On November 21, 2025, a seminar on the research of crimes and defense in the field of construction project bidding and tendering was successfully held in Nanxin Building of the Ministry of Housing and Construction, which was sponsored by the Guohong New Urbanization Development Alliance, and co-sponsored by Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, Beijing Dongfang Law Firm, Beijing Jincheng & Tongda Law Firm, Beijing Shale Law Firm, and the Expert Committee on Criminal Cases of Construction and Engineering of the Guohong Alliance. The seminar adopted the form of “on-site + online live broadcast”, gathering construction industry practitioners, legal practitioners, professors, scholars and industry managers to explore the criminal charges and defense research in the field of construction project bidding and tendering, and the online live broadcast was watched by a total of 13,000 people with a warm response.
Focus on Industry Pain Points, Gather Professional Strength
The seminar was hosted by Wang Chunjun, senior partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm. He pointed out in the opening that, with the continued deepening of the national construction bidding and tendering field of outstanding issues of special governance action, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu and other more than ten provinces, has launched bidding roundups and crosstabbing bidding “backward investigation of 13 years” clues to collect work. Against this background, the team preparing the “Construction Criminal Case Study of Bidding and Tendering Crime Defense Report” provides a professional analysis and interpretation of the various types of criminal issues that may arise in the bidding and tendering process by conducting an in-depth study. Members of the research team are frontline legal practitioners with experience in public prosecution and law enforcement, and in handling criminal cases of bidding and tendering. This report was first published in 2021, and has been upgraded again in response to the strong call from the industry, with the aim of providing feasible defense strategies and compliance paths for construction engineering enterprises, legal practitioners and industry managers, and helping the industry to move steadily forward in the era of strong regulation.
Wang Chunjun, Senior Partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm
Sun Chongchong, Secretary General of Guohong New Urbanization Development Alliance, the organizer of the seminar, emphasized in his speech that the field of construction engineering is a pillar industry of the national economy, which has a bearing on the national economy and people's livelihood and the overall economic and social development of the country. Bidding and tendering system as a basic system for the allocation of resources in the construction market, its standardized and orderly operation for the maintenance of fair competition in the market order, to protect the quality and safety of the project, and to improve the efficiency of the investment is of paramount significance. However, with the rapid economic and social development of China and the continuous expansion of the scale of engineering construction, the field of bidding and tendering for construction projects is also faced with a number of problems and challenges that should not be ignored, among which, the related criminal offense problem has increasingly become the focus of social attention and the difficulty of the rule of law construction due to its complexity, hidden nature and serious damage to the market order. Accurately identifying and effectively punishing all kinds of crimes in the field of bidding and tendering for construction projects is an inevitable requirement for purifying the market environment and optimizing the business ecology; and in-depth study of the constitutive elements of the crimes in this field, the judicial determination of the standards as well as the effective defense strategy is an important way to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned, promote judicial justice, and realize the principle of the statute of criminal law and the principle of the appropriateness of punishment to the crime. This seminar to “construction project bidding and tendering field crimes and defense research” as the theme, it is in line with the urgent needs of the current rule of law construction, aims to build a high level of construction criminal exchange and industry practice discussion platform, hope that through the experts and scholars insights and practical elites of the invaluable experience to share, and jointly sort out the common crimes in the field of legal application of the difficult questions. Through the insights of experts and scholars and the sharing of valuable experience of practical elites, we hope to sort out the difficult problems of the legal application of common crimes in the field, deeply analyze the key points of the criminal structure and the entry point of the defense strategy, and explore the connection and integration of the cutting-edge theories and the judicial practice, in order to promote the refinement of the rule of law and scientific contribution to the rule of law in the field of construction bidding and tendering, and to provide the useful theoretical references and practical guidance to the judicial practice, and to provide the lawyer counterparts with the invaluable ideas and skills to borrow for the defense. It helps construction enterprises to “prevent crime at source and safeguard legal rights and interests within the legal framework”, promotes the construction enterprises to build a compliance system, and facilitates the high-quality development of the construction industry and new urbanization.
Sun Chongchong, Secretary General of GuoHong New Urbanization Development Alliance
Theme Report
Six core topics, dismantling the key points of bidding crimes
The core part of the seminar is six theme reports, six expert lawyers share in-depth research on crimes and defense in the field of construction project bidding and tendering, combining with typical cases and laws and regulations to provide participants with clear guidelines on the application of laws.
