Decree 23/2024/ND-CP detailing Bidding Law regarding selection of investors to implement projects falling into cases subject to organization of bidding

DECREE

Detailing a number of articles and measures for implementation of the Bidding Law regarding selection of investors to implement projects falling into cases subject to organization of bidding in accordance with specialized laws

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of Local Administration dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Bidding dated June 23, 2023;

Pursuant to the Law on Investment dated June 17, 2020;

At the proposal of the Minister of Planning and Investment;

The Government hereby promulgates the Decree detailing a number of articles and measures for implementation of the Bidding Law regarding selection of investors to implement projects falling into cases subject to organization of bidding in accordance with specialized laws.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

1. This Decree details a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding selection of investors to implement projects falling into cases subject to organization of bidding in accordance with specialized laws, including:

a) Provisions of Clause 6 Article 6 on assurance of competition in the selection of investors;

b) Provision of Clause 6 Article 10 on incentives in selection of investors;

c) Provision of Clause 3 Article 15 on costs of investor selection;

d) Provision of Clause 4 Article 35 on investor selection methods;

dd) Provision of Clause 3 Article 46 on process and procedures for investor selection;

e) Provisions of Clause 5 Article 50 and Point c Clause 2 Article 84 on process, procedures, expenses and roadmap for online investor selection; national database on investor selection; cases in which bidding is not carried out on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

g) Provisions of Clause 5 Article 62 on method and criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers;

h) Provisions of Clause 2 Article 73 on contents of business investment project contracts;

i) Provisions of Clause 4 Article 86 on examination and supervision of bidding activities regarding investor selection;

k) Provision of Clause 4 Article 88 on response to arising eventualities in investor selection;

l) Provisions of Clause 2 Article 96 on transitional provisions.

2. Measures for implementation of the Bidding Law regarding investor selection include:

a) Disclosure of information on business investment projects, for projects not subject to approval of investment policy;

b) Implementation of business investment projects.

3. Requirements on capacity and experience of members of expert teams and appraising teams; connection and sharing of information between the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and other information systems; online bidding techniques consistent with the features and development of the Vietnam National E-Procurement System; handling of violations in bidding activities shall comply with the corresponding regulations in the Government's Decree detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection.

4. Projects subject to bidding organization for the selection of investors in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article include:

a) International football betting business projects in accordance with the law on horse racing, greyhound racing and international football betting business;

b) Investment projects to build domestic solid waste treatment works in accordance with the law on environmental protection;

c) Projects of dredging in seaport waters and inland waterways combined with product recovery in accordance with the law on maritime traffic and inland waterways;

d) Projects for specialized aviation services at airports and aerodromes in accordance with the law on civil aviation, except for aviation operation centers of domestic airlines at airports, aerodromes;

dd) Specialized road traffic service projects in accordance with the law on road traffic, including mixed-function areas serving public and commercial purposes;

e) Investment projects to renovate and rebuild condominiums in accordance with the housing law;

g) Investment projects to build water supply works, investment projects to build water supply systems in accordance with the law on production, supply and consumption of clean water;

h) Projects subject to bidding organization when there are 02 or more interested investors registering for implementation, including: projects in the fields of education, vocational training, health, culture, sports, and environment in accordance with the law on encouraging socialization, except for projects specified at Points b and g of this Clause; horse and greyhound racing investment projects, including business activities of betting on horse racing and greyhound racing in accordance with the law on horse racing, greyhound racing and international football betting business; investment projects on construction of social houses in accordance with the housing law.

5. Land-using projects subject to bidding organization in accordance with specialized laws as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article must fully satisfy the following conditions:

a) Belonging to the cases of land recovery by the State according to the land law;

In case there is the land area managed by the State as prescribed by the land law in the land area where the project is implement, the State shall recover the entire area of the project (including the land area belonging to the scope of the project that is managed by the State).

b) Failing to satisfy the conditions for auction of land use rights as prescribed by the land law; not falling into the cases of auction of public assets as prescribed by the law on management and use of public property.

