Since 1998, China has established a project supervision system under the planned economy system, which, together with the project legal person responsibility system, bidding system and contract management system, constitutes the basic management system of engineering construction. With the strengthening of the legal status of engineering supervision in the Standard Provisions on the Scope and Scale of Construction Engineering Supervision and the Regulations on the Quality Management of Construction Engineering, engineering supervision enterprises and supervision engineers gradually undertake the national mandatory supervision tasks.
The compulsory supervision system extends some government supervision functions and has a strong color of administrative intervention, so it restricts the market mechanism of "survival of the fittest" to a certain extent, and is also an important factor leading to a single supervision method, low quality of personnel, poor performance of duties and mixed industries.
Since the reform of compulsory supervision system was initiated in Shenzhen on 20 14, six cities, namely Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Chengdu and Guangzhou, have successively issued documents to clarify that some projects no longer need compulsory supervision. In the "Measures for the Administration of Building Construction and Municipal Engineering Construction Permit in Shandong Province", delete "the project that should be entrusted with supervision according to regulations has been entrusted with supervision. The Contract for Providing Registered Construction Project Supervision by the Construction Unit and the Management Measures for Bidding of Construction Projects in xiong'an new area (Trial) clearly put forward that "the project quality insurance system should be gradually implemented to replace the project supervision system", which is also regarded as a policy signal for local governments to cancel compulsory supervision.
1. Path analysis of canceling compulsory supervision
In local policies, small social investment projects are the first choice for Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xiamen, Chengdu and Guangzhou to cancel compulsory supervision. In Beijing, the mandatory supervision requirements for some public utilities, residential projects and real estate development projects were cancelled before June 20 18, and then some social investment projects were added in March 2020.
This reflects the idea of market-oriented reform behind the abolition of compulsory supervision: starting with social investment projects that are most closely related to the market, changing from administrative requirements to market-oriented choices, and gradually promoting the return of engineering supervision to the market, laying the foundation for the transformation and upgrading of the supervision industry.
In addition, gradually expanding the scope of non-mandatory supervision is also the general idea of leading cities represented by Shenzhen and Beijing. Whether it is from social engineering in Shenzhen to government engineering or social engineering after people's livelihood project in Beijing, it aims to expand the market space for the transformation of supervision enterprises first, and then guide the supervision market to play its role. In addition, for the first time, the six places cancelled the mandatory requirements in engineering construction projects with small scale, less total investment and low quality and safety risks, which actually opened the door to the most popular market segment of supervision enterprises, which would force supervision enterprises to step out of the "comfort zone" and improve their core competitiveness to meet market challenges.
On the whole, the path of canceling compulsory supervision in six places embodies the idea of "policy guidance, market operation and pilot first", which is a positive move to break administrative barriers by administrative means.
2. Alternative analysis of compulsory supervision.
Cancellation of compulsory supervision does not mean weakening project quality management. Local policies generally require the construction unit to carry out the primary responsibility of project management, and who will bear the legal responsibility and obligation of project supervision, while local governments have put forward different alternatives.
The management modes of the six places can be summarized into five categories: the construction units with project management ability can implement self-management mode (Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou), and can deploy technicians with similar project management experience (Chengdu) or hire professional technicians with bachelor degree or above in related majors as internal engineers (Guangzhou) to perform supervision duties; Self-operated external supervision units (Xiamen, Guangzhou), Guangzhou has also tried out the entrusted supervision of government procurement services, and the construction unit needs to choose from 10 supervision units determined by the Housing and Construction Bureau; Choose the innovative management mode of the whole process engineering consulting service (Beijing, Xiamen); Implementing the new management mode of the architect team to guide and supervise the construction quality (Shanghai); By purchasing insurance for potential defects in engineering quality, the insurance company entrusts the risk management institution (Beijing) to manage the engineering construction.
Specifically, the self-management mode of the construction unit embodies the initial reform intention of strengthening the main responsibility of the construction unit. The mode of self-management supervision by the construction unit has returned to the original intention of the system: engineering supervision provides engineering technical consulting services, not only to control the quality, progress and cost of construction projects according to the needs of supervision departments and construction units, but also to fulfill the statutory duties of safety production management of construction projects. In addition, the whole process engineering consulting system, the architect responsibility system, and the system of potential defects in engineering quality are in line with international practices, enriching the engineering quality management model and guiding the transformation and upgrading of the supervision industry.
3. The cancellation of compulsory supervision has far-reaching significance.
The cancellation of compulsory supervision sends a strong signal of marketization of engineering supervision. Although the cancellation of compulsory supervision does not mean the cancellation of the supervision industry, the cancellation of external constraints from administrative supervision, allowing the market to choose whether to hire supervision, what form of supervision to take and giving full play to the role of supervision in the whole process of engineering construction according to the actual situation will comprehensively strengthen the market attribute of supervision services.
For engineering supervision enterprises, canceling compulsory supervision is a continuous challenge and an opportunity for transformation: on the one hand, improving core competitiveness by optimizing technology, management and consulting services can make them more "reasonable"; On the other hand, more "possibilities" can be obtained by transforming into a full-process engineering consulting service provider with more technical consulting services and a quality risk management institution that can highlight its professional advantages. Supervision engineers can also transform into architects and play a more important role in engineering construction.
For the engineering construction industry, the connection system after the cancellation of compulsory supervision also throws a new management proposition to the engineering quality: how to maintain the engineering quality at the original level or even higher? On the one hand, the regulatory authorities are required to strengthen the original administrative means of "combining the self-inspection of the construction unit, sampling inspection of the construction unit and government supervision", on the other hand, they are also inspired to innovate ideas, such as the Notice on Optimizing the Construction Management of the Construction Unit in Beijing, which turns the quality management problem into a risk management problem and introduces the insurance system for potential defects of engineering quality as the bottom of quality risks.
Under the general trend of canceling compulsory supervision, the engineering supervision industry should return to its original intention: quality and safety are the lifeline of all projects, so the demand for engineering quality management will exist for a long time whether it is administrative orders or market choices. Engineering supervision enterprises should also constantly change, seek survival with professional ability and seek development with technical service.