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Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued a Circular Forwarding the Guiding Opinions on Improving the Quality Assurance System to Enhance the Quality of Construction Projects from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (hereinafter referred to as the Circular). The Circular requires to remain people-centered, stand fast on the new development philosophy, focus on the supply-side structural reform, start with quality problems in construction projects, make efforts to remove institutional obstacles, gradually improve the quality assurance system, and constantly raise the compliance rate of spot checks on project quality and public satisfaction, so as to further improve the overall quality of construction projects.

The Circular points out that the roles of all parties shall be underlined. First, the central role of developers shall be highlighted. Second, the lead role of constructors shall be played. Third, the role of property owners shall be clear in building safety. Fourth, the role of the government in project quality supervision shall be played. 

In terms of improving the management system, the Circular calls for reforming the construction organization model, improving the tendering and bidding system, promoting project guarantee and insurance, strengthening project design and construction management, promoting green construction methods, supporting the reasonable preservation and utilization of existing buildings, promoting the protection and renewal of old urban areas and old industrial areas, guiding design innovation in the renovation of existing buildings, rationally protecting and utilizing heritage buildings in accordance with the law.

In terms of improving the support system, the Circular calls for improving the construction standard system, strengthening the quality control of building materials, improving the ability of scientific and technological innovation, strengthening the management of professionals, developing a social insurance payment mode that adapts to the construction industry, vigorously encouraging constructors to buy insurance against injury at work to protect the legitimate rights and interests of construction workers, intensifying research and development of major equipment and digital intelligent construction equipment to comprehensively upgrade the technological level of engineering equipment.

In addition, the Circular calls for strengthening supervision and management, promoting credit information platform construction, building a blacklist system for construction market players to impose joint punishment on market players that violate laws and regulations; tightening regulatory enforcement, requiring greater accountability in construction project quality, strengthening the implementation of lifelong accountability for project quality, and the management of individual professional qualifications and social supervision; relevant industry associations shall improve the restraint and punishment mechanism in each industry, strengthen self-discipline, supervision and guidance.

Guiding Opinions on Improving the Quality Assurance System to Enhance the Quality of Construction Projects

The quality of construction projects concerns the safety of people’s lives and property, the future and inheritance of cities, and the level of new urbanization. In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the quality control of construction projects, and the overall quality level has been steadily improved. However, various quality problems still occur from time to time due to the large quantity and wide scope of construction projects. In order to solve the prominent problems faced by the quality control of construction projects, further improve the quality assurance system, and constantly improve the quality of construction projects, the following guiding opinions are put forward.

Ⅰ. General requirements 

Guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, as well as the Central Conference on Urbanization and the Central Conference on Urban Work, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, we shall remain people-centered, stand fast on the new development philosophy, focus on the supply-side structural reform, take construction quality problems as starting point, make efforts to remove institutional obstacles, gradually improve the quality assurance system, and constantly raise the compliance rate of spot checks on project quality and public satisfaction, so as to further improve the overall quality of construction projects.

Ⅱ. The roles of all parties shall be underlined

(Ⅰ) The central role of developers shall be highlighted. Developers shall strengthen quality control over the whole process of project construction, strictly implement legal procedures and quality responsibilities, and shall not contract projects in violation of laws and regulations. Developers shall earnestly implement the project legal person accountability system to ensure a reasonable construction period and cost. A project quality information publicity system shall be established. Developers shall take the initiative to publicize the information on project completion and acceptance and accept social supervision. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission shall be accountable)

(Ⅱ) The lead role of constructors shall be played. Constructors shall perfect their quality control system, establish a post accountability system, set up a quality control organization, assign full-time quality directors to strengthen overall quality control; implement a project quality and safety manual system to promote standardization of project quality control and implement quality control requirements for each project and employee; establish a quality accountability identification system, carry out placard acceptance checks for key processes, key parts and concealed works, strengthen the management of construction records and acceptance check records to achieve quality accountability and traceability. Constructors shall be accountable for the quality of construction projects and shall not contract or illegally subcontract projects. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall be accountable)

(Ⅲ) The role of property owners shall be clear in building safety. Property owners shall be accountable for building safety in use. Property owners and users shall use and maintain buildings correctly. It is strictly prohibited to change the main structure or bearing structure of a building without authorization. Safety control of buildings in use shall be strengthened. Property owners and property management service providers shall regularly check building safety, effectively perform building maintenance obligations and ensure building safety. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall be accountable)

