To implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, further strengthen the principal responsibility of market entities in the construction sector, enhance oversight of the construction market, optimize the market environment, standardize the order of tendering and bidding, and accelerate the establishment of a construction market regulatory mechanism characterized by “easy entry, strict supervision, and severe penalties,” the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development hereby issues a notice on related work.

The main contents of the notice are as follows:

I. Strengthening the Management of Market Access in the Construction Sector

Strengthen the management of registration and change procedures for professional and technical personnel; individuals who have changed their employing organization two or more times within a single year will not be eligible to apply under the notification‑commitment system when seeking re‑registration. Enhance the coordinated oversight of enterprise qualifications and the professional registration and practice credentials of personnel: when enterprises apply for qualifications subject to approval by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, registered personnel required by the qualification standards must, in principle, not have been used by other enterprises to apply for ministry‑approved qualifications within the preceding two years. Implement early‑warning alerts: upon receipt of applications for deregistration or registration changes, issue warnings to enterprises whose registered personnel would no longer meet the required standards following such changes. Strengthen information disclosure by publicly displaying on the National Construction Market Supervision Public Service Platform the number of times registered personnel have changed their employing organizations, as well as their registration history.

II. Optimizing the Bid Evaluation and Award Mechanism for Construction Projects

Accelerate the implementation of the separation of tendering and evaluation in construction projects, ensuring that the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved are aligned. Standardize the conduct of evaluation experts: the evaluation committee shall, in accordance with the provisions of the tender documents, provide clear evaluation opinions on technical proposals, bid prices, and other relevant aspects, and recommend qualified shortlisted candidates to the procuring entity. Vigorously promote “double-blind” evaluation, adopting a system of blind selection of evaluation experts and anonymous submission of technical proposals. Strengthen the principal responsibility of the procuring entity, refine its decision‑making mechanisms, and require it to formulate objective and transparent award criteria, establish robust internal procedures, decision‑making safeguards, and risk‑control systems, and determine the winning bidder in strict compliance with laws and regulations. Optimize the evaluation methods for engineering services such as surveying, design, supervision, and cost estimation, giving prominence to technical factors and placing particular emphasis on assessing the qualifications of project leaders and their teams, as well as the quality of technical solutions, thereby increasing the weight assigned to technical evaluations. Uphold the principle of “quality‑based pricing,” setting reasonable prices based on the nature and quality of construction works and services, and fostering a market environment that values excellence. Advance the development of a unified national market, prohibiting the disguised imposition of barriers or any practices that undermine fair competition in tendering and bidding activities.

III. Standardizing the Awarding and Contracting of Construction Projects

To standardize project contracting practices, the project owner shall strictly enforce the contracting system, award contracts to entities possessing the requisite qualifications, and refrain from fragmenting contracts for separate awarding. Strengthen management of subcontracting: the general contractor bears overall responsibility for all construction activities, and shall not engage in subcontracting or nominee arrangements; it may not subcontract structural works, nor may it assign projects to entities lacking the necessary qualifications. Furthermore, oversight of subcontractors must be enhanced, and the practice of “treating subcontracting as equivalent to management” is strictly prohibited.

IV. Preventing and Mitigating the Risk of Delays in Payment of Construction Project Funds

Strengthen constraints on the payment of construction funds: Project owners shall clearly define with contractors the methods, timelines, and liability for breach of contract related to advance payments, progress payments, and final settlement payments, thereby mitigating the risk of payment arrears. Fully implement payment guarantees for construction funds, encourage the prioritized use of surety insurance or bank guarantees, and promote “pay‑on‑demand” arrangements. Strictly enforce the interim settlement system: project owners must standardize settlement review procedures and timeframes, make full progress payments in accordance with contractual provisions, and disburse undisputed amounts without delay. At the same time, refine mechanisms for resolving disputes over construction payments and enhance the efficiency of payment settlement.

V. Promoting Digital and Intelligent Regulation of the Construction Market

Enhance the national public service platform for construction market regulation and the provincial-level integrated platforms, and accelerate their interconnection with management systems for engineering project approval, engineering quality and safety oversight, construction worker management, public resource transactions, and investment project approvals, thereby promoting the sharing of regulatory information. Advance the “Artificial Intelligence + Tendering and Bidding Supervision” initiative, leveraging big data, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies to establish end-to-end analytical and early-warning models that cover the entire lifecycle of projects—before, during, and after tendering—and strengthen automated data analysis and cross‑checking to improve the detection of illegal and non‑compliant activities such as failure to invite bids when required or bid rigging and collusion. Accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of regulatory processes; through data matching within regulatory systems, conduct in-depth analyses of transaction projects and the conduct of all stakeholders, implement information‑based early warnings, and effectively identify illegal practices such as subcontracting without authorization, unlawful sub‑contracting, shell companies, and the use of borrowed qualifications, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of construction market oversight.

Housing and urban–rural development authorities at all levels must attach great importance to the regulation of the construction market, further refine working mechanisms, innovate regulatory approaches, continuously improve the market environment, and promote high-quality development of the construction industry. They should strengthen accountability, rigorously investigate and prosecute illegal and non-compliant activities in the construction market in accordance with the law, and promptly refer cases involving suspected disciplinary or criminal violations to the discipline inspection and supervisory authorities and the judicial organs for handling.