China Increases Transparency in Government Procurement Bidding and Transaction Process

On August 14, the State Council issued a circularrequiring public resource trading platforms to be integrated for transactions including:

• Government procurement
• Construction project bidding
• Transfer of land-use and mining rights
• Trade of state-owned properties

The circular calls for the creation by June 2017 of an open and transparent public resource trading platform system with unified rules, efficient services, and standardized supervision. The system will facilitate online completion of the complete bidding and transaction process of the aforementioned areas, with information shared by all parties. 

The National Development and Research Commission (NDRC) is tasked with working with other ministries to create national regulations in this aspect, while provincial authorities are required to review local regulations and rectify illegal ones.

The policy aims towards better transparency in public resource distribution, echoing a previous noticeissued by the Ministry of Finance in July, which requires that government procurement information be shared in a timely manner on assigned media and websites. NDRC Vice Minister Lin Nianxiu also mentioned at the Internet Plus Bidding and Procurement Seminar two weeks ago that China would establish an online bidding and procurement platform by 2018.