6. Projects that are not required the organization of investor selection as prescribed in this Decree include:

a) Projects using land in the form of transfer, lease of land use rights, receipt of capital contribution by land use rights for production and business in accordance with the land law;

b) Projects falling in to the cases of, and eligible for auction of land use rights in accordance with the land law and law on management and use of public property;

c) Projects allocated or leased land by the State neither through auction of land use rights, nor bidding to select investors in accordance with the land law.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Organizations and individuals participating in or related to the selection of investors to implement business investment projects prescribed in Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree.

2. Organizations and individuals whose bidding activities do not fall into the cases specified in Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree may choose to apply the Bidding Law in accordance with Clause 4 Article 2 of the Bidding Law.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

In this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities refers to a table that presents information about the duration for performing tasks in the investor selection process, serving as a basis for conducting investor selection in accordance with Clause 3 Article 49 of the Bidding Law.

2. Party inviting the expression of interest means an agency or unit under a ministry or ministerial-level agency; specialized agency or agency under the provincial-level People's Committee, Economic Zone Management Board; or the district-level People's Committee that is assigned to carry out the procedure for inviting the expression of interest.

3. Competent agency means an agency approving the investment policy in accordance with the investment law, or an agency deciding on organization of investor selection. For project of which the investment policy is approved by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister, the competent agency is the agency deciding on organization of investor selection.

4. Agencies deciding on organization of a bidding to select investors include ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and Management Boards of Economic Zones.

5. Total investment capital includes preliminary total project implementation costs, other costs in accordance with specialized laws (if any) and compensation, support, and resettlement costs (if any).

Article 4. Assurance of competition

1. From the date of distribution of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, the investors that submit the dossiers of registration for implementation of business investment projects must be legally and financially independent from the following parties:

a) Competent agencies, parties inviting the expression of interest;

b) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation of dossiers of of request for approval of investment policy (for business investment projects subject to investment policy approval), dossiers of project proposals (for business investment projects not subject to investment policy approval), except for projects proposed by the investors;

c) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation of prefeasibility study reports or feasibility study reports, if specialized laws require the formulation of prefeasibility study reports or feasibility study reports before organizing the invitation for expression of interest, except for projects proposed by the investors;

d) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, or evaluation of dossiers of registration for project implementation.

2. From the date of distributing the bidding dossiers, investors participating in the bidding must do not have shares or contributed capitals with the following consultancy contractors:

a) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation of dossiers of of request for approval of investment policy (for business investment projects subject to investment policy approval), dossiers of project proposals (for business investment projects not subject to investment policy approval), except for projects proposed by the investors;

b) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation of prefeasibility study reports or feasibility study reports, if specialized laws require the formulation of prefeasibility study reports or feasibility study reports before organizing the invitation for expression of interest, except for projects proposed by the investors;

c) Contractors providing consultancy for formulation or appraisal of bidding dossiers; evaluation of bid dossiers; appraisal of investor selection results.

3. From the date of distributing dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, bidding dossiers, investors submitting dossiers of registration for project implementation and investors participating in the bidding shall be evaluated as legally and financially independent from competent agencies, bid solicitors, parties inviting the expression of interest if they do not hold more than 50% of capital or total voting shares or contributed capital of each other. In case the joint-name investor submits a dossier of registration for project implementation, the holding rate shall be determined according to the following formula:

Of which:

X_i: is the rate of holding capitals, shares or voting shares of the competent agency, the bid solicitor and the party inviting the expression of interest in the joint-name member number i.

Y_i: is the rate of equity contribution of joint-name member number i as stated in the joint-name agreement.

n: is the number of the joint-name members.

4. From the time of distributing the dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, and bidding dossiers, the investors submitting dossiers of registration for project implementation, investors participating in the bidding and consultancy contractors specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article each owns no more than 30% or more of shares, total voting shares or contributed capital amounts of another organization or individual. For joint-name investors and consultancy contractors, the holding rate is prescribed as follows:

a) The holding rate of other organizations and individuals and joint-name investors shall be determined according to the following formula:

Of which:

X_i: is the rate of holding capitals, shares and voting shares of organizations, individuals in the investor participating the bidding number i.

