Chongqing Three Gorges College announced its procurement results in May this year, revealing that a “TP-Link TL-R473G Export Firewall” device was awarded at a high price of up to 850,000 yuan (RMB). However, the same model is priced at only 299 yuan on an e-commerce platform, and the device turned out to be a regular router, not a “firewall”. As a result of this case, several officials including the deputy dean of the college are under investigation.
After a government procurement incident at Chongqing Three Gorges College was exposed, the Joint Investigation Team of the Communist Party of China in Chongqing issued a report on September 6, stating that the bidding unit, Chongqing Hongzheng Company, submitted false materials during the bidding process, bypassing pre-screening with a “commitment system”, erroneously selecting a low-priced router as a firewall device, and falsely copying technical parameters to qualify for the bid. The college was found to have wielded inadequate oversight, leading to the investigation of Wang Mouwei, the deputy dean in charge, Director Lu Mouliang of the Experimental Training Center, and several other relevant staff.
The investigation revealed that during this fraudulent case, Chen Mouyuan and the deputy director in charge at the Chongqing Municipal Government Procurement Center were given warnings. Evaluation experts Wei and Pan were found to have seriously neglected their duties, resulting in their dismissal and being banned from participating in government procurement evaluations again.
A retired professor from Chongqing Normal University, Mr. Li, stated in an interview with the Epoch Times that situations where funds are embezzled through methods like engineering bids, cafeteria bids, and procurement bids are quite common at local universities. He said, “It’s just that this time the incident was exposed by netizens, prompting authorities to intervene and investigate. There are many such incidents; our school’s so-called network security engineering projects are also fraudulent bids for financial gain. The setup of student dormitories is also a cycle of building and dismantling, only to rebuild them again.”
Mr. Li further mentioned, “The investigation and filing of Vice Dean Wang Mouwei from Three Gorges College by the joint investigation team are just the beginning. If the investigation continues, there may be higher-ranking individuals implicated, depending on whether anyone is protecting this Vice Dean Wang Mouwei.”
On May 11, netizens discovered that the winning bid price for the “TP-Link TL-R473G Export Firewall” procured by Chongqing Three Gorges College was 850,000 yuan per unit, as stated in the “Chongqing Three Gorges College Firewall and DNS Equipment Procurement (CQS25A00331) Winning Bid Announcement” released on May 9. However, the same product is sold for only 299 yuan on the TP-Link official flagship store on a certain e-commerce platform. This raised doubts among netizens about the unreasonably high bidding price.
Currently, Hongzheng Company has been fined 9,000 yuan and included in a record of misconduct, prohibiting it from participating in government procurement for three years.
Following the official notification of the incident, it sparked widespread discussion. Many netizens mocked, “This might be the most expensive 299 yuan router worldwide.” Some questioned, “Is spending 850,000 to buy a router a case of having too much money or lax supervision?” Others bluntly stated, “This is not a mistake but a blatant conspiracy.” Some netizens expressed, “Spending 850,000 to learn a lesson is not frightening, what’s scary is doing the same again under a different guise.”
According to Observer Net, there are calls for a comprehensive reform of the government procurement process, establishing transparent and traceable oversight mechanisms to prevent similar issues from recurring.
Zhao Ren, a retired scholar from Sichuan University (pseudonym), stated in an interview that the public has long been extremely disgusted with such corrupt actions by officials. He said, “This investigation by the Chongqing Municipal Government was prompted by public opinion, demonstrating the extreme disappointment and anger of netizens towards systemic corruption.”
Many netizens believe that the behind-the-scenes operations and interest transfers within Communist Party enterprises are not isolated incidents but manifestations of unchecked power. According to a report by Sina Finance, experts suggest the introduction of a third-party independent evaluation mechanism and promoting comprehensive disclosure of procurement information, strengthening price comparison mechanisms to establish effective market constraints and accountability chains.
The case has now entered the accountability stage, with the involved company and several related responsible individuals being dealt with. However, many interviewees believe that solely addressing this case will not dispel public suspicions about the procurement system at universities. A professional in auditing from Sichuan mentioned that such incidents are not isolated cases, and what deserves attention moving forward is how officials under investigation will be held accountable and whether new individuals will be implicated in the future.