In order to comprehensively inspect the performance of the gas company's franchise agreement, a city's Gas Management Office commissioned a consulting company to carry out the mid-term assessment of the gas franchise project. By evaluating and mastering the actual situation of pi

To comprehensively inspect the performance of the gas company's franchise agreement, a city's Gas Management Office commissioned a consulting company to carry out the mid-term assessment of the gas franchise project. By evaluating and mastering the actual situation of pipeline gas operation within the gas franchise area, investigating the advantages and shortcomings of the gas company in operation and management, and putting forward rectification opinions and suggestions on the shortcomings, continuously optimizing and improving, and providing high-quality public product services to the public.

- Project Interim Assessment Background

In 2004, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the " Municipal Public Utilities Franchise Management Measures " (Ministry of Construction Order No. 126), which clearly stipulates: "In the process of project operation, the competent department shall organize experts to conduct an interim assessment of the business conditions of enterprises that have obtained the franchise rights." In 2007, the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of a certain province took the lead in issuing the "Medium-term Assessment System for Municipal Public Utilities Franchise in a certain province", further clarifying the specific principles, content and methods of the interim assessment work.

In May 2012, a municipal government authorized the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to sign a franchise agreement with a gas company, with the franchise period of 25 years. The interim evaluation period for a gas company is from January 2019 to December 2021. Since the franchise project takes the franchise agreement signed by government and enterprise as the starting point, during the 25-year franchise period of Gas in a certain city, the terms of the agreement on the rights and obligations of both parties, the rationality of risk allocation and the integrity of the agreement itself are crucial to the continuous implementation of both parties.

Therefore, the consulting team traced the origin, evaluated the implementation of key terms of the franchise agreement, and put forward clear suggestions for adjustment and improvement. The focus of this assessment is on comprehensive evaluation of the investment, construction and development of a gas company, implementation of basic construction procedures, corporate financial status, product and service quality, operation management and control, and corporate culture. At the same time, as the administrative supervisor, the government's supervision of franchise enterprises also affects the quality of project implementation. This mid-term evaluation team evaluated and analyzed the three aspects of franchise agreement, franchise enterprises and government supervision, and objectively reflected the current operating status of the franchise of a gas company in a certain city.

2 6Franchise enterprise evaluation

The evaluation of franchise enterprises mainly evaluates and analyzes six aspects: investment, construction and development, basic construction program execution, corporate financial status, product and service quality, operation management and control, and corporate culture. The analysis data comes from the information provided by the gas company to the project team.

01 Investment and development

Consulting project team mainly evaluates the cooperation between the construction investment and government planning of gas companies in a certain city, combined with interviews with the engineering construction management department of gas companies in a certain city, the cooperation between the construction investment and government planning of gas companies in a certain city is evaluated. The evaluation results are as follows:

1. Basically complies with the government planning requirements

During the evaluation period, the investment, construction and development work of a gas company in a certain city basically complies with the requirements of the "Gas Professional Plan for a certain city". The project that requires the renewal and transformation in 2022 is currently under construction and implementation.

2. Basically meets the needs of urban construction and user development

During the evaluation period, the user development speed of a certain city's gas company was stable, and construction investment basically met the needs of urban construction and user development.

3. The internal construction plan of the company is relatively advanced and has high requirements, but the completion rate is not high

There is still a certain gap in the investment and construction progress of a gas company in a certain city during the evaluation period compared with the relevant plan data formulated by the company and submitted to the government departments. The main reason is that the preliminary work involved in the construction project during the evaluation period is relatively complicated and the coordination work is difficult.

02 Construction procedures and construction management

The implementation of the basic construction program of the franchise enterprise and the management quality of its own construction management system directly affect the quality of the project construction. The project team mainly analyzes and evaluates the basic construction procedures and construction management of the gas company in urban pipeline gas construction and transformation work, and the analysis indicators are as follows:

Table 1 Basic construction program and construction management indicators

According to the research and analysis of the project team, the evaluation results of the work of a gas company in the basic construction procedures and construction management system of a certain city are as follows:

1. The implementation of the basic construction procedures is insufficient

During the evaluation period, a certain city gas company had defects in project bidding, construction permit, drawing review, quality supervision, and completion acceptance filing. It is recommended that a certain city’s gas company further improves its initiative in administrative license application and actively connect with the construction authorities to supervise basic construction procedures.

