PLA bans 4 Chinese universities from procurement process over bid-rigging
Three of China’s ‘seven sons of national defence’ receive bans ranging from two years to ‘permanent’ amid Beijing’s anti-corruption drive
The PLA has banned four leading Chinese universities from tendering for military projects, accusing them of bid-rigging, as Beijing presses on with its anti-corruption drive in the armed forces.
The procurement website of the People’s Liberation Army, the biggest defence purchasing platform open to the public, released four notices on Sunday accusing the universities of colluding on bids for the same project.
According to the notices, the universities rigged their bids for a project for engineering simulation analysis and a data-driven intelligent algorithm. They will be banned from taking part in military procurement within the jurisdiction of the Central Theatre Command for varying periods from November 16, pending an appeals process.
Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) received a permanent ban, Beijing Jiaotong University was banned from bidding for two years, and Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and Harbin Engineering University (HEU) were banned for three years.
All four were accused of “bid-rigging”, with BIT also accused of “transferring benefits during the bidding process”.
BIT, HIT and HEU are three of China’s so-called seven sons of national defence and deeply embedded in China’s defence industry. They have been repeatedly included on Washington’s sanctions “entity list”.