1. Theme Report: “The Crime and Punishment of Collusion in Bidding”.
Lv Yan, Partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm
Mr. Lv Yan, Partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, said that collusive bidding not only destroys the fairness of the market, but also may lead to administrative and criminal liabilities. In the field of engineering construction, projects that must be tendered include construction over 4 million RMB, goods procurement over 2 million RMB and service procurement over 1 million RMB. Collusive bidding will face fines, disqualification from bidding for 1-2 years, and revocation of business license in serious cases, while the criteria for criminal cases cover 500,000 direct losses, 200,000 illegal income or 4 million winning amount, with the maximum penalty of 3 years' fixed-term imprisonment.
2025 many new regulations to strengthen supervision: Chongqing clear 18 collusion situation, Zhejiang will electronic bidding document hardware information is the same as collusion, Jiangxi requirements trading platform real-time warning. Typical cases show that collusive bidding is often accompanied by subcontracting, illegal subcontracting and commercial bribery, business management loopholes can easily lead to risk, compliance and rectification can be lenient treatment.
Lv Yan lawyer suggested that enterprises: enhance the legal awareness of employees, strengthen corporate management, regulate bidding behavior in accordance with the law, and set up a professional legal team to establish a compliance mechanism. He emphasized that enterprises need to build a firm compliance line of defense, so that they can be stable in the fierce competition, and jointly maintain a healthy market order.
2. Theme Report: "Behavioral Patterns and Characteristics of Bidding Crimes from Typical Cases in the Field of Construction Industry
Wan Xuewei, Senior Partner of Beijing Oriental Law Firm
Mr. Wan Xuewei, senior partner of Beijing Oriental Law Firm, analyzed the behavioral patterns and characteristics of bidding crimes through typical cases of bidding crimes in the field of construction.
Mr. Wan said that the types of crimes involved in bidding and tendering are clear: bidders are susceptible to collusive bidding, bribery of non-state officials, bribery, bribery, bribery, forced trading, and organizing, leading and participating in triad organizations, etc.; bidders are often involved in collusive bidding, bribery, bribery, abuse of power, bribery, etc.; bidding agents are often involved in collusive bidding, bribery, etc.; non-state officials are often involved in collusive bidding, bribery, and bribery. Bidding agencies are often involved in bid-rigging, bribery of non-state officials, abuse of power, unit bribery, etc.; bidding agencies are often involved in bid-rigging, bribery of non-state officials, etc.
There are various modes of collusive bidding: bidders are dissuaded from bidding by bid rigging and bid accompanying, paying “compensation fees” to dissuade rivals from bidding, forging seals (one or the other of the implicated offenses), or one or the other of the crimes of forced trade, or combined with the crime of bribery; bidders “tailor-made” conditions of entry to exclude rivals, and accepting bribes; bidding agents often commit crimes of collusive bidding, non-state staff bribery and so on. Bidders “tailoring” entry conditions to marginalize rivals and accept bribes; agents manipulating qualification examinations and leaking commercial information. Typical cases, Wang Mou according to the village cadres request quotation is collusive bidding rather than embezzlement; Deng Mouna accept bribes to customize the scoring standards, constituting collusive bidding crime and bribery and punishment; Huang Mou with the agency cheating bidding, revealing that the agency has been reduced to accomplices in the chaos.
Wan Xuewei emphasized that the essence of collusive tendering is to control the price in order to win the bid, often implicated in bribery, although the maximum penalty of three years of this crime, but the consequences of several crimes and penalties, and the conviction of the loss of market access qualifications, the need to strictly abide by the legal bottom line.
3.Theme Report: “Seminar on Job-related Crimes in the Field of Bidding and Tendering”.
Zhang Xiaofeng, Senior Partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm
Mr. Zhang Xiaofeng, senior partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, said in the report that the functional crimes in the field of bidding and tendering need to focus on the statute of limitations and multiple types of crimes, and the relevant investigation and handling work has a clear legal basis and practical direction.
