Can the government purchase services for infrastructure construction?

In the current policy environment, the difference and connection between government purchasing services and PPP model are not clear.

Wen | Zhu Kexin (legal adviser of Jibang Consulting Company)

Recently, the State Council issued a document to set up a leading group for the reform of government procurement services, which is responsible for coordinating the reform of government procurement services and organizing the formulation of important policies and measures for the reform of government procurement services. However, at present, there are still many unknowns in government purchasing services, especially the difference and connection between PPP mode and government purchasing services are not clear.

Before the existing policy system is improved, the traditional regulations and procedures for the government to purchase infrastructure services cannot be simply applied. Because compared with the increasingly perfect PPP model, the operation process of government purchasing services involves more uncertainty. At this time, due to the continuous introduction of new government procurement policies and measures, blindly adopting the government procurement service model may encounter unpredictable obstacles and risks in the future project implementation process.

The relationship between government purchasing services and PPP model

The Ministry of Finance's Notice on Issues Related to Popularizing and Applying the Cooperation Mode of Government and Social Capital (Jin Cai [2014] No.76) points out that "the essence of the cooperation mode of government and social capital is that the government purchases services". Based on the understanding of this paper, PPP mode can be regarded as a form of government purchasing services.