Y_i: is the rate of equity of the joint-name investor number i as stated in the joint-name agreement.

n: is the number of the joint-name members.

b) The holding rate of other organizations and individuals and joint-name consultancy contractors shall be determined according to the following formula:

Of which:

X_i: is the rate of holding capitals, shares and voting shares of organizations, individuals in the consultancy contractor number i as stated in the joint-name agreement.

Y_i: is the rate of responsibility division in the joint-name agreement document number i as stated in the joint-name agreement.

n: is the number of participants in the joint-name.

5. For the investors organized according to the form of parent company-subsidiary model in accordance with the law on enterprises that submit dossiers of registration for project implementation or participate in bidding process for business investment projects:

a) The parent company or subsidiary or the parent company and joint-name subsidiaries may participate in only one dossier of registration for project implementation or bid dossier;

b) The investor submitting the dossier of registration for project implementation or participating in bidding and consultancy contractor performing one of the consultancy jobs specified in Clauses 1and 2 of this Article have no parent company-subsidiary relation from the time of distribution of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest or bidding dossiers.

6. The determination of holding rate between the parties shall be based on the rate stated in the enterprise registration certificates, establishment decisions and equivalent papers.

Article 5. Incentives in selection of investors

1. Subjects entitled to incentives and incentive levels:

a) Investors having solutions applying advanced technology, high technology, environmentally friendly technology, and the best available techniques to mitigate environmental pollution for projects in the group of projects that are highly likely to exert adverse environmental impacts in accordance with the law on environmental protection are entitled to a 5% incentive upon the evaluation of bid dossiers;

b) Investors committing to transferring technologies on the list of technologies prioritized for investment and development in accordance with the law on high technologies or on the list of technologies encouraged for transfer in accordance with the law on technology transfer are entitled to a 2% incentive upon the evaluation of bid dossiers.

2. When participating in the bidding, investors must submit documents proving their technology application solutions, technology transfer and rights to lawfully use technologies in accordance with the law on high technologies, technology transfer, environmental protection and other relevant laws to be entitled to incentives specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Methods of calculation of incentives:

Total score of subjects entitled to incentives shall be calculated by the following formula:

T’_th = T_th + T_th X M_ud

Of which:

T’_th: is the total score of the investor entitled to incentives, including incentive levels for comparison and ranking.

T_th: is the total score of the investor entitled to incentives, excluding incentive levels.

M_ud: is the incentive level enjoyable by the investor under Clause 1 of this Article.

4. Investors entitled to incentives specified in Clause 1 of this Article that are selected to sign contracts must follow commitments in the bid dossiers and business investment project contracts.

Article 6. Management of expenses and revenues in investor selection

1. Expense norms for investor selection applicable to the cases where competent agencies, parties inviting the expression of invitation, bid solicitors or appraising teams directly select investors:

a) The expense for formulation of a dossier of invitation for expression of interest, bidding dossier is 0.05% of total investment capital, which must not exceed VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million dong);

b) The expense for appraising each content of a bidding dossier, the investor selection result is 0.02% of the total investment capital, which must not exceed VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million dong);

c) The expense for evaluating a dossier of registration for project implementation, bid dossier is 0.03% of total investment capital, which must not exceed VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million dong);

d) In case of re-organizing the investor selection, the maximum expense for formulating a dossier of invitation for expression of interest, bidding dossier; appraising a bidding dossier is 50% of the expenses specified at Points a and b of this Clause.

2. In case of hiring consultants to perform tasks specified in Clause 1 of this Article, expenses for selection of investors shall be as follows:

a) Expenses shall be determined based on contents and scope of tasks, performance duration, capacity and experience of consultants, their salary norms as prescribed by law, and other factors;

b) If there are no regulations on salary norms of consultants, the expense for consultants’ salaries shall be determined based on expenses paid to consultants under similar projects performed in a certain period or included in the total investment capital.