According to the provisions of the statute of limitations of the Criminal Law, combined with the sentencing standards of embezzlement and bribery and other related crimes, the 13-year retrospective investigation can cover the period of prosecution of most of these crimes, providing an important time basis for the investigation and handling of the case. The report details the dismantling of five types of core crimes in the field of bidding: acceptance of money-type crimes need to distinguish between the nature of the enterprise and the subject status of the personnel, covering the crime of passive bribery, passive bribery of non-state staff; close personnel using influence to accept bribes and bribery of their crime, the scope of the scope of coverage of the state staff of the close relatives and people around them; the introduction of the crime of bribery, misappropriation of the crime (including the crime of embezzlement, the crime of misappropriation of the job) and illegal profit-making crimes for friends and relatives, all corresponding to a clear definition of the crime of bribery. The introduction of bribery, embezzlement crimes (including embezzlement, functional misappropriation crimes, and illegal profit-making crimes for relatives and friends) correspond to clear legal provisions and typical behavioral patterns.
The report pointed out that the key targets for investigation and punishment include four groups: administrative personnel holding approval rights, project leaders, relevant personnel of bidding enterprises and agencies, and bid evaluation personnel. Combining legal provisions and real cases, the sharing clearly sorted out the identification criteria and legal consequences of various types of crimes, which provided practical guidance for the bidding-related subjects to build up the legal bottom line, and also sounded an alarm for the industry's compliance governance.
4. Theme Report:
Problems of Criminal Charges for Collusive Bidding Related Crimes in the Construction Field
Guo Liangjing, Lawyer of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm
Guo Liangjing, a lawyer from Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, said in the report that the criminal prosecution of crimes related to collusive bidding in the field of construction is facing the outstanding problem of “difficulty in accepting and filing a case”, which is not only a common problem of economic crimes, but also exacerbates the difficulty of handling due to the characteristics of the industry.
Guo Liangjing lawyer pointed out that the charge is difficult because of three core reasons: First, the economic crime itself involves a wide range of areas, criminal and civil cross-characterization is difficult, the perpetrator of the hidden means of evidence collection is not easy; Second, the case unit there is a lack of personnel strength, lack of professionals, limited funds and accountability concerns and other practical obstacles; Third, some of the accusers have the wrong understanding, evidence collection is not in place, the accusation of improper way and other issues. And the construction field of the specificity of the difficulty escalates, the field of closed circle, case value is huge, the relationship between the intricate and complex, the perpetrator in advance to avoid the risk of layout, further increase the difficulty of evidence collection.
In response to this situation, Guo Liangjing gave advice: need to be familiar with the industry's operating logic, accurate characterization of the case; emphasis on the first charge, to eliminate the “testing the waters” mentality; solid collection of key evidence, rather than only provide clues; flexibility to choose the entry point of the charge, not only focusing on the crime of collusion in the bidding; and at the same time do a good job with the department of the case communication. He emphasized that the 13-year retrospective policy provides an opportunity for criminal prosecution, and that as long as one is determined and believes in the rule of law, even if it is difficult to do so, one can still safeguard fair justice and one's own rights and interests through lawful means.
5. Theme Report:
Investigation and Defense of Bidding Crimes in the Construction Field
Beijing Oriental Law Firm Expert Lawyer Mr. Fang Yi
Mr. Fang Yi, an expert lawyer from Beijing Oriental Law Firm, said in the report that the crimes of collusive bidding in the field of construction and engineering present diversified forms and complex characteristics, and the investigation and defense need to take into account the characteristics of the industry and legal practice, and at the same time, combine with the public security point of view of the case to accurately promote.
In the report, Mr. Fang pointed out that the crime of collusion in bidding mainly includes five types of collusion by the contracting party, bidding party, internal and external collusion, and scalping collusion, etc., and is often closely associated with bribery and bribery and other job-related crimes. Such crimes have distinctive features: they are deeply bound to the business of enterprises, driven by economic interests as the core, and the main body of the crime is mostly business elites, and they show a trend of continuous crimes, internal and external collusion and “blackmail”, which leads to investigations facing difficulties in obtaining evidence, and high challenges in terms of professional requirements.
