The Circular of Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform and Other Authorities on Issuing the Administation Measures on Financial Services for Public Resources Transaction Guaranteein Beijing (Trial)

Jing Fa Gai Gui [2020] No. 1

To relevant organizations,

To further implement the series of decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government on optimizing the business environment, and to standardize the financial services for public resources transaction guarantee in Beijing in accordance with the law, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management, the Beijing Water Authority, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, and the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau have jointly formulated the Administration Measures on Financial Services for Public Resources Transaction Guarantee in Beijing (Trial) in light of the city's actual situation. Approved by the municipal government, the Measures are now issued for careful implementation.

The Regulation is hereby issued.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform

Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources

Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport

Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management

Beijing Water Authority

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology

Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau

February 27, 2020

Administration Measures on Financial Services for Public Resources Transaction Guarantee in Beijing (Trial)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 To standardize the financial services for public resources transaction guarantee in Beijing according to the law, take maximum advantage of the guarantee services in preventing the market risk, , strengthen the management of guarantee services for public resources transaction, and to ensure the safe submission and timely refund of bid guarantees and to handle the performance guarantee to protect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties in bidding and tendering, the Measures are formulated in accordance with the Bid Invitation and Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations for the Implementation of the Bid Invitation and Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Measures of Beijing on Supervision and Administration of Public Resources Trading (Trial).

Article 2 The Measures are applicable to guarantee services for projects in the field of engineering construction handled through the Beijing Public Resources Transaction Service Platform, as well as its supervision and administration, unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations.

The deposits management in the areas of state-owned property transaction, transfer of land use right and mining right, and government procurement etc shall refer to the Measures.

Article 3 The term "guarantee" as mentioned in theMeasures refers to the bid guarantee and performance guarantee in the process of public resources transaction .

Bid guarantee refers to a certain amount of guarantee issued by the bidder to the tenderee in accordance with the requirements of the tender documents., so as to avoid losses caused to the tenderee due to the bidder's arbitrary withdrawal or cancellation of the bid or failure to submit the performance guarantee and to sign the contract after winning the bid within the validity period of the bid.

Performance guarantee refers to the guarantee issued by the winning bidder to the tenderee according to the tender documents to promise to perform the contract obligations, so as to prevent the winning bidder from violating the contract provisions during the performace of the contract and compensate the economic losses caused to the tenderee.

Article 4 The bid guarantee and performance guarantee for public resources trading in Beijing may be in cash form such as bank transfer or non-cash form such as letter of guarantee.

Beijing encourages the use of electronic letter of guarantee issued by banks or other financial institutions.

Article 5 Beijing establishes the Beijing Financial Service Platform for Public Resources Transaction Guarantee (hereinafter referred to as the "Financial Service Platform") using the method of public solicitation and working jointly with selected financial institutions lawfully incorporated in Beijing. Following the principle of legitimacy , safety, standardization and efficiency, the platform provides online services of bond collection, bond refund and electronic letter of guarantee for relevant market entities.

Article 6 The Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform is responsible for guiding and coordinating the management of guarantee services for the Beijing Public Resources Transaction Service Platform, and standardizing the construction and operation of the Financial Service Platform.

The competent authorities of industries shall, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the division of responsibilities, supervise and administer the guarantee services for public resources trading in their respective industry or field.

The Beijing Economic Information Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Economic Information Center") is responsible for the development and construction, operation and maintenance management, security and service of the Financial Service Platform.

Chapter II Establishment of Guarantee

Article 7 The establishment and form of the bid guarantee and performance guarantee as required by the tenderee shall conform to relevant laws and regulations and the Measures. The amount of bid guarantee shall not exceed 2% of the estimated value of the project subject to tender, and the term of validity of the bid guarantee shall be the same as the term of validity of the bid.

Article 8 The Economic Information Center, as the operating service agency of the Financial Service Platform, is responsible for providing online services for the bid guarantee and performance guarantee, including the collection of bid bond, the refund of bid bond and the online handling of letter of guarantee.

Article 9 When using the Financial Service Platform, the market entities of public resources transaction shall promise to abide by the relevant provisions of the country and the city on the guarantee for public resources transaction, and agree to standardize the management in accordance with the rules of the Financial Service Platform and the trading process.

Any tenderee of public resources trading in Beijing shall not entrust a tender agency or any other third party to collect bid bond without authorization which may increase the burden of potential bidders.

Article 10 With the authorization of the municipal government, the Economic Information Center shall open a specified deposit account for bond funds, strictly implement the relevant administrative regulations of the financial authority and the People's Bank of China, and carry out the special management and use, and shall not, without authorization, divert the bank account and funds for other purposes. No interest balance shall exist after the principal and interest of the bond are refunded to the deposit account.