3. Expenditures applicable to the cases where competent agencies, parties inviting the expression of invitation, bid solicitors or appraising teams directly select investors:

a) The expense for survey and collection of project information as a basis for preparing the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, and bidding dossier, including the expense for preparing a project proposal for investment projects that are not subject to investment policy approval or dossier of request for approval of investment policy for projects subject to investment policy approval (if any);

b) The expense for office supplies, translation, and propaganda and communication;

c) The expense for conferences serving the invitation of expression of interest, invitation to bids, and opening bids;

d) The expense for posting information on investor selection;

dd) Other expenses for preparing the dossier of invitation for expression of interest; preparing and evaluate the bidding dossier; evaluating the dossier of registration for project implementation, bid dossier, opening bids, and resolving complaints.

4. The expense specified at Point d Clause 3 of this Article shall be applied according to corresponding regulations in the Government's Decree on detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law regarding investor selection.

5. Funding for payment of expenses specified in Clauses 1 and 3 of this Article shall be covered from the regular expenditures of competent agencies, parties inviting the expression of interest, bid solicitors and appraising teams.

6. Grounds for making estimates of expenses include: Decisions on approval of investment policy or written approvals of business investment information approved by competent agencies; policies and regimes under the applicable laws.

7. The formulation, approval and implementation of estimates of expenses for investor selection specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall comply with the law on formulation, approval and implementation of estimates of regular expenditures from the state budget, including:

a) Pursuant to the Law on the State Budget and Clause 6 of this Article, the party inviting the expression of interest, the bid solicitor shall make expense estimates for each spending content specified in Clause 3 of this Article, include them in the annual budget estimate of its agency or unit, and submit to the competent authority for approval in accordance with the law on the state budget;

b) After the annual budget estimate is approved, the competent agency shall allocate regular expenditure estimate for assigned units to implement in accordance with the law on the state budget;

c) In case of arising a project that needs to be organized a bidding within the year, the party inviting the expression of interest, the bid solicitor shall supplement the estimate, and submit it to the competent authority for approval in accordance with the law on the state budget.

8. Management of expenses for selection of investors:

a) The management, use and final settlement of expenses for selection of investors shall comply with the law on the state budget. In case where the party inviting the expression of interest or the bid solicitor is a public non-business unit that organizes the implementation of investor selection, the management, use and final settlement of expenses for selection of investors shall comply with the law on the financial autonomy mechanism applicable to public non-business units.

b) In case of hiring a consultant to perform a part or entire of the tasks specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the total expenses for selection of investors (inclusive of taxes) must not exceed the estimates approved for the tasks with hired consultant. The value of payment for the consultancy unit shall comply with the contract between the competent agency, the bid solicitor, the party inviting the expression of interest and the consultancy unit. The management, use, payment and final settlement of expenses for payment for the consultancy unit shall comply with the law on the state budget.

9. Management of revenues form selection of investors:

a) For selection of international bidding, the selling price (inclusive of taxes) of an electronic bidding dossier must not exceed VND 30,000,000 (thirty million dong);

b) Revenues from selling electronic bidding dossiers specified at Point a of this Clause, after being used to perform tax obligations, shall be paid by the bid solicitor into the state budget within 3 working days, from the bid closing date.

Article 7. Expenses for settlement of investors’ petitions on results of investor selection

1. In case there is a petition on investor selection results that are settled by the competent person, the investor shall make payment for the petition settlement to the permanent assisting body of the consultancy council for petition settlement (hereinafter referred to as the consultancy council) in accordance with Point dd Clause 2 Article 90 of the Bidding Law.

