The General Office of the State Council has issued the “Opinions on Innovating and Improving Institutional Mechanisms to Promote the Standardized and Healthy Development of the Tendering and Bidding Market.”

　BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) — Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Innovating and Improving Institutional Mechanisms to Promote the Standardized and Healthy Development of the Tendering and Bidding Market” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”).

　　The Opinions adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and uphold the principle of better integrating an efficient market with a capable government. They focus on leveraging the competitive and merit‑based functions of tendering and bidding, reform and innovate the institutional framework for these processes, advance digital transformation in depth, and accelerate the establishment of end-to‑end, full‑chain regulatory mechanisms. Upholding a nationwide coordinated approach, they resolutely dismantle departmental silos and industry barriers, fostering an efficient, standardized, fair‑competition‑driven, and fully open tendering and bidding market. This will facilitate the smooth flow of goods, factors of production, and resources across a broader scope, providing robust support for building a high‑standard market system and establishing a high‑level socialist market economy.

　　The Opinions set forth four guiding principles. First, adhere to a problem‑oriented approach and address both symptoms and root causes, gradually establishing a long‑term mechanism to promote the standardized and healthy development of the tendering and bidding market. Second, uphold a systems‑based perspective and foster coordinated synergy, effectively pooling efforts to advance the development of the tendering and bidding market. Third, adopt differentiated policies and targeted measures to enhance the precision and effectiveness of governance in the tendering and bidding market. Fourth, champion innovation as the driving force and leverage digital and institutional empowerment to boost efficiency, strengthening innovation in tendering and bidding institutional frameworks, operational models, transaction mechanisms, and regulatory systems, thereby facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the tendering and bidding market.

　　The “Opinions” set forth policy measures across seven key areas. First, they seek to improve the tendering and bidding institutional framework by refining the design of rules and regulations and strengthening the coordination and alignment of laws and policies. Second, they aim to enforce the principal responsibility of procurers by reinforcing their central role, enhancing the service mechanisms of tendering agencies, and promoting innovation in procurement processes. Third, they call for a more robust evaluation and award‑determination system, including improvements to evaluation methods and procedures, optimization of the process for selecting winning bidders, and enhanced full‑cycle management of evaluation experts. Fourth, they advocate for digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading, accelerating the adoption of digital and smart technologies and optimizing the electronic tendering and bidding platform system. Fifth, they emphasize strengthened, coordinated, and efficient oversight and regulation by holding administrative supervisory authorities accountable, bolstering multi‑level, comprehensive regulatory frameworks, and advancing the implementation of smart‑regulation approaches. Sixth, they strive to foster a standardized and orderly market environment by rigorously cracking down on illegal activities in tendering and bidding and continuously eliminating provisions and practices that impede the development of a unified national market and fair competition. Finally, they seek to enhance the effectiveness of tendering and bidding policies by establishing incentive mechanisms that support innovation, optimizing mechanisms for promoting and applying green procurement, and improving the policy framework to facilitate the participation of small and medium‑sized enterprises.

　　The Opinions call on all regions and relevant departments to strengthen organizational leadership, improve mechanisms for advancing work, and ensure the thorough and meticulous implementation of all tasks; they encourage local authorities and grassroots-level entities to proactively explore new approaches and boldly innovate; and they emphasize the need to intensify publicity and interpretation efforts, as well as public oversight, in order to foster a social environment conducive to the standardized and healthy development of the tendering and bidding market.

[Editor-in-charge: Wang Di]

Source: Xinhua Net