From the perspective of public security, the investigation needs to pay attention to verbal evidence such as confessions and witness testimonies, and enterprises should actively cooperate with public security, establish effective communication mechanisms, reasonably select reporting strategies, and pay attention to the recovery of stolen goods and damages, public relations crisis response and investigation cost control. At the defense level, it is necessary to accurately distinguish between the key circumstances: auction collusion bidding, buying bids and selling bids does not necessarily constitute the crime, construction before bidding, non-mandatory bidding projects and borrowing qualifications, etc., need to be combined with the specific circumstances of the qualification, and at the same time, clear division of responsibility for the joint crime, to ensure that the direction of the defense is lawful and compliant.
6. Theme report:
The Number of Offenses in the Field of Bidding Collusion and Bribery
Beijing King&Capital Law Firm Senior Partner Yan Huainan
Yan Huainan, senior partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, said in the report that the determination of the number of crimes in the bidding field when bid-rigging and bribery co-exist is the core controversy in practice, and the mainstream view of the judicial practice is in favor of the combination of several offenses, and at the same time, there is a clear path of effective defense.
YanHuainan lawyer to “people's justice - case” LiuZhengGang case as an example to start the analysis, the defendant through bid-rigging, bribery means to undertake more than 1 billion yuan of engineering, the first trial to implicate offenders on the grounds of only bribery, the second trial based on the relevant judicial interpretations of the crime of bribery and bid-rigging crimes and penalties. Yan Huainan lawyer pointed out that the core of the controversy lies in the boundaries of the application of the theory of guilt by association, although bid-rigging and bribery are both means of winning the bid for profit, but respectively, they infringe on different legal interests, and a separate crime can not adequately evaluate the harm of the act, so several offenses are the mainstream of the way to deal with the punishment.
For the defense practice, he put forward key strategies: one is to avoid the defects of the theory of guilt by association, if the bribe is a means of bid-rigging, can be argued to constitute an imaginative crime, choose a felony to deal with, and meet the relevant prosecution standards; the second is to make use of the policy of the supervisory authorities, combined with the "passive bribery and active bribery together with the investigation of the space for the crime, and strive for the bribery behavior of the crime. Combined with cases and legal provisions, the report provides clear practical guidelines for the determination and defense of crimes in the field of bidding and responds to the needs of industry compliance and judicial practice.
Concluding Remarks by Law Professors
Professor Sun Jingxian of the Law Department of Beijing Architecture University made a concluding speech at the seminar on the research of crimes and defense in the field of bidding and tendering for construction projects, affirming that the seminar closely followed the policy direction of the state “13 years of inverted investigation”, focused on the key difficulties of the industry's criminal law practice and realized a deep blend of theories and practices, with an online attention span of more than 13,000 people, and achieved a complete success. The seminar was a great success.
Professor Sun Jingxian pointed out that this seminar is very targeted, covering the key aspects of conviction and sentencing of collusive bidding, typical case analysis, identification of related crimes, investigation and defense practice. Based on the legal provisions and case experience, the lawyers not only clarified the boundaries of legal bidding, administrative violations and criminal offenses, but also cracked the judicial problems such as the determination of the number of crimes, which provided actionable practical guidelines.
He particularly commented on the highlights of the speakers' sharing, the profound analysis and fine sharing of the speakers, both the theoretical level of precise interpretation, but also the practical level of valuable experience, to achieve the collision of ideas, wisdom mingling, to achieve the seminar's expected goals.
Prof. Sun Jingxian mentioned that behind the phenomenon of difficult to file a case also reflects the progress of the rule of law in the country, effectively curbing the interference in civil cases with criminal charges. He called on colleagues to strengthen communication and cooperation, collision of ideas, and looked forward to the future online and offline to get together again, and jointly help the construction engineering bidding field of the rule of law.
Sun Jingxian, Professor, Law Department, Beijing Architecture University
The research seminar on crimes and defense in the field of construction project bidding and tendering was successfully held under the high concern of the industry, aiming to provide feasible defense strategies and compliance paths for construction project enterprises, legal practitioners and industry managers, and to help the construction project industry to be stable in the era of strong regulation. Relying on the national new urbanization development platform of GHU, the Expert Committee on Criminal Cases in Construction and Engineering of GHU focuses on the areas of high incidence of criminal cases in the construction industry by combining authoritative experts in the legal and engineering fields, guiding the main bodies involved in the construction and engineering fields to clearly abide by the law, and promoting the establishment of a criminal compliance management system by relevant enterprises, so as to continue to push forward the high-quality development of new towns and cities.