(Ⅳ) The role of the government in project quality supervision shall be played. The government shall strengthen quality supervision over the whole process of project construction, be encouraged to purchase services to commission qualified social forces to carry out project quality supervision, inspections and random tests, explore the model of project supervision participated by project supervision enterprises, and improve the supervision system at the provincial, municipal and county levels; improve the quality supervision and inspection system by combining routine inspections with random inspections and random tests, comprehensively implement “random selection of projects, random selection of inspectors, timely publicity of the inspection results” and the “Internet + supervision” model to ensure supervision responsibilities; strengthen construction quality supervision team building, and ensure that the funds required by supervision institutions to perform their supervision functions are fully covered by the budgets of the governments at the same level; strengthen project design safety supervision and the review of structural calculations to improve the overall structural safety and fire safety in design. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Emergency Management shall be accountable)

Ⅲ. The management system shall be improved 

(Ⅰ) The construction organization model shall be reformed. General contracting shall be promoted. General contractors shall perform their responsibilities in project quality, safety, schedule control and cost management. The specialized subcontracting system shall be improved to vigorously develop specialized contractors. Full-process project consulting and specialized services shall be developed. The project supervision system shall be innovated. The responsibilities of qualified professionals for quality in project consulting (investment), prospective design, supervision, cost and other field shall be performed. The architect accountability system shall be promoted in civil construction projects, and architects shall be given the authority to issue instructions and approve projects on behalf of developers in accordance with the contract between the two parties, and the responsibilities to be borne by architects shall be clearly defined. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission shall be accountable)

(Ⅱ) The tendering / bidding system shall be improved. The tenderer decision-making mechanism shall be improved to further implement the autonomy of tenderers and explore the establishment of systems and mechanisms that can better meet the needs of projects in the process of bid assessment and selection. The tendering/ bidding procedure shall be simplified. Electronic tendering / bidding and remote bid assessment shall be promoted and bid assessment experts shall be strictly managed. The traceability of tenderer accountability shall be strengthened. The standard application of credit information in bidding / tendering shall be expanded. Illegal activities such as bidding collusion and false bidding shall be cracked down on. Post-bid contract performance supervision shall be strengthened. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Market Regulation shall be accountable)

(Ⅲ) Project guarantee and insurance shall be promoted. The bank guarantee system shall be promoted. Projects guarantee provided by guarantee companies and project guarantee insurance shall be implemented in regions where conditions permit. If the tenderer requires the winning bidder to provide performance guarantee, the tenderer shall provide guarantee for the payment of project funds to the winning bidder at the same time. If a bid is won with the lowest price, a high-amount performance guarantee shall be applied. Trials for project quality insurance shall be organized to accelerate the development of project quality insurance. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China, and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission shall be accountable)

(Ⅳ) Project design and construction management shall be strengthened. The principles of building “applicable, economical, green, beautiful” buildings shall be implemented to guide the formulation of architectural design guidelines in line with each city’s regional features. It is necessary to establish a construction system of “pre-planning and post-assessment”, improve the architectural design scheme review and demonstration mechanism, and enhance the architectural design decision-making level. It is necessary to strengthen residential project design management, to scientifically design detached residences, enhance safety, practicality, livability, and improve the environmental quality of residential areas. The over-standard construction of government-invested projects shall be strictly prohibited. The construction of super-tall buildings shall be strictly controlled. The approval system for anti-seismic fortification of super-tall buildings shall be strictly enforced to strengthen the management of super-tall buildings in earthquake resistance, fire control, and energy conservation. Building quality demonstration projects shall be established, and efforts shall be intensified to commend outstanding enterprises, projects and individuals. Policy support shall be increased for excellent enterprises in terms of bidding and finance. Tenderers shall be encouraged to include bidders’ project quality as a factor in tender/bid assessment. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Emergency Management and the People’s Bank of China shall be accountable)

(Ⅴ) Green construction methods shall be promoted. The criteria, certification and assessment systems for green building materials shall be improved. The energy-saving standards for building products shall be further improved. A building product release system shall be established. Prefabricated buildings and green construction shall be promoted to reduce the adverse impact of construction on the environment through advanced technology and scientific management. The criteria, assessment and labeling systems for green buildings shall be improved. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation shall be accountable)

(Ⅵ) The reasonable preservation and utilization of existing buildings shall be supported. The protection and renewal of old urban areas and old industrial areas shall be promoted. Design innovation in the renovation of existing buildings shall be guided. Heritage buildings shall be rationally protected and utilized in accordance with the law. A building demolition regulation system shall be established, and public buildings that meet planning standards and are within reasonable service life shall not be demolished at will. Trials and demonstrations of public and industrial building renewal, renovation and utilization shall be carried out. Policies on fire protection and energy conservation to support the preservation and renewal of existing buildings shall be formulated. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the National Cultural Heritage Administration shall be accountable)

Ⅳ. The support system shall be improved

(Ⅰ) The construction standard system shall be improved. It’s necessary to systematically formulate full-text mandatory construction standards, streamline and integrate government-recommended standards, foster standards developed by organizations and enterprises, speed up adaptation to international standards and rules; organize comparisons between domestic and foreign standards in key areas and raise domestic standards; strengthen international exchanges and cooperation on construction standards, and promote the transition and application of a number of Chinese standards to international standards. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Commerce shall be accountable)