2. The amount the investor paid for the consultancy council as specified in Clause 1 of this Article is 0.02% of the total investment capital of the petition-filing investor but must not exceed VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million dong). During the petition, For the investor withdrawing the petition, it/he/she shall only receive 50% of the paid amount if the consultancy council has not yet been established, or the consultancy council has been established but the council's meeting has not yet been held. In case the consultancy council has held a meeting, the investor shall not be refunded the paid amount for petition settlement.

For the investor's remaining paid amount, the permanent assisting body of the consultancy council shall remit to the state budget within 7 working days from the date the investor withdraws its/his/her petition.

3. The permanent assisting body of the consultancy council shall make an estimate of expenses for investor’s petition settlement on a case by case basis and submit it to the chairperson of the consultancy council for approval.

4. The expense estimate approved by the consultancy council as specified in Clause 3 of this Article must not exceed the expenses payable by the petition-filing investor as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

5. The consultancy council's chairperson shall decide on the expense levels according to the approved estimate assigned to the consultancy council's members, permanent assisting body of the consultancy council and other expenses for petition settlement. Expenses for remuneration for the consultancy council's members who are civil servants and public employees shall comply with the law.

6. The permanent assisting body of the consultancy council shall make payment for petition settlement according to the estimates approved by the consultancy council.

7. At the end of the petition settlement process, the chairperson of the consultancy council shall confirm the actual paid amount. In case the actual paid amount is less than the amount paid by the investor to the consultancy council, the permanent assisting body of the consultancy council shall refund to the petition-filing investor within 7 days from the date on which the chairperson of the consultancy council confirms the actual paid amount.

8. In case the investor's petition is concluded to be correct, the document on settlement of the investor’s petition on investor selection result must clearly state that the concerned petition-filing investor shall be refunded the petition settlement expenses it/he/she has paid. The permanent assisting body of the consultancy council shall issue a document requesting the bid solicitor to refund the investor an amount equal to that paid by the petition-filing investor, minus the amount already refunded by the permanent assisting body of the consultancy council in accordance with Clause 7 of this Article (if any).

9. Funding sources for refunding to the investor according to the document on settlement of the investor’s petition on investor selection result shall be as follows:

a) In case the bid solicitor is an administrative unit or public non-business unit, the funding sources for refunding to the investor shall be allocated from the unit's regular expenditure estimates;

b) In case the bid solicitor is neither an administrative unit nor a public non-business unit, the funding sources for refunding to the investor shall be allocated from the unit's funding for operations.

10. Violators under the competent authority’s decision on settlement of the investor’s petition on investor selection result shall compensate to the bid solicitor in accordance with law.

Article 8. Order and procedures for selection of investors

1. For projects for which open bidding or restricted bidding is organized according to the single-stage single-envelope method, and projects for which open bidding is organized according to the single-stage two-envelope method:

a) Announcement of business investment projects;

b) Preparation for bidding for investor selection;

c) Organization of bidding for investor selection;

d) Evaluation of bid dossiers;

dd) Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results;

e) Contract negotiation, finalization and conclusion.

2. For projects for which open bidding is organized by the single-stage and single-envelope method:

a) Announcement of business investment projects;

b) Preparation for bidding for investor selection for the first stage;

c) Organization of bidding for investor selection for the first stage;

d) Preparation, organization for bidding for investor selection for the second stage;

dd) Evaluation of bid dossiers for the second stage;

e) Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results;

g) Contract negotiation, finalization and conclusion.

3. For projects for which the determination of the number of investors expressing their interest is required as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 46 of the Bidding Law and Point h Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree:

a) Announcement of business investment projects;

b) Invitation for expression of interest;

c) In case two or more investors expressing their interest register to implement the project, the provisions of Points b, c, d, dd and e Clause 1 of this Article (for projects for which open bidding is organized by the single-stage and single-envelope method or the single-stage and two-envelope method), or the provisions of Points b, c, d, dd, e and g Clause 2 of this Article (for projects for which open bidding is organized by the two-stage and single-envelope method).