2. The internal construction management system is relatively complete.

During the evaluation period, a certain city's gas company made positive efforts in improving the internal engineering construction management of the enterprise. From the perspective of management systems, management behaviors and management results, it achieved the due management goals.

3. The safety evaluation work did not carry out the

evaluation period, a certain city's gas company did not implement the safety evaluation work of gas engineering facilities in accordance with the requirements of relevant laws, regulations and policies. It is recommended that a certain city’s gas company conduct relevant safety evaluation work as soon as possible based on its actual situation.

4. The price mechanism for the installation and operation business is defective.

During the evaluation period, the price settlement method and basis of the industrial and commercial users of a gas company in a certain city did not register and publicize it with the price department in accordance with the requirements of the franchise agreement. It is recommended that the Municipal Price Bureau and a gas company in a certain city actively improve the relevant working mechanism according to the requirements of the franchise agreement.

03 Enterprise Financial Analysis

Conducting financial analysis of a gas company in a certain city is mainly based on the audited financial reports and financial management systems obtained from a certain city gas company. Combined with interviews with staff of the financial department of a certain city gas company, the evaluation indicators shown in Table 2 are evaluated and the current operating status of the company during the operation of the evaluation period is reflected, providing a reference for improving the company's business management work.

Table 2 Enterprise financial indicators

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Profit analysis

number	first-level indicator	second-level indicator	second-level indicator
1	Financial system	Financial system	Financial system situation	Financial management and control system
2	Asset funds changes	Total assets change	Fixed asset investment
Cash flow Add to decrease	——
3 html l15	Financial ratio	debt repayment ability	operating capacity
4	profitability	product price and service charge
Revenue analysis	——
5	Enterprise cost	Main business cost	period fee
Other business costs	——
6	Related transactions 5	related transactions	——
7	safety production costs	safety production costs	——

According to the research and analysis, the corporate financial analysis and evaluation of a gas company in a certain city is as follows:

1. The financial management system and system are basically sound

During the evaluation period, a gas company in a certain city further improved the financial system, standardized financial accounting, improved work efficiency, and was conducive to the rationalization of corporate financial behavior.

2. Financial status is stable and profitable

Through the analysis of the financial ratio of a gas company in a certain city, it can be seen that the financial status of a gas company in a certain city is stable and the profitability level is high during the evaluation period.

3. Related transactions are not regulated

During the evaluation period, a certain city gas company had more related transactions with its affiliates, which caused certain obstacles and deviations to the government's cost supervision and audit. It is recommended that a gas company in a certain city should establish a filing system for related transactions.

4. Safety production costs are not extracted as required

A certain city gas company has not yet withdrawn safety production costs in accordance with relevant national regulations and standards. It is recommended that a certain city gas company implements a safety production cost extraction system, strengthens the company's safety production cost management, and establish a long-term mechanism for the company's safety production investment.

04 Product quality and service

According to the provisions of the " Urban Gas Management Regulations ", the state implements a license system for gas operations. A gas company in a certain city has obtained a "Gas Business License" issued by the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission, which complies with the relevant provisions of the "Urban Gas Management Regulations".During this evaluation, the project team analyzed the natural gas products and service quality of a gas company in a certain city through personnel interviews and on-site inspections in the service hall from three aspects: product quality, gas source guarantee, and service quality. The analysis indicators are as follows:

Table 3 Product and service quality indicators

Satisfaction Survey

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Hotline Center

According to the research and analysis of the project team, the evaluation results of the work of in product and service quality of a certain city gas company are as follows:

1. Product quality and supply guarantee basically meet the requirements

During the evaluation period, the product quality and supply guarantee of a certain city gas company basically meet the requirements. It is recommended to further optimize the number and layout of monitoring points and strengthen the monitoring of gas temperament.

2. Make active efforts to ensure winter supply

During the evaluation period, although the gas storage and peak shaving capacity in the early stage was insufficient, a gas company in a certain city did not hesitate to invest and actively strive for winter gas sources and continuously strengthened the management of winter supply guarantee period. Through four years of efforts, the construction of the second phase of the LNG storage and distribution station was finally completed, providing effective guarantee for the natural gas supply in the franchise area.

