Q: A project was invited for public bidding. * * * Six construction enterprises participated in the bidding, two of which were parent-subsidiary companies. After the project entered the bid evaluation stage, the parent company issued a written notice and voluntarily gave up bidding. Will the bid evaluation committee continue to review the bidding documents of the subsidiaries or reject the bids of the subsidiaries?
A: The bid of this subsidiary shall be deemed invalid.
Paragraph 2 of Article 34 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Bidding Law stipulates: "If the person in charge of the unit is the same person or different units with holding and management relations, they may not participate in the bidding of the same bid section or the bidding of the same bidding project without dividing the bid section." According to the provisions of this clause, the following different bidders shall not participate in the bidding activities of the same project subject to tender:
(1) The person in charge of the unit is the same person from different tendering units;
(2) Different tendering units with holding relationships;
(3) There is a management relationship between different tendering units. The law prohibits different bidders with the above relationship from participating in the competition of the same project, which is a restrictive provision to safeguard the fairness of bidding. In the practice of bidding, it is easy for two units with holding or management relationship to participate in the bidding of the same bidding project, such as prior communication and private collusion, which affect the fairness of competition and it is necessary to prohibit it. In this case, there is a relationship between control and controlled between the parent company and its subsidiaries, and the law prohibits them from bidding. The third paragraph of Article 34 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Bidding Law also stipulates: "A bid that violates the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs is invalid." Invalid bidding here means that the bidding activity is invalid from the beginning. That is to say, as long as there are prohibitions stipulated in the first and second paragraphs of Article 34 of the Regulations, the relevant bids will be invalid whenever they are discovered.
Specifically: if this situation is found in the process of bid evaluation, the bid evaluation Committee shall reject its bid; If this situation is found in the publicity of the successful candidate, the tenderer shall cancel the qualification of winning the bid; If this situation is found after the signing of the contract, the winning contract is invalid, and the tenderer shall terminate the contract, re-determine other successful candidates as the winning bidders according to law, or re-invite tenders; If the contract has been performed and cannot be restored to its original state, the winning contract is invalid, and the winning bidder shall compensate for the losses caused thereby. In this case, it is found that the parent company and its subsidiaries are participating in the same project bidding at the same time, and the bid evaluation committee shall reject the bidding documents of the parent company and its subsidiaries. No matter whether the parent company gives up bidding or not, the bid evaluation committee shall make its own rejection of bidding according to law. In addition, the legal nature of the parent company's abandonment of bidding after the deadline for bidding belongs to the withdrawal of offer. As a bidder, according to the provisions of relevant laws and bidding documents, the bid bond of our company may not be returned.