Cabinet Blacklists Contractors Who Abandon Work Projects

The Cabinet has approved a new ministerial regulation to strengthen public procurement standards and hold contractors accountable for construction work causing serious damage to public life and property. Contractors will be blacklisted as project abandoners and barred from bidding on state work for 2 to 10 years, aiming to filter out low-quality operators, reduce recurring state project problems, and boost transparency in public budget use. Government spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek revealed that the Cabinet approved the draft regulation on project abandonment as proposed by the Finance Ministry to improve procurement standards, increase contractor responsibility, and protect public safety. The regulation was prompted by past incidents where state construction contractors caused serious harm to public life and property, yet government agencies sometimes failed to terminate contracts or list them as abandoners, allowing the same operators to continue bidding on state projects. The current 2560 Procurement and Property Management Act does not fully cover such cases, necessitating updated standards to match current circumstances and better protect public interests. The regulation defines contractors or contract holders whose serious construction work failures endanger public life or property through negligent performance or non-performance as project abandoners. Once the Finance Ministry's Permanent Secretary lists them as abandoners, they lose the right to submit proposals or sign contracts with government agencies for 2 to 10 years, with their names distributed to all state agencies through the Comptroller General's system and communicated to the listed contractors. This measure prevents contractors with histories of serious damage from re-entering state work, reduces risks of recurring project problems, and improves contractor selection transparency, quality, and value for money in public spending.