The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance recently issued the Measures for the Administration of Beijing Municipal Government’s Procurement of Services Budget, which clarified the scope, budgeting, performance management and other aspects of government’s procurement of services, and stipulated that administrative matters that should be directly performed by the government should not purchase services, and all departments should not use government’s procurement of services as the basis for increasing fiscal expenditure. The financial departments and departments should promptly publish the information on government’s procurement of services in accordance with the requirements of public and unified departmental budgets and final accounts.
Services cannot be purchased for matters that should be directly performed by the government.
The Measures aim to strengthen the budget management of government purchasing services, further promote the transformation of government functions, improve the supply of public services, and improve the efficiency of the use of financial funds. The "Measures" clarify the scope of the main body, the main body and the content of the government’s purchase of services. The main buyers of government-purchased services are administrative organs at all levels. The subjects of government purchasing services include social organizations and enterprises with certain conditions. The content of services purchased by the government belongs to the scope of government responsibilities, is suitable for market-oriented provision, and can be undertaken by social forces, with the focus on basic public services with budgetary arrangements. Service matters that are not within the scope of government duties, administrative matters that should be directly performed by the government, financing behavior, etc., shall not be regarded as matters for the government to purchase service content.
The contents of government-purchased services shall be subject to the guidance catalogue management. The department that implements the government’s purchase of services is specifically responsible for compiling the guidance catalogue of this department. With the changes of economic and social development, government functions and public service demand, all departments should adjust the guiding catalogue of government procurement services in time according to procedures before compiling departmental budgets, and obtain the consent of the financial department at the same level. Without the consent of the financial department, the department shall not adjust and modify the guiding catalogue of government procurement services.
The purchase of services shall not be taken as the basis for increasing financial expenditure.
In terms of budgeting, the Measures mentioned that all departments should prepare the government procurement service budget according to their own responsibilities, declare the government procurement service projects, and do a good job in linking the procurement service expenditure with the annual budget and medium-term financial planning. All departments shall not take the government’s purchase of services as the basis for increasing financial expenditure. If the new or temporary and phased services provided by the government are suitable for market-oriented provision, the government should purchase services. All departments should, on the basis of the existing financial arrangements, optimize the expenditure structure and methods, gradually increase the proportion of government funds for purchasing services, and constantly increase the government’s efforts to purchase public services, especially basic public services.
All departments shall, in combination with the characteristics of the project and the relevant budget, reasonably calculate and arrange the government’s expenditure on purchasing services, so as to control costs and improve efficiency.
Choose the undertaker by public bidding, etc.
According to the Measures, the purchaser should choose the undertaker by means of public bidding, invitation bidding, inquiry, competitive negotiation, competitive negotiation and single-source procurement according to the characteristics of supply and demand of the purchased content, the degree of market development and other factors, and the relevant procurement quota standards, public bidding amount standards, changes in procurement methods and compilation of procurement plans shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of government procurement.
After determining the undertaker according to the regulations, the buyer shall sign a written contract with the undertaker. The contract performance period or project implementation period of government procurement service projects is generally 1 year; For government-purchased services with relatively fixed and continuous purchase demand and small price change, the contract period shall not exceed 3 years at most on the premise that the annual budget can guarantee it.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Li Zewei