3. Service quality has been unanimously praised

During the evaluation period, a gas company in a certain city adhered to the customer service culture of "customer first", continuously improved customer service quality, increased customer service investment, and continuously improved the service brand image of a gas company in a certain city, which won unanimously praise from users.

4. There are defects in user contract signing

During the evaluation period, the popularization of user gas supply contract signing of gas companies in a certain city was not actively carried out, and a large number of old users still have not signed gas supply contracts.

5. The maintenance personnel configuration is relatively insufficient

During the evaluation period, the maintenance personnel configuration of a gas company in a certain city could not meet the requirements of service commitments. It is recommended that a gas company in a certain city actively study and adjust the configuration and area division of maintenance personnel to better practice service commitments.

6. There is a dispute over the related sales of instrument sales

The sales business of a gas company in a certain city has certain conflicts with the provisions of the "Gas Management Regulations of a certain province". During the sales process of instruments, there were also customer conflicts caused by the correlation of natural gas business. A gas company in a certain city should improve self-discipline in this work to ensure users' independent choice and freedom of the instrument market transaction.

05 Operation Management and Control

Project team conducted a detailed investigation on various operation management and control work of a gas company in a certain city through three aspects: operation management, production operation management, safety assurance and emergency mechanism. From the basic systems, technical procedures, implementation records of various work, and related records and inspection records, the operation management and control work of a gas company in a certain city meets the requirements of relevant specifications and systems. The evaluation indicators are as follows.

Table 4 Operation management and control indicators

According to the research and analysis of the project team, the evaluation results of the gas company in operation management and control work in a certain city are as follows:

1. Operation management and control work complies with the requirements of relevant technical regulations and production systems

The production and operation management of a certain city is strictly implemented in accordance with relevant regulations and systems, and the production operation management technology and mechanism are becoming increasingly perfect.

2. We must increase the promotion of distributed energy

During the evaluation period, the promotion of distributed energy of a certain city gas company has achieved certain results, but it is still necessary to achieve breakthrough development. A gas company in a certain city should increase its efforts in the promotion of distributed energy.

3 and security management system has been effectively developed

During the evaluation period, the safety management system of a gas company in a certain city is becoming more and more perfect. However, at present, the implementation of some safety management systems of gas companies in a certain city is not in place.

4. Optimize the coordination mechanism between internal control departments and production and operation departments

During the evaluation period, the internal control departments of the gas company in a certain city strengthened the internal control management of the operations of various business departments, effectively improving the company's management level and management efficiency. However, the cooperation and coordination mechanism between the internal control departments and the production and operation departments still needs to be further optimized.

06 Corporate Culture

The evaluation of corporate culture is mainly carried out from the aspects of corporate culture concepts, business vision, human resources culture, cultural activities, etc. According to the research and analysis of the project team, the evaluation results are as follows:

1. Cultural integration promotes the improvement of the production and management level of enterprises

A certain city gas company's four typical cultural characteristics: "customer-oriented", "public welfare service" and "people-oriented" originated from the continuous integration of the two cultures of joint venture . A certain city gas company absorbed the strengths of the two cultures, formed the complementarity of China and Hong Kong cultures, and effectively promoted the improvement of the production, service and management level of enterprises.

2. Corporate culture should further adapt to market development

A certain city gas company continuously strengthens internal control and the establishment of a power and responsibility system during the evaluation period, and continuously improves the efficiency of production and operation. According to the interviews of the project team, during the evaluation period, the salary advantages of a gas company in a certain city gradually decreased in the industry, and the cost control in a certain city is becoming increasingly strict, and a series of internal and external reforms are being carried out with the goal of improving efficiency and benefits.

3 Franchise Agreement Evaluation

The "Pipe Gas Franchise Agreement of a City" signed by a gas company in a certain city and a city's housing and construction bureau in 2012. Generally speaking, the content of the agreement is standardized and easy to implement. However, the franchise agreement has a long agreed time, and all factors are in dynamic development. In addition, as the national gas supply industry policies and regulations and new policies and regulations continue to put forward new requirements for the franchise in the pipeline gas industry, the project team made suggestions on what needs to be supplemented in the agreement:

01 Improve insurance-related content

The franchise agreement does not stipulate the insurance content, and it is recommended to add relevant clauses, requiring a gas company in a certain city to purchase and maintain various types of insurance in full in accordance with the legal requirements and the practices in the same industry during the franchise period.

