase electronic guarantees through the account of the same unit or individual, combined with relevant facts and evidence, it shall be comprehensively determined to fall under the circumstance stipulated in Article 40(6) of the Implementing Regulations of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, namely that "bid bonds of different bidders are transferred out from the account of the same unit or individual"; the above circumstances shall be punished as collusive bidding.

IV. Intensify contract performance management

(14) Conclude written contracts in accordance with the law. Tenderees and winning bidders shall conclude written contracts in accordance with the law, and contents such as price, construction period, quality standards, project manager, and key management personnel in the contract shall be stipulated according to the requirements of the bidding documents and the winning bidder's bidding commitments. For projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law, the tenderee shall submit a written report on the bidding and tendering situation to the industry administrative department in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities in accordance with legal provisions, and the written report shall include the contract conclusion situation; relevant industry administrative departments in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities shall strengthen supervision and management of contract conclusion in accordance with the law.

(15) Implement contract performance management responsibilities. Tenderees shall establish and improve project contract performance management systems and, upon discovering that the winning bidder has committed illegal or non-compliant acts such as illegal subcontracting, subcontracting, affiliation, or the project manager or technical director failing to perform duties as required or being replaced without authorization, shall promptly handle them in accordance with the contract and notify the industry administrative department in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities. For units and individuals that have committed contract breach acts in projects contracted by the tenderee, the tenderee may clearly stipulate in the bidding documents that their bids for other projects of the tenderee are refused.

(16) Strengthen disclosure of contract performance information. For projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law, except where state secrets or commercial secrets are involved, the tenderee shall, within 15 days after signing the contract, disclose contract conclusion information on the provincial public resource trading service platform and, in accordance with relevant state provisions, promptly disclose information on contract performance such as major project changes, major contract changes, suspension and termination of contract performance, performance acceptance, and price settlement. Circumstances such as a contract amount change exceeding 10%, an extension of the construction period exceeding 15%, or a change of project manager before project completion acceptance shall be disclosed as major contract changes with reasons stated.

(17) Improve contract performance credit management. Relevant provincial industry administrative departments in charge shall incorporate information such as contract conclusion, subcontracting or illegal subcontracting, changes and performance of key position personnel, "double random, one open" inspection results, and major contract changes into the province-wide unified industry credit evaluation system used for bidding and tendering activities in their respective industries (fields) for evaluation, and clarify the criteria for determining the serious dishonesty list for contract performance and credit disciplinary measures. Relevant industry administrative departments in charge and other administrative supervision departments for bidding and tendering activities may, in accordance with the law, restrict units and individuals included in the serious dishonesty list from participating in bidding and tendering activities for projects that must be subject to bidding in accordance with the law.

V. Other matters

(18) Clarify time calculation requirements. The provisions of "3 days," "5 days," and "15 days" in these Opinions refer to calendar days. Where periods such as the validity period of relevant announcements (publicity) and complaints are calculated by day, the starting day shall not be counted and calculation shall begin from the next day; if the last day falls on a statutory national holiday, it shall be extended to the first working day after the statutory holiday ends. For information that should be publicly disclosed on the provincial public resource trading service platform in accordance with these Opinions, the period shall be calculated based on the time of public disclosure on the provincial public resource trading service platform.

(19) These Opinions shall take effect on August 1, 2024. The Opinions of the People's Government of Zhejiang Province on Further Strengthening Law-Based Governance in the Field of Bidding and Tendering for Engineering Construction Projects (Zhe Zheng Fa [2021] No. 5) shall be repealed simultaneously.