Since July, the continuous high temperature has swept through most of China, and the sales volume of air conditioners has doubled. In line with the consumer market, the government air-conditioner procurement market has also ushered in the purchasing season. According to the incomplete statistics of the Government Procurement Information, in July, there were more than 400 air-conditioning procurement projects nationwide, and the procurement scale was as high as RMB 7.18 million, which is a 28% increase from the previous month and a 23% increase from the same period last year. 

 

Air-conditioner Bulk Purchase Ushers In a Harvest Season 

 

With the large-scale centralized bulk procurement of civil air-conditioners and the increase in leasing projects, the pace of the central air-conditioner procurement has gradually slowed down. In July, the proportion of central air-conditioner purchases fell to 60%, while the civil air conditioner purchases rose to 30%. 

 

In July, the three major air-conditioner bulk procurement projects came together, each with its own characteristics. The fifth air-conditioner bulk procurement project of the central state organs in 2017 adopts a competitive negotiation procurement method, where   secondary quotation can be offered, and the quotation is linked to the agreed supply price. The purchase amount of the third-phase air-conditioner bulk procurement project at the provincial level in Guangdong Province in 2017 reached as high as RMB 17.6105 million, including 4192 wall-mounted air conditioners, 2615 cabinet air conditioners and embedded air conditioners. Suppliers can participate in bidding for one or more sub-groups. Each sub-group independently recommends winning bidders, and repeated bid winning is forbidden. In the third quarter of 2017, the air-conditioner bulk purchase project of the autonomous region in the third quarter of the year included six sub-contracts. Each sub-contract allowed three suppliers to win the bid, and the purchasing unit could select one of them as a supplier according to demand and service. 

 

 School Air-conditioner Purchase Exceeds Half of the Total Purchase Amount 

 

For most schools, summer vacation means entering a small peak in procurement. Statistics show that in July, the schools’ air-conditioner procurement scale was about RMB 390 million, accounting for more than 50%, topping the procurement list; government agencies ranked second in air-conditioner procurement, accounting for 25%; hospitals and other market segments tied for third place, accounting for 12% each. It can be seen that the two major market segments of schools and offices are still the mainstay of the air-conditioner procurement market. However, with the emergence of major projects such as real estate, the pattern of diversified coexistence emerged, dominated by schools.

 

Generally speaking, most student apartments use residential air-conditioners, and the most teaching buildings use central air-conditioners. In addition to purchasing and renting air conditioners for student apartments, the heads of schools are also installing air conditioners for classrooms such as school libraries, teaching buildings, and experimental buildings. The purchasing units include higher education institutions, secondary schools, vocational schools, primary schools and kindergartens.

 

With the number of high-temperature days in summer increasing year by year, students’ demand for air-conditioners is growing. For some schools with insufficient budgets, the “social leasing service of air-conditioners” is undoubtedly the best solution to improve students' living environment. Basically, the longer the lease period, the less rent. In July, 20 air-conditioner rental projects were completed, mainly from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. There student apartments in more than ten middle schools in Guangdong and Maoming have intensive procurement, which is relatively rare. The maximum budget for a single project is more than RMB 10 million. Seen from the bid-wining announcement, the lease period is 12 years, that is, 24 semesters.

 

In order to promote the balanced development of urban and rural education, new schools are being built, renovated and expanded to solve the practical problems of the “big class” that is more prominent in the county. One of the large-scale construction projects in Gaotang County of Shandong Province is to purchase and install central air-conditioners for the first and second phase of the Foreign Languages School and the Second Experimental Middle School. The entire project cost RMB 17.48 million. In order to ensure the quality, the project emphasizes that bidders who have fake qualifications or sub-contracting behaviors will be blacklisted and not allowed to participate in the procurement project in Gaotang within three years, and their performance bond or quotation deposit will be confiscated. Besides, a notice of such illegal behaviors will be circulated. 

 

For government agencies, most of split-type air-conditioner bulk purchases can meet the daily office needs of old buildings, and some new projects require central air-conditioning. The procurement of central air-conditioning projects that worth tens of millions of Yuan is usually full of twists and turns. For example, in the central air-conditioning system equipment and installation service procurement project of Quangang District Administrative Management Center of Quanzhou City of Fujian Province, the project was first tendered on June 9, and the Q & A related to the content of the procurement document was conducted on June 23; however, it was announced on June 30 to scrap the tender. The tender was re-launched again on July 7, during which two notices were issued to partially amend the content of the Procurement Document and specify the energy conservation list. 

 

In terms of purchasers, the administrative management center, the court, the public security bureau, the local tax bureau and other units have more demand for air-conditioner procurement. For example, the central air-conditioning project of the Intermediate People's Court of Guizhou Province, the office of precision air conditioning and fresh air system of the Office of the People's Procuratorate of Maoming City, Guangdong Province, and the central air-conditioning mainframe and supporting installation project of the Local Taxation Bureau of Shantou City, Guangdong Province.

 

Different from other projects, the Minsheng Project 2017 Beijing Vegetable Basket Community Chain Fresh Food Store Construction Project focuses on solving the problems of food safety, inconvenient food purchase and poor shopping environment that have long plagued residents, and spent nearly RMB 10 billion on development and construction. In July, air-conditioning equipment procurement, installation and debugging were carried out for 500 outlets. The bidders were required to have been set up for more than 5 years, and they had the ability to produce or sell, install and provide after-sales service for air-conditioning equipment. Finally, a supplier in Beijing won the bid. 

 

Fujian Takes the Lead 

 

In July, South China, North China, Southwest China and Central China perform well. According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, the air-conditioner procurement scale of 14 key areas exceeded RMB 10 million, of which Fujian topped the list with RMB 89.12 million, Guangdong ranks second with RMB 88.84 million, and Beijing and Henan ranked third and fourth respectively with RMB 63.89 million and RMB 61.7 million. 

 

As a traditional province for air-conditioner procurement, Fujian often has important projects. In July, a total of RMB 20 million projects were completed, one of which was the “monthly bid king” Wuyuanwan 2013 P03 plot air-conditioner procurement project, which made up for the shortage of the number of projects.

 

In July, there were more than 50 air-conditioner procurement projects in Guangdong, and the provincial-level bulk procurement project with a purchase amount of MRB 17.61 million ranks the first. Other office and school air-conditioner projects have equal shares. The government agencies come from all over the province, such as the Xinyi People's Court, Zhanjiang Science and Technology Bureau, and Shantou Local Taxation Bureau of Guangdong Province. For schools, the air-conditioner project mainly involve air-conditioner lease of secondary school student dormitories.

 

Hunan and Sichuan are both worth mentioning. In July, air-conditioner purchases in schools and hospitals in Sichuan were extremely active. Among them, the University of Electronic Science and Technology and Sichuan University each completed a project of RMB 5 million. The Suining Central Hospital of Sichuan Province and the Lizhou District TCM Hospital of Guangyuan City of Sichuan Province each completed a RMB 3 million project. Schools in Hunan also perform well. The bid price for student apartment air-conditioner project of Hunan Engineering College was RMB 6.79 million.