Chapter III Management of Bidding Guarantee Services

Article 11 If the tenderee requires the bidder to provide bid guarantee, it shall specify in the tender documents such contents as the amount of bid guarantee, method of submission, time and period of validity. No organization or individual may limit the bid guarantee to be submitted only in cash, or fail to refund the bond in accordance with the law and the contract.

If the bid guarantee is submitted in cash, the time of submission shall be subject to the time when the funds are deposited into the specified account.

Article 12 The submission of bid guarantee in cash shall be performed in accordance with the following procedures and requirements:

(1) During the process of bid guarantee submission through the trading system, the bidder shall choose one of the cooperative banks of the Financial Service Platform, and submit the funds to the designated account in full amount at one time according to the amount and time stipulated by the tenderee in the tender documents.

When regarding a consortium bids, a security deposit shall be submitted by the consortium lead or a member of the consortium on behalf of the consortium,. which shall be binding upon all parties to the consortium.

(2) The bank financial institution shall provide the deposit receipt information to the Financial Service Platform within 5 minutes after receipt.

(3) The Financial Service Platform shall, within 5 minutes after obtaining the deposit receipt information from the cooperative bank, provide the information to relevant trading system.

(4) The bid bond shall be collected per project. When the bidder submits the bid bond, it shall specify the tender project, so as to facilitate check and verification.

(5) If the bidder participates in mandatory bidding for a tender project provided in law, the bond submitted in cash shall be transferred from its basic account.

(6) As of the deadline of submission of bidding documents, the Financial Service Platform shall stop collecting bid guarantee, and provide the collection list of the bid guarantee to the trading system at the opening time of the bid. The tenderee or its tender agency can access to the collection list of the bid guarantee through the trading system.

Article 13 Refund of bid bond in cash shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) The tenderee shall, within 3 days at the latest after signing the written contract, provide the Financial Service Platform with the information on the process of signing the contract awarded and the refund list of the bid bond through the trading system;

(2) The Financial Service Platform shall provide the refund list of the bid bond to the cooperative bank within 5 minutes after confirming receipt of the information on the process of signing the contract awarded and the refund list;

(3) The relevant cooperative bank shall refund the bid bond and the interest on bank deposit over the same period to the winning bidder and unsuccessful bidders the same day when it confirms receipt of the refund list provided by the Financial Service Platform;

(4) The Financial Service Platform shall report the refund of the bid deposit to the relevant trading system within 5 minutes after receiving the deposit refund information provided by the cooperative bank.

Where the trading cannot proceed normally or the relevant authority files an investigation due to the occurrence of doubts, complaints or other special circumstances, the tenderee or its tender agency or the relevant authority may notify the Financial Service Platform to suspend or delay the refund of the bond. After the relevant departments respond to and handle the relevant situation, the bond shall be refunded in a timely manner in accordance with the processing results and relevant regulations

If the tenderee or its tender agency fails to refund the bond within the time limit, the Financial Service Platform shall send a reminder message and report to the relevant administrative supervision authority for further process according to the law.

Article 14 If the bidder submits the bid guarantee in the form of letter of guarantee, the tenderee shall be the final beneficiary of the guarantee, and the validity of the letter of guarantee shall be consistent with the validity of the bid.

Beijing encourages the submission of letter of guarantee in electronic form. The bidder shall submit to the relevant trading system in the form of electronic documents to in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Electronic Signatures, and the trading system shall keep and manage such electronic documents.

Article 15 Submission of bid guarantee in the form of electronic letter of guarantee shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) In the bid guarantee submission process of the trading system, the bidder shall choose one of the financial institutions cooperating with the Financial Service Platform, and submit the application for credit at least 2 working days before the bid opens. The trading system shall provide the application for credit to the Financial Service Platform, and the Financial Service Platform shall synchronize the application with the financial institution.

(2) The financial institution that has received the application for credit shall conduct online credit extension for the bidder, and shall not require the applicant to submit other materials offline. The financial institution shall provide feedback on the result whether the credit extension is allowed to the Financial Service Platform within 24 hours, and the Financial Service Platform shall synchronize the result of credit extension to the trading system.

(3) The bidder eligible for credit extension shall choose one of the financial institutions engaged in the guarantee business provided by the Financial Service Platform, and submit the application for issuing the electronic letter of guarantee according to the amount, time and beneficiary provided by the tenderee in the tender documents. The trading system will synchronously sharing the application for letter of guarantee, the basic information of the applicant, and the project information in the form of random code to the Financial Service Platform.

