Measures for Electronic Bidding

Measures for Electronic Bidding Order of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Commerce (No. 20) In order to regulate electronic bidding activities, and promote the healthy development of electronic bidding, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Commerce jointly formulated the Measures for Electronic Bidding and relevant annexes, which are hereby issued, and shall come into force on May 1, 2013. Director of the National Development and Reform Commission: Zhang Ping Minister of Industry and Information Technology: Miao Wei Minister of Supervision: Ma Wen Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development: Jiang Weixin Minister of Transport: Yang Chuantang Minister of Railways: Sheng Guangzu Minister of Water Resources: Chen Lei Minister of Commerce: Chen Deming February 4, 2013 Measures for Electronic Bidding Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to regulate electronic bidding activities, and promote the healthy development of electronic bidding, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulation on the Implementation of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “ Bidding Law ” and the “ Regulation on the Implementation of the Bidding Law ” respectively). Article 2 These Measures shall apply to electronic bidding activities conducted within the territory of the People's Republic of China. For purposes of these Measures, “electronic bidding activities” means entire or partial bidding processes, public services and administrative supervision activities completed in the form of data message by relying on the electronic bidding system. Bidding activities conducted in the form of data message and paper form shall have identical legal force. Article 3 The electronic bidding system is divided into a trading platform, a public service platform and an administrative supervision platform based on its different functions. “Trading platform” is the information platform on which bidding transactions are completed in the form of data messages. “Public service platform” is the information platform that satisfies the requirements for exchanging information and sharing resources among different trading platforms, and providing information services to market players, administrative supervision departments and the public. “Administrative supervision platform” is the information platform on which administrative supervision departments and supervisory authorities supervise electronic bidding activities online. The development, testing, certification and operation of the electronic bidding system shall comply with these Measures and the annex Technical Rules for the Electronic Bidding System (hereinafter referred to as “technical rules”). Article 4 The development and reform department of the State Council shall be responsible for guiding and coordinating the electronic bidding activities across the country, and the development and reform departments of local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for guiding and coordinating the electronic bidding activities within their respective administrative regions. The departments of development and reform, industry and information technology, housing and urban-rural development, transport, railways, water resources and commerce of people's governments at all levels shall, according to the prescribed division of functions, supervise over the electronic bidding activities, and investigate and deal with the violations of law in electronic bidding activities. The regulatory authorities of legally established trading venues for bidding shall be responsible for supervising over and directing the trading venues for bidding in promoting electronic bidding, and cooperate with relevant departments in supervising over electronic bidding activities. Relevant departments of people's governments at or above the provincial level shall supervise over the construction and operation of electronic bidding systems as well as the relevant testing and certification activities within their respective administrative regions. Supervisory authorities shall, in accordance with law, supervise over the objects relating to electronic bidding activities. Chapter II Trading Platform for Electronic Bidding Article 5 The trading platform for electronic bidding shall be built and operated under the principles of uniform standards, interconnection, interflow, openness and transparency, safety and high efficiency, and the market-oriented, specialized and intensive direction. Article 6 Legally established trading venues for bidding, bid callers, bidding agencies and other legal person organizations established in accordance with law may build and operate trading platforms for electronic bidding based on the categories of industries and specialties. The state encourages equal competition among the trading platforms for electronic bidding. Article 7 Trading platforms for electronic bidding shall have the following major functions in accordance with the provisions of these Measures and the technical rules: (1) Completing all bidding transactions online; (2) Editing, creating, connecting, exchanging and announcing relevant bidding information; (3) Providing supervision channels required by administrative supervision departments and supervisory authorities for conducting supervision in accordance with law and accepting complaints; and (4) Other functions prescribed by these Measures and the technical rules. Article 8 Trading platforms for electronic bidding shall, in accordance with the provisions of technical rules, implement uniform information classification and coding standards, open data interface and announce interface requirements for the interconnection, interflow, exchange and sharing of all kinds of electronic bidding information. The interface of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall maintain technically neutral, be compatible and connected with all kinds of tool software which need to be developed separately, and shall not restrict or exclude the connection with any tool software in compliance with the provisions of technical rules. Article 9 Trading platforms for electronic bidding shall permit the public and market players to register, log on and have access to the bidding information disclosed in accordance with law free of charge, and provide necessary conditions for the parties to bidding activities, administrative supervision departments and supervisory authorities to log on and use the trading platforms according to their respective powers and duties and registration authority. Article 10 The trading platforms for electronic bidding shall be subject to testing and certification in accordance with the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation and other relevant provisions. The trading platforms for electronic bidding that have passed the test and certification shall be published on the public service platforms for electronic bidding at or above the provincial level. The servers of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall be set up within the territory of the People's Republic of China. Article 11 The operators of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall be legally established legal persons, and have a certain number of full-time professionals on information technology and bidding. Article 12 The operators of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and the technical rules of the state, establish and improve their rules for the standard operation and safety management of trading platforms for electronic bidding, strengthen monitoring and testing, and discover and eliminate hidden troubles in a timely manner. Article 13 The operators of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall prevent unauthorized operations by adopting reliable technologies such as identity recognition, authority control, encryption, and virus prevention, and guarantee the safety, stability and reliability of trading platforms. Article 14 The operators of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall take effective measures to verify the truthfulness of the initially entered information, and guarantee that data messages cannot be falsified or omitted and can be traced. Article 15 The operators of trading platforms for electronic bidding shall not restrict or exclude potential bidders by any means, shall not disclose any information that shall be kept confidential in accordance with law, shall not practice fraud or submit bids in collusion or provide any convenience for the said conduct. Chapter VIII Electronic Bid Invitation Article 16 The bid caller or its authorized bidding agency shall register on the trading platform for electronic bidding used by it, and if it selects the trading platform for electronic bidding operated by a third party other than the bid caller or bidding agency, it shall also sign a use contract with the operator of the trading platform for electronic bidding, specifying rights and obligations such as service contents, service quality and service expenses, and in accordance with law, prescribe the attribution of property rights of relevant information in the service process, confidentiality responsibilities, filing and other matters. No operator of the trading platform for electronic bidding shall require potential bidders to purchase designated tool software on the ground of matching technologies and data interface. Article 17 The bid caller or its authorized......