Ministry of Communications, Procedures for the Administration of Invitation and Submission of Bids for Highway Project Surveying and Design

Promulgated: August 21 2001
Effective: January 1 2002
Applicability: Invitation and submission of bids for highway project surveying and design means the selection, through invitation for bids in accordance with State procedures for capital construction on the basis of an approved feasibility study, of a surveying and design work unit to conduct the preliminary design and working design of a highway project (Article 7).

Main contents: The Procedures provide that any single surveying or design contract with an estimated value of over Rmb0.5 million or for a project with a total investment over Rmb30 million shall be subject to invitation for bids (Article 2). However, if a highway construction project involves State security, State secrets or disaster relief, or if it will use specific patented, proprietary technology in surveying and design or if it requires special craftsmanship, the transport authority may waive the requirement for an invitation for bids for surveying and design (Article 3). The invitation for bids shall be public unless the project concerned is a key construction project and the State Development Planning Commission or the relevant provincial people's government approves a private invitation for bids (Article 12). The process of invitation for bids typically involves the following stages: preparation of pre-qualification documents and bid invitation documents, posting of bidding notice or issuance of invitation letters, review of the qualifications of the potential bidders, sale of bid invitation documents to qualified potential bidders, on-site inspection by potential bidders and pre-bid meeting, acceptance of bid documents and opening of bids, evaluation of bids by a bid evaluation committee, determination of winning bid, and finally conclusion of a contract with the winning bidder (Article 14). The Procedures also specify the basic requirements for the bid invitation documents and bid documents (Articles 16 and 24). Procedures for the opening of bids, evaluation of bids and determination of winning bids are provided in Part Four.
Related legislation: PRC, Highway Law, Oct 31 1999, CLP 1999 No.10 p7 & CLP 1998 No.10 p46 and PRC, Invitation and Submission of Bids Law, Aug 30 1999, CLP 1999 No.8 p34