(Ⅱ) Quality control of building materials shall be strengthened. It’s necessary to establish a sound response, information sharing and interdepartmental collaborative handling mechanism for defective building materials, implement the lifelong accountability of building materials producers and suppliers, and regulate the building materials market; strengthen quality control in the production, transportation and use of ready-mixed concrete; encourage enterprises to establish a full-process quality control system for the production, construction and installation of prefabricated building parts, and implement an on-site production supervision system for prefabricated building parts; establish a quality traceability mechanism for building materials from production to use, and publicize relevant information to the public. (The State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shall be accountable)

(Ⅲ) Scientific and technological innovation capabilities shall be enhanced. It’s necessary to increase investment in technological innovation and research and development in the construction industry, promote the Integration of production, learning, research and application, and make breakthroughs in the development and application of key generic technologies in key areas; intensify the research and development of major equipment and construction equipment for digital and intelligent projects, and comprehensively upgrade the technological level of engineering equipment; promote the integrated application of building information modeling (BIM), big data, mobile Internet, cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and other technologies in the whole process of design, construction, operation and maintenance, promote the delivery and application of digital achievements in engineering construction, and improve the informatization level of the construction industry. (The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall be accountable)

(Ⅳ) The management of professionals shall be strengthened. It’s necessary to strengthen vocational education for construction workers, vigorously develop vocational skills training for construction workers, and encourage the establishment of vocational training bases; strengthen the construction of vocational skills appraisal sites and improve multiple assessment systems for skills appraisal and vocational skills grading. The real-name registration system for construction workers shall be implemented; the construction of a national information platform for construction worker management and services shall be accelerated; enterprises shall be encouraged to use skilled workers who meet job requirements. It’s necessary to establish sound social insurance policies and payment methods suitable for the construction industry, vigorously encourage constructors to buy insurance against injury at work to protect the legitimate rights and interests of construction workers. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Finance shall be accountable)

Ⅴ. Supervision and management shall be strengthened 

(Ⅰ) Credit information platform construction shall be promoted. It’s necessary to perfect the National Public Service Platform for Construction Market Regulation, strengthen information collection, improve the record system for violations of laws and regulations, timely publicize market players’ information such as administrative licensing, administrative punishment, spot check and inspection results, share and exchange data with the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and the National Credit Information Sharing Platform. A blacklist system for construction market players shall be established to jointly punish market players violating laws and regulations. Records of project quality violations shall be taken as an important factor in enterprise credit rating. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, the People’s Bank of China, and the State Administration for Market Regulation shall be accountable)

(Ⅱ) Regulatory enforcement shall be tightened. It’s necessary to intensify accountability for construction project quality and strengthen the implementation of lifelong accountability for project quality. Units and individuals that violate relevant regulations and cause construction quality accidents and serious quality problems shall be investigated and exposed in accordance with the law, and penalties shall be increased in terms of qualifications and restrictions on their employment. The management of individual professional qualifications shall be strengthened. Registered professionals who engage in illegal acts such as certificate callings shall be punished by suspending or revoking their qualification certificates or even banning them from working in the profession for life. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall be accountable)

(Ⅲ) Social supervision shall be strengthened. Relevant industry associations shall perfect industry restraint and punishment mechanisms and strengthen industry self-discipline. An accountable unit and accountable person public disclosure system shall be established for construction projects. Enterprises shall disclose construction project quality information and accept public supervision. It’s necessary to explore the establishment of a social supervision mechanism for construction project quality, and support public participation in supervision and reasonable expression of quality demands. Local governments shall improve the coordination and handling mechanism for construction project quality complaints and disputes, clarify the accountable unit, scope of complaints, handling process and time limit for handling construction project quality complaints, and regularly inform the society of the handling of construction project quality complaints. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Market Regulation shall be accountable)

(Ⅳ) Supervision and guidance shall be strengthened. It’s necessary to establish a sound assessment indicator system for construction quality management and improvement, scientifically assess the implementation of construction quality laws, regulations and mandatory standards, quality accountability system, quality assurance system construction, quality supervision team building, construction quality development, public satisfaction, etc., supervise and guide the implementation of various measures for quality control of construction projects. (The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall be accountable)

Ⅵ. Organization and implementation shall be stressed

All regions and relevant government departments shall attach great importance to improving the quality assurance system and the quality of construction projects, improving the working mechanism, refining the measures, giving prominence to key tasks and ensuring the implementation of all work arrangements; strengthening the demonstration and guidance, encouraging competent regions to actively carry out pilot programs and form experience that can be replicated and popularized; strengthening public opinion guidance, actively publicizing the good experience and good practices to create a good social atmosphere.

Source: official website of the State Council