02 Improve the content related to temporary takeover

During the implementation of utility franchise, when the public interests suffer or face significant damage, regulators have the right to take temporary takeover measures to ensure the continuity and stability of utility operations. This agreement stipulates the circumstances of temporary takeover, but lacks corresponding detailed provisions on the procedures for temporary takeover.

03 Improve the corresponding terms of asset transfer

The franchise agreement signed before

does not involve maintenance before asset transfer and guarantee of defect liability. It is recommended that the municipal gas industry authorities and a certain municipal gas company improve this content.

04 Improve the terms of franchise fees

The main purpose of franchise fees is the direct and indirect expenditure incurred by the construction authorities on the supervision of franchise enterprises, and retain a certain proportion of certain special expenditures, such as the expenses spent in the interim assessment of franchise operations, which are dedicated to the special funds. The franchise agreement does not include the collection standards and methods of franchise fees, the management methods and uses of the funds of operating fees.

suggests that the agreement adds a franchise fee based on gas sales per year for gas companies in a certain city. The rate of collection of franchise fees is not static. The municipal gas industry authorities and a municipal gas company can jointly evaluate the rate of collection of franchise fees every few years to make the proportion in line with the current development status of the city's gas industry and the operation status of the enterprise, and maintain a reasonable level.

05 Improve the public welfare director or supervisor system

"Public welfare director or supervisor system for urban public utility in a certain province" stipulates: "The system of public welfare director or supervisor system for urban public utilities should be clearly established in the franchise agreement", "Urban water supply, gas supply (pipeline gas) and public transportation and other franchise enterprises should appoint public welfare directors to the board of directors of the enterprise and assume the responsibility of safeguarding social public interests on behalf of the competent department." Therefore, in pipeline gas franchise projects in a certain province, a public welfare director system should be established.

06 Improve the public participation supervision system

According to the provisions of the "Public Participation Supervision System for Municipal Public Utilities in a Cities", franchise projects should respect the public's right to know and encourage the public to participate in supervision and accept public supervision. Compared with the franchise agreement, the content of the agreement is relatively lacking in the public participation supervision system. During the implementation of the franchise, public participation in supervision work is also relatively weak. Therefore, it is recommended that the parties to the agreement agree on the disclosure system in the agreement, including the disclosed information content, disclosure period, form and channel, etc.

07 Improve the mid-term assessment system for franchise

"Regulations on the Management of Municipal Public Utilities Franchise" and the "Interim Assessment System for Municipal Public Utilities Franchise in a certain province" formulated by the Construction Department of a certain province stipulate that the franchise agreement should clarify the mid-term assessment plan. In view of the implementation of this system, it is recommended that the Municipal Gas Management Office and a certain city gas company supplement the interim assessment plan in the franchise agreement.

4 Government supervision evaluation

01 Basic content of government supervision

The government supervision system for urban pipeline gas industry franchising mainly includes six aspects: market order supervision, engineering construction supervision, operating conditions supervision, operating cost supervision, asset safety supervision and information release supervision.

From the perspective of regulatory organization, generally under the unified coordination of the municipal government, each relevant department shall carry out corresponding regulatory work in accordance with its respective functions. The regulatory functional departments involved in this assessment include: Municipal Gas Management Office, Municipal Construction Engineering Trading Center, Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, Municipal Planning Bureau, Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Price Bureau, Municipal Fire Bureau, Municipal Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau, etc., and also involves production safety supervision departments, industrial and commercial departments, transportation departments, etc.

02 Evaluation of government supervision work

1. It is difficult for the overall coordination of the industry authorities as the responsible party for supervision

Municipal Public Utilities service responsible party is the municipal people's government, and a city's gas management office is the municipal public department that assumes the responsibility for urban natural gas services on behalf of the municipal government. Once urban gas services fail and problems occur, the municipal public sector is the first to assume responsibility on behalf of the government. Although the scope of supervision involved in the gas management office of a certain city is limited, the responsibilities actually bear much wider.

Although the Municipal Gas Management Office does not have the rights and capabilities for other professional supervision, from the perspective of the responsibilities of the industry competent departments, it is necessary to coordinate relevant professional supervision departments to strengthen supervision of gas companies in a certain city. Therefore, the allocation of rights and responsibilities of the industry competent departments is the key to determining regulatory capabilities. At present, it is difficult for the Municipal Gas Management Office to coordinate supervision of gas companies in a certain city with relevant professional regulatory departments, and it is difficult to carry out without the policy guidance of a unified superior government department.