Chapter II

PROCESS, PROCEDURES FOR SELECTION OF INVESTORS FOR PROJECTS FOR WHICH OPEN BIDDING OR RESTRICTED BIDDING IS ORGANIZED BY THE SINGLE-STAGE SINGLE-ENVELOPE METHOD OR SINGLE-STAGE TWO-ENVELOPE METHOD

Section 1

ANNOUNCEMENT OF BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Article 9. Announcement of business investment projects for projects subject to approval of investment policy

The agency competent to organize (hereinafter referred to as the competent agency) shall post the decision on approval of investment policy on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 5 working days from the date of approval of the project's investment policy.

Article 10. Announcement of business investment projects for projects not subject to approval of investment policy

1. For a business investment project not subject to investment policy approval, the competent person shall assign to an agency or unit under the Ministry, ministerial-level agency; specialized agency or agency affiliated to the provincial-level People's Committee, Economic Zone Management Board; or the district-level People's Committee to organize the preparation of a dossier of project proposal, containing information specified at Points b, c, d, dd and e Clause 2 Article 47 of the Bidding Law, and submit it to the Minister, Head of ministerial-level agency, Chairperson of the provincial-level People's Committee, or Head of the Economic Zone Management Board for approval of the project information.

2. The competent agency shall disclose the business investment project information in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article within 5 working days form the date on which the written approval is issued.

3. The investor may propose to implement business investment projects other than those approved and announced by the competent agency as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, unless otherwise not allowed by the specialized law. Order, procedures and dossiers f project proposals are prescribed as follows:

a) The investor shall prepare a dossier of project proposal, containing information specified at Points b, c, d and e Clause 2 Article 47 of the Bidding Law, and corresponding information specified at Points a, b and c Clause 1 Article 33 of the Investment Law. The investor shall bear all expenses for preparing the dossier of project proposal;

b) For a project under the competence of the provincial-level People’s Committee, the investor shall submit 4 sets of dossiers of project proposals to the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment. Within 3 working days from the date of receiving the project proposal, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall report to the provincial-level People’s Committee to assign a specialized to synthesize and review the investor's dossier of project proposal.

For an investment project under the competence of the Ministry, ministerial-level agency, or the Economic Zone Management Board, the investor shall submit 4 sets of dossiers of project proposals to the agency or unit assigned the tasks of receiving and reviewing the investor's dossiers of project proposals by the Minister, Head of ministerial-level agency, or Head of the Economic Zone Management Board;

c) Within 25 days from the date of assigning the tasks, the agency or unit specified at Point b of this Clause shall consider the conformity of the dossier of project proposals compared to the provisions of Clauses 4, 5 and 6 Article 1 of this Decree, and submit the competent person to approve the business investment project information;

d) The competent agency shall disclose the business investment project information proposed by the investor on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 5 working days form the date on which the written approval is issued.

Section 2

PREPARATION FOR BIDDING FOR INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 11. Preparation, approval of the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities

1. The competent person shall assign affiliated agencies or units, specialized agencies to make a table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities according to Appendix I to this Decree.

2. The competent person shall approve the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities, including decision on the bid solicitor, form and method of bidding for selection of investors, starting time of selection of investors for implementation of the business investment project.

3. For a business investment project subject to investment policy approval in accordance with the investment law, the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities shall be approved independently or concurrently with the decision on investment policy approval.

4. For a business investment project not subject to investment policy approval, the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities shall be approved concurrently with the information on business investment project.

5. The competent agency shall post the approved table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 5 working days form the date on which the written approval is issued.

Article 12. Bases for making a bidding dossier

1. Master plans, plans and programs include:

a) Relevant master plans and plans in accordance with the planning law, specialized law and relevant laws;

b) Construction master plans appropriate to the scale and nature of the project in accordance with the construction lawn, specialized law, which have been approved by competent authorities, for projects containing construction components. In case a business investment project has many functions, the investment project shall be determined based on the main works of the project or the main works with the highest level in case the project has many main works in accordance with the construction law;

c) Programs and plans on housing development, plans for renovation or construction of condominiums in accordance with the housing law (for housing investment projects, projects on renovation or re-construction of condominiums).

