Chinese Cabinet Approves Regulation to Standardize Construction Bidding

BEIJING, Dec. 1 -- The State Council, or China's cabinet, has approved a regulation that aims to standardize bidding processes for construction and other business-related projects in order to rule out fraud and misconduct.

The regulation further clarifies the range of bidding for projects that must undergo bidding procedures. It also forbids the unreasonable and unfair restriction or exclusion of bidders for eligible projects.

Bidders may not be asked to meet extra terms that are not related to the actual requirements of the projects, according to the regulation, which was approved after an executive meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday.

Bidding evaluators must be randomly chosen from a given list and will be prohibited from having personal contact with bidders or accepting bribes.

The regulation stipulates that successful bidders and project tenders are not allowed to set up extra agreements that deviate from the original contract. It also strictly bans any political intervention or manipulation of the bidding processes.

Violations will render the bidding process invalid and lead to fines and confiscation of any illegal gains, according to the regulation.