Viewpoint | New Deal is coming! The payment of project funds in the field of construction projects in Shandong Province is guaranteed!

Published:

2023-01-04

Recently, in order to strengthen the management of project payment guarantee in the field of construction engineering in Shandong Province, standardize the payment guarantee behavior of construction units, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties in the project construction, and effectively curb the arrears of project payment and the wage behavior of migrant workers, the Department of housing and urban rural development of Shandong Province jointly issued the notice on printing and distributing the implementation measures of project payment guarantee in the field of engineering construction in Shandong Province (Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the measures), effective January 1, 2023! Let's take a look at the new policy of Shandong Province on the guarantee measures for the payment of project funds involved in the field of engineering construction! Guaranteed measures for payment of 1. works 1. The concept of project payment guarantee. The guarantee of payment of the project funds refers to the guarantee issued by the guarantor to the construction unit to the contractor to ensure the timely and full payment of the project funds in order to ensure that the construction unit fulfills the obligation of payment of the project funds stipulated in the construction contract or the general contract of the project. 2. The object of the project payment guarantee. Contractors include general construction contractors, general engineering contractors and professional contractors that directly sign construction or general engineering contracts with construction units. 3. Scope of Project Payment Guarantee The scope of the project payment guarantee includes the project advance payment, progress payment, project settlement balance, including labor costs such as migrant workers' wages, and does not include the project quality deposit. 4. Scope of implementation of project payment guarantee measures For construction projects within the administrative area of Shandong Province with a total contract price (provisional valuation) of more than 3 million yuan and a contract period of more than 3 months, the construction unit shall provide the contractor with a guarantee for the payment of the project funds. Encourage other construction projects to refer to the implementation. Government investment projects can be entrusted to the construction unit, the total contract price of 0.2 billion yuan, can be issued by the financial department of the project funds implementation certificate instead of the project payment guarantee letter. How the 2. provides guarantee measures for the payment of project funds. 1. The construction unit has the right to choose independently. The construction unit independently chooses the guarantor, voluntarily chooses the bank guarantee or the guarantee insurance to provide the guarantee in any form, or it can be replaced by the way of co-management of funds, and the contracting unit may not refuse. If a real estate development enterprise chooses the method of co-management of funds to replace the project payment guarantee, after the project starts to presale, it can use the presale funds in the supervision account to replace the co-management funds, and the real estate development enterprise, the contractor, the presale fund supervision department, and the bank that opened the account shall jointly sign the fund co-management agreement. Or by the opening bank relying on the supervision of the funds in the supervision account, to the contractor to issue an irrevocable bank guarantee to replace the original project payment guarantee. The contents of the fund co-management agreement, bank guarantee or guarantee insurance shall be standardized and legal, and may be in the form of an annex or set up by itself. The fund co-management agreement shall be confirmed and sealed by the construction unit, the contractor and the relevant party, the bank guarantee shall be an irrevocable independent guarantee, and the guarantee insurance clause shall be approved or filed by the insurance supervision and administration department. The bank or insurance institution that provides the project payment guarantee shall be a branch or a bank above the branch that is legally registered in Shandong Province and has obtained the written authorization of the head office to carry out the project guarantee business, or an insurance company that has obtained the qualification license to carry out the construction project guarantee insurance business and is legally registered in Shandong Province, and an insurance branch authorized by the head office. Banks or insurance institutions that provide guarantees for the payment of project funds shall implement a public announcement system, which shall be publicized and announced by the human resources and social security department, the housing and urban-rural construction department, and the banking and insurance supervision department. 2. The terms of the contract should be guaranteed. The project contract shall specify the form, amount and time of payment of the project payment guarantee, and the construction unit shall provide the project payment guarantee to the contractor in accordance with the contract. 3. The duration of the guarantee must be clear The start time of the validity period of the project payment guarantee period shall be the date of the signing of the project contract, and the expiration time of the validity period shall be 30 to 180 days after the completion and settlement of the project settlement. If the project contract cannot continue to be performed due to force majeure, the termination of the contract confirmed by the two parties or the effective judgment document, the construction unit may cancel or cancel the payment guarantee for the project after paying the project payment. 4. The amount of the guarantee is required. Before the completion and settlement of the project, the amount of the project payment guarantee is the amount of the single node project payment agreed in the project contract, and the maximum value is taken when the payment amount of different nodes is inconsistent. The minimum guarantee amount is calculated by progressive method. If the contract price is less than 10 million yuan, the guarantee amount shall not be less than 10% of the contract price. If the contract price is more than 10 million yuan and less than 0.1 billion yuan, the excess of 10 million yuan shall not be less than 5%. If the construction unit requires the contractor to provide a performance guarantee, the amount of the project payment guarantee shall not be less than the amount of the performance guarantee. When the project payment node is determined according to the image progress, the amount of project payment for a single node can be estimated according to the construction area multiplied by the average construction and safety cost of similar construction projects in the local area. 5. Requirements for change of guarantee period and amount Before the expiration of the validity period of the guarantee, if the amount of the guarantee does not conform to the provisions of the Measures due