More clarity needed

In 2000, the State Council implemented the Tendering and Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, which provided a basic regulatory framework for executing tendering and bidding procedures. While this framework represented a step forward in standardising such processes, the initial Law was rudimentary and left many issues open to interpretation. This has lead to numerous incidents of misconduct by tendering parties, bidders and administrative authorities that have exploited such ambiguities. These exploitations include collusion, bribery, embezzlement, and exclusionary practices, which have all lead to increased project costs and loss of state-owned funds. While the Tendering and Bidding Law has been effective for over a decade, the authorities and courts have done little over these years to enforce or refine this law. Thus, the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Law on the Invitation for and Submission of Bids (中华人民共和国招标投标法实施条例) which were promulgated on November 20 2011 and rendered effective on February 1 2012, directly address the ambiguities that have precipitated widespread corruption and improper practices within the arena of public project procurement.