Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Work Plan for Integrating and Establishing a Unified Public Resource Trading Platform” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”), which proposes integrating previously dispersed trading platforms for engineering construction project bidding and tendering, transfer of land use rights and mining rights, state-owned property rights transactions, government procurement, and other similar platforms. By establishing a unified platform system, the plan aims to achieve information and resource sharing, promote the efficient and standardized operation of public resource transactions in accordance with the law, and actively and orderly integrate other public resource transactions into the unified platform system.

The “Plan” points out that in recent years, governments at all local levels have actively promoted the development of public resource trading markets—including tendering and bidding for engineering construction projects, transfer of land use rights and mining rights, trading of state-owned property rights, and government procurement. These efforts have played a positive role in fostering and standardizing public resource trading activities and strengthening anti-corruption and integrity-building initiatives. However, given that public resource trading markets are still largely in their early stages of development, numerous prominent issues have surfaced during their establishment, operation, and regulatory oversight across different regions. These problems seriously hinder the healthy and orderly development of public resource trading markets, exacerbate local protectionism and market fragmentation, and impede the unleashing of market vitality. It is urgently necessary to address these challenges through innovative institutional mechanisms. Establishing a unified public resource trading platform will help prevent fragmentation in public resource transactions, accelerate the formation of a modern market system that is unified, open, and characterized by orderly competition; facilitate the transformation of government functions, enhance the level of administrative regulation and public service delivery; promote transparent operations in public resource trading, strengthen supervision and restraint over administrative power, and advance the building of a system for preventing and punishing corruption.

The “Plan” proposes that the integration efforts shall adhere to: “ Government-led, with social participation; public services and resource sharing; transformation of functions and innovative regulation; coordinated promotion and categorized guidance. ” the principle of vigorously promoting the legalization, standardization, and transparency of public resource transactions, thereby enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of public resource allocation. The integration goal is: 2016 Year 6 By the end of the month, local governments at all levels will have basically completed the integration of public resource trading platforms. 2017 Year 6 Before the end of the month, a nationwide public resource trading platform system—characterized by unified rules, openness and transparency, efficient services, and standardized supervision—will be established. The goal is to essentially achieve full-process digitalization of public resource transactions. Building on this foundation, we will gradually encourage other types of public resources to enter the unified platform for trading, thereby shifting the public resource trading platform from being primarily reliant on physical venues to being centered around an electronic platform.

To this end, the “Plan” outlines five key tasks: First, to systematically integrate resources, including consolidating platform levels, information systems, venue resources, and expert resources; second, to establish a unified regulatory framework by refining management rules and conducting comprehensive reviews of existing rules; third, to improve operational mechanisms by promoting information openness and sharing and strengthening service capabilities; fourth, to refine the regulatory oversight system and mechanisms, shifting supervision methods and innovating the regulatory framework; and fifth, to strengthen organizational leadership, rigorously oversee implementation, and bolster implementation support.

The “Plan” requires that all regions and departments fully recognize the importance of integrating and establishing a unified public resource trading platform. They should strengthen leadership, make meticulous plans, and advance the integration work in an orderly manner. A inter-ministerial joint conference system shall be established, led by the National Development and Reform Commission, with participation from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Forestry Administration, the General Office of the State Council, the Railway Administration, and the Civil Aviation Administration. This system will provide overall guidance and coordination for the integration of national public resource trading platforms and will carry out pilot demonstrations as appropriate.