to the claim for the amount of the guarantee, the construction unit shall, within 30 days after the completion of the claim, make up the project payment guarantee in accordance with the provisions of these Measures; If the guarantee period does not meet the requirements due to project delay, settlement or payment delay, the construction unit shall continue to provide the project payment guarantee in accordance with the provisions of these Measures 30 days before the deadline of the original guarantee validity period. If the project cost fluctuates by more than 10% of the contract price due to design changes, construction process changes, material price changes, etc., the project payment guarantee shall be adjusted accordingly. Prohibitive provisions of 3. payment guarantee 1. It is strictly prohibited to pay for the project by non-cash means such as commercial acceptance bills. If a real estate development enterprise uses the presale funds in the supervision account instead of the co-management funds, it shall pay the project funds in strict accordance with the presale funds supervision method, and shall not use non-cash methods such as commercial acceptance bills to pay the project funds. If the real estate development enterprise has not settled the project payment when applying for the termination of the supervision of commercial housing presale funds, it shall continue to provide the guarantee for the payment of the project funds, and the party may lift the supervision of the presale funds. 2. Prohibitive provisions of the subject of security (1) The same bank or insurance institution shall not provide both a payment guarantee for the construction unit and a performance guarantee for the contractor on the same project at the same time. (2) If the construction unit provides a counter-guarantee, the counter-guarantor shall not be the contractor of the construction project or its affiliated enterprises. (3) The contractor may not appoint a specific guarantor and the security interest may not be transferred. The money obtained by the contractor as a result of the guarantee claim shall be used as a priority to pay the wages of migrant workers. Implementation Procedure of 4. Project Payment Guarantee 1. Provision time of new construction If the advance payment provided by the construction unit exceeds 10% (inclusive) of the contract price, it shall provide the contractor with a guarantee for the payment of the project funds within 30 days after obtaining the construction permit or the approval of the commencement report. If the construction unit fails to provide an advance payment or the advance payment is less than 10% of the contract price, it shall provide the contractor with a guarantee for the payment of the project funds after obtaining the construction permit or the approval of the commencement report and before the contractor enters the site. 2. Platform registration regulations After receiving the project payment guarantee certificate provided by the construction unit, the contractor shall upload the "migrant worker wage payment supervision platform" (hereinafter referred to as the "platform") within 7 days, and accurately fill in the project payment node and other information in accordance with the payment cycle agreed in the project contract. After the payment node information is submitted, it shall not be changed by itself. If it is really necessary to change due to project delay and other reasons, an application for change shall be submitted and the change can only be made after being examined and confirmed by the local competent department of the industry. The construction unit may entrust the contractor to upload the "certificate of fund source" to the platform. 3. Receipt confirmation registration After receiving the project progress payment, the contractor shall confirm the receipt on the platform, fill in the collection amount and upload the collection voucher. After the completion of the project settlement, the contractor shall upload the settlement documents and confirm the completion of the settlement. 4. Platform early warning measures According to the information of the project payment node, if the contractor fails to confirm the receipt of the project payment and upload the receipt voucher 30 days overdue, the platform will give an early warning. Local industry authorities shall investigate and deal with the warning information. The guarantor may supervise the performance of the construction contract by the construction unit and the contractor through the supervision platform. 5. Release of security measures After the completion of the project settlement, the project payment is settled, and the contractor issues the project payment settlement certificate, the project payment guarantee is terminated. Where a guarantee for the payment of the project funds is submitted in the form of a bank guarantee or guarantee insurance, the construction unit or the contracting unit shall return the guarantee certificate for the payment of the project funds to the guarantor. 6. Claims procedural measures (1) If the contractor completes the project construction task according to the contract, and the construction unit fails to pay the project payment according to the contract, or the construction unit fails to allocate the labor fee to the special account for migrant workers' wages in full and on time, the contractor may issue a written claim letter and corresponding supporting materials, requiring the guarantor to perform the obligation of compensation. When the contractor intends to claim compensation from the guarantor, it shall inform the construction unit in writing in advance, and the construction unit shall actively cooperate with the contractor to do a good job of the claim. (2) If the construction unit fails to pay the wages of migrant workers in full within the time limit, and the contractor claims for the wages of migrant workers, the bank or insurance institution providing the guarantee shall, within 3 working days after receiving the claim letter, pay the compensation fee to the designated special account for the wages of migrant workers. (3) Within 7 days after the completion of the claim, the contractor shall upload the amount of compensation, the date of payment and other information to the platform and inform the construction unit in writing. After the completion of the contractor's claim, the construction unit shall provide the project payment guarantee in full and in a timely manner in accordance with these Measures, and the contractor shall upload the supplementary guarantee voucher to the platform. To sum up, Shandong Province has issued the "measures", which provides favorable guarantee measures for the payment guarantee of construction funds, which not only standardizes the behavior of construction units to pay project funds, but also protects the legitimate rights and interests of all parties in the project construction, effectively curbs the arrears of project funds and migrant workers' wages, avoids the frequent occurrence of disputes over project payment, and reduces the problem of migrant workers' petitions for wages. It is conducive to maintaining the good development of the field of engineering construction in Shandong Province.

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