The Study On Market-oriented Reforms Of The Qualification Administration System In China’s Engineering Consulting Industry

With the opening-up and development of China’s construction market,engineering consulting industry has emerged in the country,and has been playing an increasingly important role in all phases of construction projects.In order to strengthen the supervision and administration of the industry and maintain market order,the system of qualification administration of consulting enterprises was established by the Chinese government.In this system,the construction authorities examine the general conditions,management level,funds and technical level of the enterprises concerned,define the scope of their operations,and issue corresponding certificates of qualification to ensure the quality of projects.However,with the rapid development of the China’s engineering consulting industry,the limitations of the system are becoming increasingly evident,particularly when the country is in the critical stage of developing “a market system that is unified and open and that allows orderly competition”.First,China’s consulting enterprises are mainly administered based on a wide range of qualifications,including exploration,design,supervision and cost consultation qualifications,which are too narrowly defined and extremely complicated,and therefore not conducive for the growth of the country’s engineering consulting industry.Second,various protection policies formulated by the government and its administrative departments have led to barriers to the industry;large government-backed consulting enterprises undervalue the importance of market competitiveness.These facts strongly suggests that China’s current qualification administrative system is unfit for the new trends in the engineering consulting industry,and is prejudicing to the healthy competition in the industry.Therefore,given China’s basic national conditions,and the indispensability of engineering consulting industry,it is necessary for the country to reform and innovate its qualification administration system for the industry.By combining theory and practice,innovation and viability,this thesis uses normative research and qualitative analysis methods.It is structured as follows:Section 1 presents the basic concepts,evolution and grading standards of the qualification administration system of China’s engineering consulting industry,examines the differences of qualification administration systems between China and other countries,summarizes the advantages of other countries’ systems and explores the feasibility of theirapplications in China.Section 2 discusses the problems existing in China’s qualification administration system,based on an in-depth analysis of the system and its characteristics.Section 3 proposes the use of innovative researches on the market,government and engineering consulting enterprises,and the creation of service quality evaluation systems for consulting enterprises led by engineering consulting associations,in order to promote free and fair competition and optimal allocation of resources,while also helping project owner to choose consulting enterprises than can better meet their needs.Section 4 summarizes the idea of reforming and innovating the qualification administration system of China’s engineering consulting industry.Going forward,deeper discussions should be made on how to maintain enterprises’ technological advantages,expand their talent pool,seek inter-industry cooperation and set up credit evaluation systems,with the aim of further improving the consulting market and achieving optimal allocation of resources.