On The Legal System Of Public Procurement For Innovation

The construction of a Scientific and Technological Powerhouse is in full swing,and the voice of public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation is rising.Scientific and technological innovation is related to national interests and social public interests.Public procurement,as a financial expenditure,is expected to promote scientific and technological innovation.The expansion of procurement scale also provides the possibility to support scientific and technological innovation.The support of public procurement for scientific and technological innovation has distinctive publicity,policy and preference.The provision of preferential treatment can be regarded as an exception to the principle of fair competition,and is a necessary choice to implement the legislative purpose clause of the Public Procurement Law ——to safeguard national interests and social public interest.Since 2005,when the State Council issued the National Program for Medium-to-Long-Term Scientific and Technological Development(2006-2020),which requires the implementation of public procurement to promote selfdependent innovation,China’s legal system of public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation has gone through three stages: initial creation,silence and restart.On July,2022,the Ministry of Finance issued the "Public Procurement Law(Revised Draft for Comments)",which officially launched the blueprint for the reform of China’s legal system of public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation.By reviewing the existing legal texts and the relevant provisions of the Draft for Comments on China’s public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation,it can be found that the legal system of China’s public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation has problems such as non-standard identification of innovative products,unscientific determination of procurement needs,inappropriate procurement methods and innovative activities,unreasonable evaluation preferences and performance support,and imperfect incentive and restraint mechanisms for purchasers.Looking at the major developed countries in the world,after joining the Government Procurement Agreement,they actively adjusted their domestic laws to make them consistent with the Government Procurement Agreement,and formed a series of effective experiences and practices in public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation,especially the practices of the United States,the United Kingdom and Germany.In summary,the main experience of the legal system of foreign government procurement supporting scientific and technological innovation includes the use of multiple support models,the full use of the rules of the Government Procurement Agreement and the focus on the protection of suppliers’ rights and interests.According to the mature experience of foreign countries and following the international rules of the Government Procurement Agreement,China should establish a legal system of public procurement to support scientific and technological innovation covering the whole process of innovation,that is,firstly,give priority to the procurement of existing innovative products;secondly,if the existing products in the market cannot meet the needs,the purchaser shall order innovative products;thirdly,procurement of R&D services.Formally,China should speed up the revision of the Public Procurement Law,and formulate the Administrative Measures for the Identification of Innovative Products and the Administrative Measures for Public Procurement to Support Scientific and Technological Innovation;In terms of content,China should continue to optimize the identification of innovative products,enrich the rules for determining procurement needs,explore procurement methods suitable for innovative activities,improve the support measures for review and performance,and improve the incentive and restraint mechanism for policy implementation.