To the relevant departments directly under the municipality, the public resource transaction regulatory authorities of all counties (cities), districts, and development zones, the public resource transaction (management) centers of all counties (cities), districts, and development zones, and the Administrative Service Center of the Ancao Economic Development Zone:

In order to thoroughly implement the requirements set forth in the “Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Innovating and Improving Institutional Mechanisms to Promote the Standardized and Healthy Development of the Tendering and Bidding Market” (Guobanfa [2024] No. 21), as well as the work arrangements at the national and provincial levels, and to further standardize tendering and bidding activities and ensure that evaluation results are more equitable and impartial, the following notice is hereby issued regarding the implementation of the “blind‑bid” evaluation method for engineering construction projects:

I. Implementation of Project Scope

For construction, survey, design, supervision, and engineering general contracting projects that are legally required to undergo tendering and are traded on the Anhui Hefei Public Resources Trading Platform, with the exception of projects subject to AI‑driven “human‑like” evaluation, a “blind‑bid” review process—where bidder information is concealed in technical documents such as construction organization plans—is, in principle, fully implemented.

Where the administrative supervisory authorities for provincial-level projects such as water conservancy and transportation, or for other cross-platform transaction projects, have otherwise prescribed provisions, such provisions shall prevail.

II. Regulations for “Dark-Box” Evaluation

(1) “Dark‑bid” evaluation refers to a process in which, during the detailed review of technical documents, the electronic trading system conceals bidders’ basic information and, after randomly ordering some or all scoring items in the technical portion of the bid documents according to established rules, submits the documents to the evaluation committee for assessment.

The scoring criteria for technical documents that are suitable for “blind” evaluation include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

1. Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects: Contractor’s proposal and implementation plan, design scheme, and construction organization plan.

2. General contracting and specialized contracting projects: Construction organization design.

3. Survey and Design Projects: Survey Outline, Design Proposal.

4. Supervision Projects: Supervision Outline.

(2) “Dark‑bid” evaluation shall comply with the following requirements:

1. Prior to entering the “blind‑score” evaluation phase, the electronic trading system shall conceal the “blind‑score” scoring items for all bidders’ tender documents. For those bidders advancing to the “blind‑score” evaluation, their tender documents shall be subjected to a “double‑random” sorting of the “blind‑score” items before being submitted to the evaluation committee for review. The “double‑random” process entails: (i) randomly assigning identifiers to the tender documents within each individual “blind‑score” item, thereby ensuring that the corresponding bidders are presented to the evaluation committee in a randomized manner (e.g., if a particular scoring item is designated as A, the bidders associated with Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, and Unit 4 will be randomly assigned to each evaluation committee member); and (ii) randomly assigning identifiers across different “blind‑score” items to the same tender document, so that the corresponding bidders are likewise randomized when viewed by each evaluation committee member (e.g., if scoring items are designated as A, B, C, and D, the bidders associated with Unit 1 under item A, Unit 1 under item B, Unit 1 under item C, and Unit 1 under item D will be randomly assigned to each committee member).

2. Only after the entire “sealed-bid” evaluation process has been completed may members of the evaluation committee access, via the electronic trading system, the scores assigned to each bidder for that particular section.

3. After the scores for the “blind‑bid” evaluation criteria are announced, members of the evaluation committee shall not alter the “blind‑bid” evaluation results.

III. Requirements for Preparing the Tender Documents

(1) The tender documents shall clearly specify the detailed criteria for evaluating technical submissions under the “blind review” process.

(2) The tender documents shall clearly stipulate that the evaluation criteria for “blind bidding” shall adhere to a uniform format and set of standards. The following drafting requirements are recommended:

1. Page layout: Paper size, A4; line spacing, fixed at 22 points; margins, top 2.5 cm, with all other margins set at 2.0 cm.

2. Font and Image Guidelines: Font type—Songti; font size—Title: Size 3; other text: Size 4. Charts and diagrams must be rendered in solid black, with font sizes ranging from Size 4 to Size 8 within these elements. No text or graphics of any other color are permitted.

3. Page Numbers: No headers, footers, or page numbers shall be included on any page.

4. Length of Documentation: The required number of pages may be specified according to the project type (e.g., the construction organization design shall not exceed 50 pages).

5. Other Requirements: No information relating to the bidder or any related indications shall appear, including the bidder’s name, the bidder’s official seal, or any other form of indication of the bidder’s name.

Specific requirements may be determined in light of the project’s actual circumstances and the automatic format‑checking capabilities of the electronic trading system being used.

(3) The tender documents shall clearly specify the consequences for bid submissions that fail to comply with the “blind‑bid” evaluation requirements. The criteria for disqualifying bids must be set forth in a consolidated manner, ensuring clarity, ease of identification, and straightforward assessment.

(4) Scoring items in the technical documents that are evaluated using a “blind review” process shall not be included in the scope of the preliminary technical review.

(5) The scoring for the “sealed-bid” evaluation criteria shall be determined as the average of the scores assigned by each member of the Evaluation Committee, after discarding the highest and lowest scores; the relevant provisions of the referee‑score monitoring system shall no longer apply.

IV. Relevant Work Requirements

(1) All units must fully recognize the significant importance of implementing the “blind‑bid” evaluation method, strengthen organizational leadership, enhance overall coordination and scheduling, and ensure the effective advancement and implementation of related tasks.

(2) The “dark‑bid” evaluation functions developed by each electronic trading system shall comply with the provisions of this notice and provide relevant user guides to market participants. The Anhui Hefei Public Resources Trading Center shall ensure proper business guidance.

(3) Public resource transaction regulatory authorities and trading centers at all levels shall expedite the dissemination and implementation of relevant policies, providing guidance to market entities such as procurers and tendering agencies to ensure they accurately grasp and fully understand the policies governing “blind” evaluation.

This notice shall take effect on September 1, 2026, and shall be implemented on a trial basis for one year. Any prior provisions that are inconsistent with this notice shall be superseded by the provisions herein. Should your unit have any comments or suggestions during implementation, please promptly submit them to the Trading Division of the Hefei Public Resources Trading Supervision and Administration Bureau. Contact: Engineer He; contact number: 66223591.

August 20, 2026