Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and four other departments issued a notice requiring the launch of a comprehensive governance campaign in the inspection and testing sector, the deepening of special rectification of construction project quality testing, the acceleration of efforts to resolve prominent existing problems, and the continued promotion of an improved market environment for inspection and testing. At the end of July, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a notice to further clarify specific issues existing in the implementation of the Measures for the Administration of Construction Project Quality Testing and the Qualification Standards for Construction Project Quality Testing Institutions.

Shandong, Jilin, Guangdong and other regions, through carrying out special inspections, optimizing institutional safeguards, and intelligent supervision, have implemented the relevant requirements of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, continuously strengthened the management of construction project quality testing, further standardized construction project quality testing conduct, and ensured construction project quality.

Carrying Out Special Inspections

Special inspections of all responsible entities involved in construction project quality testing can tighten and consolidate responsibilities and standardize industry development. Jiangxi Province decided to carry out special rectification of construction project quality testing throughout the province, inspecting the quality testing conduct of completed and under-construction housing and municipal projects since 2024, mainly inspecting the quality testing conduct of all participating parties such as construction, supervision, executing, and testing units, as well as the performance of regulatory duties by quality supervision institutions, so as to promote the standardized development of the project quality testing industry and effectively safeguard the safety of people's lives and property.

The rectification covers construction units, supervision units, executing units, testing institutions, and project quality supervision institutions. Key inspections include the vertical compressive bearing capacity under the foundation testing category and the pile integrity (low-strain method) testing under the pile integrity testing item; concrete strength (rebound method) testing under the main structure and decoration on-site testing category; and steel reinforcement (including welding and mechanical connections) testing and concrete test block compressive strength testing under the building materials and components testing category.

This inspection follows the principle of "zero tolerance," strictly investigating and dealing with conduct such as fraud in testing activities, unauthorized modification of testing data, and issuance of false testing reports, intensifying administrative penalties, and seriously handling the responsible units and responsible persons in accordance with laws and regulations.

Anhui Province uses an information system to randomly select 20% of testing institutions for inspection from the provincial "Comprehensive Supervision System for During and After Events," inspecting the basic information, enterprise qualifications, internal management, and testing conduct of testing institutions.

At the same time, housing and urban-rural development authorities in all regions of the province are required to focus on strengthening inspections of testing institutions' capacity matching, data authenticity, report accuracy, and technical personnel professionalism, treating these as important levers for ensuring project quality and safeguarding the interests of the people. They are to strengthen supervision of the daily testing conduct of out-of-province institutions entering Anhui and of local branch institutions within their jurisdictions, and, in light of actual conditions, actively explore and innovate supervision methods to improve supervision effectiveness, such as carrying out inter-regional mutual inspections and joint departmental inspections. Based on inspection results, differentiated supervision of testing institutions is to be implemented, and credit management and other means are to be used to create an honest and trustworthy testing market environment. Testing institutions with standardized testing conduct, advanced testing technology, and a sound quality control system are to be given positive incentives in accordance with the law; testing institutions that engage in illegal and non-compliant conduct such as forging testing data or issuing false testing reports are to be ordered in accordance with the law to suspend business for rectification, suspend acceptance of new testing business, and be entered into the "During and After Events Supervision System" and disclosed to the public as required.

Optimizing Institutional Safeguards

In its notice on issues concerning the implementation of the Measures for the Administration of Construction Project Quality Testing and the Qualification Standards for Construction Project Quality Testing Institutions, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development proposed strengthening testing qualification management and testing activity management. Jilin Province continuously optimizes the qualification application process, requiring that applications for testing institution qualifications submit relevant materials to the provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development through the Jilin Province Construction Market Supervision Public Service Platform. For handling additional qualification items, it is only necessary to provide the construction project quality testing institution qualification application form, a list of registered personnel, a list of technical personnel, and relevant materials on changes in main instruments and equipment and their verification.

Regarding testing activity management, Guangdong Province proposes that those engaged in construction project quality testing activities shall comply with relevant laws, regulations, and standards. Technical personnel of testing institutions shall possess the corresponding construction project quality testing knowledge and professional competence, and may engage in testing activities only after training and professional competence evaluation by the testing institution. For enterprises and public institutions with independent legal personality, the same technical personnel and registered personnel may not exceed 2 special qualifications in the recognition of testing special qualifications; for partnerships established in accordance with the law, the same technical personnel and registered personnel may not exceed 3 special qualifications in the recognition of testing special qualifications. It is emphasized that testing institutions may not subcontract testing items or illegally subcontract them to other units. For testing business related to individual optional parameters where testing equipment is expensive or utilization is low, with the consent of the commissioning party, it may be subcontracted to other testing institutions with the requisite qualifications. In addition, new requirements are set for testing industry associations (societies), which should strengthen industry self-discipline, establish and improve the integrity system of the testing industry, formulate industry self-discipline conventions, guide operators in the industry to compete in accordance with the law, and maintain market order. Industry associations (societies) may, according to member needs and market demand, carry out testing personnel training in a market-oriented manner; and undertake commissions from relevant parties to participate in activities such as calculating the testing costs of various testing items.

Strengthening Intelligent Means

With the in-depth application of internet information technology, intelligent supervision means have also made project quality testing supervision more efficient.

Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, has made clear that housing and urban-rural development administrative departments of all districts (cities) and counties and the municipal quality supervision station should guide relevant responsible entities and testing institutions of housing construction and municipal infrastructure projects (including rail transit projects) to implement witnessed sampling and entity testing through the "Construction Project Quality Testing Supervision System." Testing reports are to be issued in accordance with the law through the platform and used as project quality acceptance materials.

Among these, for ready-mixed concrete specimen management, executing units are guided to install cameras at construction sites that can clearly record the process of sampling and making concrete test blocks, and the cameras should be networked with the "Chengdu Smart Construction Site System." Testing institutions upload key data from concrete specimen tests (test time and pressure values) in real time to the "Construction Project Quality Testing Supervision System."

In addition, a combination of "online + offline" spot checks is adopted to urge construction, executing, and supervision units and testing institutions to earnestly implement the requirements. For relevant responsible entities found in spot checks to have inadequately implemented relevant requirements, made ineffective rectification, or refused rectification, measures such as interviews, orders to rectify within a time limit, and circulation of notices are to be taken in accordance with the law and actual conditions.

Siyang County, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, has installed and used video surveillance systems in the testing sites of multiple testing enterprises, displayed in real time on a high-definition large screen at the construction project quality testing service center, with video surveillance covering the entire process of sample transfer and testing. Staff at the construction project quality testing service center conduct real-time supervision of the testing process through remote monitoring, capture non-compliant testing conduct and provide timely feedback, better realizing intelligent supervision of construction project quality testing institutions, effectively combating violations in project quality testing, and standardizing construction project quality testing conduct.

Through the "Internet + supervision" approach, Siyang County has strengthened supervision of testing institutions' testing conduct and seriously warned of and dealt with illegal and non-compliant conduct such as false testing and non-standard testing. At the same time, in response to weak links in supervision, it has further improved relevant supervision mechanisms to effectively standardize project quality testing conduct.