The Ministry of Water Resources has recently issued the Guiding Opinions on the Administration of the Consignment System in Hydraulic Engineering Projects (the "Opinions").
Under the Opinions, the consignment system in hydraulic engineering projects refers to a system under which professional project construction and management entities with experience, skills and capabilities in the area of engineering and management of hydraulic projects will be selected, through bidding or by other means, to take charge of the construction of government-funded hydraulic engineering projects and then after the projects have passed inspection upon completion, deliver the projects to the administrative agencies in charge of operating the projects. The Opinions specify that the competent administrative authority or the project entity of a given project ("the Consigner") shall be responsible for selecting the entity to which the project is consigned (the "Consignee"). The bidding process adopted to select a Consignee shall strictly comply with the laws and regulations concerning tenders or bids and be open to parties in the public resources trading market. The Consigner shall sign a consignment contract with the selected Consignee in accordance with the law.