State Council, Implementing Regulations for the PRC Law on the Invitation for and Submission of Bids

Promulgated: December 20 2011
Effective: February 1 2012

Main contents: For a project that legally requires the invitation for bids and in which state-owned funds hold a controlling or predominant position, a public invitation for bids shall be carried out. However, a private invitation for bids may be carried out if: (1) the technology is complex, there are special requirements or limitations imposed by the natural environment and only a small pool of potential bidders are available to choose from; or (2) the expenses for carrying out a public invitation for bids would account for an excessive percentage of the project contract amount (Article 8).

A bid inviting party may not restrict or preclude potential bidders or bidders by specifying unreasonable conditions, such as: (1) providing different project information in respect of the same project for which bids are invited to different potential bidders or bidders; (2) the qualifications, technologies and/or commercial conditions it has set are inconsistent with the specific features and actual requirements of the project for which bids are invited or are irrelevant to the performance of the contract; (3) setting a specific administrative area or the performance in or awards of a particular industry as conditions for additional points or conditions for winning the bid for a project that legally requires the invitation for bids; (4) using different qualification review criteria or bid evaluation criteria for different potential bidders or bidders; (5) restricting or designating specific patents, trademarks, brands, origins or suppliers; and (6) illegally placing restrictions on the form of ownership or organisational form of the potential bidders or bidders for a project that legally requires the invitation for bids (Article 32).

Related legislation: PRC Law on the Invitation for and Submission of Bids (中华人民共和国招标投标法), Aug 30 1999, CLP 1999 No.8 p.34