p align = “center” build a “century old store” in the agency industry p align = “center” — Interview with Yue Xiaochuan, a full-time expert of China Tendering and bidding Association
■ our reporter Yang Wenjun
Daoxiangcun, Beijing Tongrentang Co.Ltd(600085) , xinghualou… These time-honored Chinese brands are famous for their exquisite skills and enduring good reputation, and have been recognized by generations of consumers. From this perspective, Yue Xiaochuan, a full-time expert of China Tendering and bidding Association, believes that the government procurement agency industry just lacks some such “century old stores”, which should be the development direction of the agency in the future.
As early as 20 years ago, the Ministry of Finance identified five government procurement consulting institutions, which are responsible for providing government procurement consulting services and government procurement project agency services to purchasers. Today, 20 years later, there are nearly 40000 agencies. As a veteran who witnessed the rapid development of the agency, Yue Xiaochuan has his own unique understanding and views on the agency industry.
Referring to the current development of the agency industry, Yue Xiaochuan refined the words “many, small, chaotic and low”.
“More” refers to the large number of agencies. According to statistics, there are more than 37000 registered agencies in China, which far exceeds the agency demand of government procurement projects, and there is oversupply.
“Small” refers to the small scale of the agency. At present, except for some large state-owned enterprises or large provincial agencies, the vast majority of agencies are small, and even a few people can form an agency.
“Chaos” refers to the chaos of agents. First, there is unequal competition between agency agencies and centralized procurement agencies. According to the provisions of the government procurement law, the two should go their own way, but now their business intersects. Second, the competition among agencies is chaotic, with frequent chaos such as low price competition and malicious slander. Third, the absence of government management. Agency is a special market subject, which involves not only the use of financial funds, but also the implementation of government procurement policies. It reflects the functions of the government, and it is not appropriate to leave it entirely to the market. Fourth, personnel management is not in place. At present, there are no qualification requirements for agency employees. Although various trainings are organized everywhere, due to the insufficient attention of agency personnel, many trainings eventually become a mere formality and can not play a corresponding role. Phenomena such as “spending money to buy certificates” are more common.
“Low” refers to low service quality. The services provided by most agencies still remain at the level of procedural agency, that is, organizing some bid opening, but this is only the minimum requirement of government procurement. At present, the Ministry of finance has issued the measures for the management of government procurement demand, which puts forward higher requirements for agencies. Agency services should run through the whole process of government procurement from the preparation of procurement requirements, to the determination of implementation plans, to risk control, and finally to the performance acceptance.
What makes these chaos cluster and restricts the development of the agency industry?
According to Yue Xiaochuan, at present, the management of agencies in various places is fragmented. If the agencies in place a want to participate in the government procurement activities in place B, they have to file again, which is not conducive to building a unified market. In addition, both agencies and agents lack long-term consideration for their own and industry development, let alone building a “century old store”. Even if they are punished and closed down, because of the low market access conditions, many agencies can re register an agency to “change” and continue to participate in government procurement activities.
“The low threshold of establishment and the lack of industry norms and standards are the key factors restricting the development of the agency industry.” Yue Xiaochuan said.
In Yue Xiaochuan’s view, we should “suit the remedy to the case” in order to return the development of the agency industry to the right track.
The first dose of good medicine: what should be managed should still be managed, the access conditions should be appropriately improved, the exit mechanism should be established, and the evaluation system should be established.
Last year, the Ministry of Finance launched the supervision and evaluation of national agencies for the first time, changed the previous supervision and inspection to supervision and evaluation, and set supervision and evaluation indicators, which is a useful attempt to optimize agencies.
Yue Xiaochuan agrees with the evaluation, He told reporters: “buyers often have no way to start when choosing an agency, because they don’t understand the service quality of the agency. If they have more objective evaluation results and show the real data, the buyers will have a basis in choosing an agency, and the agency will strive for good development in order to get an excellent result or the opportunity of agency project.”
The second dose of good medicine: cultivate excellent agencies through system design and policy encouragement. Guide agencies to become bigger, stronger, refined and specialized, and build a big brand of “century old store”.
“When the agency has a brand and the brand can play a certain effect, the agency will cherish it in every way, so it won’t ‘misbehave’.” Yue Xiaochuan said.
In addition, Yue Xiaochuan believes that excellent agencies should occupy a larger market share, which is also in line with the market law. Through full market competition, the mature market formed by the survival of the fittest is generally manifested in the “28 phenomenon”, that is, 20% of excellent enterprises occupy 80% of the market share and 80% of enterprises occupy 20% of the market share. This is basically the case in the familiar mobile phone, automobile, computer and other markets. It is hoped that the government procurement agency industry can also produce these 20% excellent enterprises.
The third dose of good medicine: establish an industry organization as soon as possible, and the industry organization will be responsible for the bridge between the government and enterprises, reflecting the difficulties encountered by the agency in the market, and the government will provide relevant help and support to the agency in the industry in time.
In addition, it is suggested that the traditional procurement mode of Xiaochuan should be transformed into the Internet based procurement service mode. Whether according to the current epidemic prevention and control requirements or the newly issued Measures for the management of government procurement demand, the electronic agency is the trend in the future.
In the current context of optimizing the business environment, Yue Xiaochuan believes that “release” and “management” do not conflict, but can not let go and do nothing. Relaxing the qualification conditions of agencies is not equal to zero requirements, and encouraging agencies to develop in the direction of large enterprises is not equal to specifying specific objects.
Only by building a “century old store” can the agency industry prosper.