(4) The Financial Service Platform provides the application for letter of guarantee, the basic information of the applicant, and the project information in the form of random code to the financial institution.

(5) After the bidder pays the guarantee service fee according to the method provided by the financial institution, the financial institution shall issue the electronic letter of guarantee immediately and provide it to the Financial Service Platform within 5 minutes.

(6) After the Financial Service Platform obtains the electronic letter of guarantee from the financial institution, it shall provide it to the trading system within 5 minutes.

The bidder to which credit has been successfully extended at the financial institution provided by the Financial Service Platform needs not apply for credit extension again, and can directly apply for the electronic letter of guarantee to the financial institution.

Article 16 The application for electronic letter of guarantee obtained by the financial institution through the Financial Service Platform shall be designed to collect credit information of bidders by means of information technology without the need for the bidder to submit the relevant supporting materials separately. The guarantee service fee of the electronic letter of guarantee applied through the Financial Service Platform shall be lower than the market price.

Article 17 If the bidder submits the bid guarantee in the form of electronic letter of guarantee, the guarantee liability of the bank or other financial institution issuing the guarantee shall be automatically relieved from the date of signing the written contract. The electronic letter of guarantee does not need to be returned to the bidder.

Article 18 If the tenderee discovers any of the following circumstances, it may not refund the bid bond submitted by the bidder according to the law:

(1) After the deadline for submission of the bidding documents, the bidder modifies or supplements the substantive contents of the bidding documents or revokes the bidding documents;

(2) The winning bidder refuses to sign the contract with the tenderee in accordance with the requirements of the tender documents, the bidding documents and the notification of award without justified reasons;

(3) When signing the contract, the winning bidder puts forward additional conditions to the tenderee, or requests any change of the substantive contents of the tender documents or the notification of award, or abandons the winning bid without justified reasons;

(4) The winning bidder refuses to submit the performance guarantee in accordance with the time, amount and form stipulated in the tender documents;

(5) Other circumstances stipulated in laws, regulations and tender documents.

Article 19 If the tenderee considers that the bidder or the winning bidder is under the circumstances prescribed in Article 18, the tenderee shall confiscate the bid guarantee in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) The tenderee shall, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, collect evidence of the bidder's violation, including but not limited to the cancellation of the letter of tender, abandonment of the letter of acceptance, notification of punishment from the administrative supervision authority, and shall upload it to the Financial Service Platform.

(2) For the bid guarantee submitted in cash, the Financial Service Platform shall notify the cooperative bank to transfer the bond into the tenderee's account within 5 minutes upon confirming receipt of the non-refundable request provided by the trading system. The cooperative bank shall complete the transfer the same day when it confirms receipt of the account provided by the Financial Service Platform, and provide the result to the Financial Service Platform immediately. The Financial Service Platform shall, within 5 minutes upon receipt of the transfer information provided by the cooperative bank, provide feedback on the non-refundable bid bond to the trading system.

For the bid guarantee submitted in the form of electronic letter of guarantee, the beneficiary of the letter of guarantee shall submit to the financial institution that issues the letter of guarantee the Application for Claim and the relevant evidence of the bidder's or the winning bidder's violation, including but not limited to claim for compensation due to the cancellation of the letter of tender, abandonment of the letter of acceptance, or notification of punishment from the administrative supervision authority. The financial institution shall pay compensation according to the agreed time.

Chapter IV Management of Performance Guarantee Services

Article 20 If the tenderee requires the bidder to provide performance guarantee, it shall specify in the tender documents such contents as the amount of performance guarantee, method of submission, time and period of validity. No organization or individual may limit the performance guarantee to be submitted only in cash, nor fail to refund the bond in accordance with the law and the contract. The performance bond shall not exceed 10% of the amount of the contract awarded.

Bid guarantee submitted in cash through the Financial Service Platform may be converted into performance guarantee in accordance with relevant provisions.

Article 21 Submission of performance guarantee shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) If the bidder chooses to convert the bid guarantee submitted in cash into performance guarantee, it shall submit the funds to the account designated by the tenderee in full amount according to the amount and time stipulated by the tenderee in the tender documents. If the amount of bid guarantee is inconsistent with the amount of performance guarantee, the mechanism of refund for any overpayment or supplemental payment for any deficiency shall be adopted.

(2) If the bidder chooses to submit the performance guarantee in the form of electronic letter of guarantee, when submitting the application for performance guarantee to the Financial Service Platform through the trading system, it shall submit the contract signed with the owner and other materials as well as the email for receiving the electronic letter of guarantee.