2. The supervision coverage of relevant departments of the construction supervision system is insufficient

In the engineering construction supervision system for a gas company in a certain city involves the planning bureau of a certain city, the municipal administration office of a certain city, the traffic management bureau of a certain city, the transportation management bureau of the municipal public security bureau, and the housing and construction bureaus of various districts and other relevant departments. According to the analysis of the investigation, some relevant departments still have insufficient supervision coverage of gas companies in a certain city. On the one hand, the enthusiasm for applying for administrative licenses for gas companies in a certain city is insufficient. On the other hand, the personnel allocation, supervision means and supervision capabilities of various professional supervision departments also need to be further improved.

3. The awareness of government-enterprise cooperation has gradually strengthened

The existence of universal responsibility for municipal public services has made the supervision responsibility of a certain city's gas management office actually exceed the operational responsibility of the franchise enterprise. In fact, the government's municipal public administration department transferred part of the service responsibility to the franchise enterprise through the franchise agreement. Therefore, strengthening supervision with the idea of franchise is necessary to strengthen cooperation between the government and franchise enterprises.

03 Government supervision improvement suggestions

1, government supervision organization mechanism

In most areas in my country where public utilities franchise are implemented, the government supervision mechanism is supervised by a department of the competent bureau or its second-level units. This is far from enough. Instead, under the unified leadership of the municipal government, government departments, relevant functional departments, social organizations (social public opinion), etc., should jointly form a coordinated and consistent supervision system to provide organizational guarantees for the implementation of franchise. We suggest that the following aspects of supervision of gas companies in a certain city should be strengthened:

(1) Continuously strengthen the awareness and attention of municipal government leaders on pipeline natural gas franchise projects. It is best to strengthen supervision of pipeline gas franchise enterprises under the unified coordination of the municipal government;

(2) Relevant functional departments strengthen horizontal contacts, fully perform their functions in the project, and various departments can form a fixed communication mechanism to conduct comprehensive supervision of enterprises;

(3) Strengthen contact with the news media, timely announce important news about pipeline natural gas franchise projects to the public, and promote the entire society's understanding and concern for public utility franchise projects.

2, government supervision content and methods

According to the above analysis, the government supervision content mainly includes six aspects. At present, the overall supervision work focuses on the operating conditions of enterprises, including security supervision, and the content of supervision needs to be further improved and enriched. On the other hand, all regulatory functional departments should continuously improve the normativeness and supervision level of supervision in accordance with relevant national laws and regulations and the requirements of the nine systems for provincial and municipal public utilities supervision.

3. From the implementation of government supervision

In some cases, the lack of government supervision content comes from the insufficient supervision stance. The lack of strength is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is hardware equipment and the other is software support.

(1) From the perspective of hardware equipment, the Municipal Gas Management Office needs to be equipped with an information sharing platform to understand the company's situation more directly and efficiently and improve its supervision capabilities;

(2) All relevant functional departments need to further strengthen their understanding of the importance of supervision work for pipeline gas franchise enterprises. In the arrangement of supervisors, we need to pay attention to introducing professional talents, strengthen supervisors' awareness of the importance of supervision and professional learning, continuously improve the professional level of supervisors, and improve the supervision and law enforcement team.

5 Conclusion

The mid-term evaluation work is in line with the national regulatory requirements for franchise projects, and is of great significance in promoting the standardized and healthy development of franchise projects, improving the quality and efficiency of public products and services provision, and improving the government supervision system for franchise operations.

This interim evaluation is a comprehensive evaluation of the gas franchise situation in a certain city. Through the interim evaluation work, the government has fully understood the real situation of the engineering construction, operation management, finance, corporate culture, etc. of the franchise enterprises, and learned about the public's views, attitudes and expectations for the franchise enterprises, and pointed out the direction for the next step of supervision. At the same time, through this assessment, the supervision methods, scope of supervision, and intensity of franchise enterprises have been clarified, which will help further improve the government's supervision system for municipal public utilities and better promote and regulate the development of municipal public utilities franchise in a certain city.