Banks will be merited and awarded for offering loans to enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises producing products for government procurement, according to measures released by the Shenzhen Finance Bureau recently to promote work resumption and ensure economic growth.
Banks will be given one point for every new loan of 50 million yuan (US$7.19 million) issued to enterprises in 2020, and 1.2 points for every new loan of 50 million yuan issued to SMEs. Each bank can gain up to three points.
So far, 18 financial institutions have joined the point-accumulation scheme since the beginning of the year, and 13 suppliers, of which 12 are SMEs, have been issued loans totaling 54.5 million yuan with government procurement orders, according to an announcement by the bureau Sunday.
In order to increase government procurement transparency for potential suppliers and keep them briefed on demand and make prepared to make bids, the buyers are required to make public their procurement plans for the whole year, especially if they are SMEs and enterprises that are registered outside Shenzhen.
The bureau also encouraged buyers to support suppliers by increasing the proportion of initial or advance payments, exempting performance bonds, paying procurement funds on time, and exempting suppliers from liabilities.
The centralized procurement agencies or acting agencies should refund or stop collecting tender bonds to ensure enterprises have sufficient cash flow during the work resumption period.
Buyers are required to pay within 30 days after receiving invoices from suppliers. By the end of February, the city had refunded tender bonds and performance bonds totaling 239 million yuan to 18,921 enterprises.
The bureau also opened a green passage to ensure the procurement and supply of outbreak-fighting materials.
Buyers using government funds to purchase materials, equipment and services can purchase independently, without necessarily going through centralized procurement and approvals. Buyers are encouraged to purchase directly from enterprises that have resumed production.
To support SMEs, the city will deduct 10 percent of the product prices of SMEs for them to compete in the biddings in government procurement reviews. The city’s procurement center will mark the SMEs in the supplier candidate list for buyers to give priority in online procurement. The qualification of the SMEs should meet the standards and requirements listed in the 2011 document jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information, National Statistics Bureau, National Development and Reform Commission, and Ministry of Finance.
Suppliers that fail to honor contracts due to the COVID-19 outbreak should renegotiate with buyers to get extensions, according to the bureau.