Article 22 The time and manner of refund of the performance guarantee submitted in cash shall be implemented in comply with the relevant provisions of the tender documents or the contract.

The term of validity of the performance guarantee submitted in the form of electronic letter of guarantee shall be consistent with the written contract (including the supplementary contract) signed by the tenderee and the winning bidder. The electronic letter of guarantee need not be returned.

Article 23 If the winning bidder breaches the performance commitment, relevant provisions of the tender documents or the contract shall apply.

Chapter V Confirmation of Liabilities

Article 24 After the deposit is received or the letter of guarantee takes effect, the financial institution shall provide the information of the deposit to the account or the effective information of the guarantee to theFinancial Service Platform within 5 minutes. The Financial Service Platform shall provide the information of the deposit to the account or the effective information of the guarantee to the trading system within 5 minutes.

The bond arrival information or the guarantee effectiveness information will be used as the voucher for the tenderee to confirm whether the bidder submits the bid guarantee as required.

Article 25 If the bidder fails to submit the bid guarantee in accordance with the time, method of submission and amount stipulated in the tender documents and fails to participate in the bidding activities, as a result, the bidder shall bear the economic losses caused thereby.

If the winning bidder fails to submit the performance guarantee in accordance with the time, method and amount required in the tender documents, the tenderee shall cancel the winning bidder's bid award and the bid bond shall not be refunded. The winning bidder of a mandatory bidding project according to the law shall be ordered to make corrections by the administrative supervision authority.

If there is no bond receipt record or electronic guarantee information due to system reasons, network delay or interruption, natural disaster or other factors, the bidder shall be deemed to have submitted the bond or the electronic letter of guarantee provided the bidder may provide the bank's customer receipt of special deposit account for bond funds or the valid certificate issued by the financial guarantee institution. The Financial Service Platform shall remind the bidder to bring relevant certificates at the time of bid opening by means of SMS and app etc.

Article 26 If the financial institution fails to provide the bid security deposit or the electronic guarantee letter account information in a timely manner, which prevents the bidder from participating in the bidding activities and affects the smooth progress of the bidding transaction activities, the bidder may claim to the financial institution for economic losses not exceeding the amount of the bid bond or the electronic letter of guarantee.

If the financial service platform or the relevant trading system fails to forward or receive the bid security information submitted by the bidder, which prevents the bidder from participating in the bidding activity and affects the normal conduct of the bidding transaction activity, the bidder may claim to the system operation service agency that caused the accident for economic losses not exceeding the amount of the bid bond or the electronic letter of guarantee.

Article 27 The bank of the special deposit account for the bond shall be responsible for the receipt, receipt confirmation, interest calculation and refund of the bond as well as the confidentiality of the account information.

Article 28 The financial institution shall be responsible for the authenticity check, claim handling and information confidentiality of the letter of guarantee issued.

Article 29 The operation and maintenance organization of the Financial Service Platform shall implement exclusive use and establish a special post for the special deposit account for the bid bond. It shall be responsible for the bank reconciliation of the special deposit account and its sub-account and the confidentiality of information.

Article 30 The trading system, the financial institution and the Financial Service Platforms shall be interconnected, share data in time, and fully guarantee the information security in the trading process and guarantee service process.

Chapter VI Supervision and Management

Article 31 The Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform shall strengthen supervision over the online services of bid guarantee and performance guarantee provided by the Financial Service Platform, so as to ensure the legal and normal operation of the Financial Service Platform.

Article 32 The municipal or district administrative supervision authorities of public resources trading shall, in accordance with their respective functions and duties, strengthen the supervision and administration of the bid guarantee and performance guarantee of the projects subject to tender in their respective industries, fields and regions.

The Financial Service Platform, financial institutions and trading systems shall render proactive cooperation and provide supporting documents.

Article 33 The municipal and district administrative supervision authorities of public resources trading shall handle the illegal behaviors and irregularities of participants in the bid guarantee and performance guarantee processes in accordance with the law, and shall integrate the handling results into the enterprise's credit record, and publicize them on the Beijing Public Resources Trading Service Platform and Beijing Public Credit Information Service Platform.

Article 34 If the parties to the public resources trading have any objection to the bid guarantee or performance guarantee, the dispute shall be settled by the parties through negotiation. If the negotiation fails, a complaint may be filed with the relevant administrative supervision authority or resolve the matter through judicial procedures.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 35 The Measures shall take effect as of the date of issuance.