2. The list of projects involving land recovery approved by the competent authority in accordance with the land law (for projects specified in Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree that use land); decision on recovery of public property approved by the competent authority in accordance with the law on management and use of public property (for projects expected to use public property subject to recovery).

3. The decision on investment policy approval, for projects subject to investment policy approval in accordance with the investment law, or a written approval of the business investment project information, for projects not subject to investment policy approval in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 of Decree.

4. The table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities that is approved in accordance with Clause 2 Article 11 of this Decree.

5. Other documents as prescribed by specialized law and relevant laws (if any).

Article 13. Making, appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

1. The bid solicitor shall assign the expert team to prepare a bidding dossier according to the contents specified in Article 48 of the Bidding Law for the investors to make bidding dossiers.

2. Methods and criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Articles 44, 45, 46 and 47 of this Decree.

3. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers:

a) The bid solicitor shall submit the draft bidding dossier and relevant documents to a competent person and the appraising team;

b) The appraising team shall appraise bidding dossiers under Article 52 of this Decree;

c) The competent person shall approve the bidding dossiers, on the basis of the written request for approval and report on appraisal of bidding dossiers.

Article 14. Selection of the shortlist for the restricted bidding

1. The bid solicitor shall determine the shortlist, including at least 3 investors satisfying the requirements of the business investment project that wish to participate in the bidding, and submit it to the competent person for approval.

2. After being approved, the shortlist shall be publicized by the bid solicitor on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

3. Shortlisted investors may not form joint-name among themselves in order to participate in bidding.

Section 3

ORGANIZATION OF BIDDING FOR INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 15. Conditions for distribution of bidding dossiers

The bidding dossier may be distributed for selection of investors when the following conditions are fully satisfied:

1. The project has the investment policy approved, for projects subject to investment policy approval, or the business investment project information is approved, for projects not subject to investment policy approval.

2. The business investment project is announced in accordance with Article 9 or 10 of this Decree.

3. The bidding dossiers is approved.

4. Other conditions as prescribed by specialized law (if any).

Article 16. Invitation for bids, distribution, clarification and modification of bidding dossiers; extension of the time limits for submission of bid dossiers

1. Invitation for bids:

a) A notice of invitation for bid shall be posted in accordance with Clause 2 Article 8 of the Bidding Law. For projects subject to international open bidding under Clause 2 Article 11 of Bidding Law, a notice of invitation for bids must be posted in English and Vietnamese on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and websites of the line ministry, provincial-level People’s Committee (if any), or on a newspaper issued in English in Vietnam;

b) A letter of invitation for bids shall be sent to shortlisted investors, for restricted bidding.

2. Distribution of bidding dossiers:

a) For open bidding, the bidding dossiers shall be distributed on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The bid solicitor shall upload free of charge and complete files of bidding dossiers on the National Bidding Network System;

b) For restricted bidding, bidding dossiers shall be distributed to shortlisted investors.

3. Modification of bidding dossiers:

In case of modifying the bidding dossiers after distribution, the bid solicitors must post on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System the decision on modification together with the modifications of bidding dossiers, and the modified bidding dossiers. The decision on modification of bidding dossiers shall be posted for at least 15 days, for national bidding, or 25 days, for international bidding, before the bid closing date. In case of failure to ensure the posting duration, the bid closing date shall be extended.

4. Clarification of bidding dossiers:

If wishing to have the bidding dossier clarified, the investor shall send a written request for clarification at least 7 working days (for domestic bidding) or 15 days (for international bidding) before the bid closing date to the bid solicitor on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The bid solicitor shall clarify the bidding dossier in one or several of the following ways:

a) Uploading dossier-clarifying contents on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

b) When necessary, a pre-bidding meeting shall be held to discuss contents of the bidding dossier that need clarifying. Discussions shall be recorded in writing by the bid solicitor. Such a record may be used as a document clarifying bidding dossier and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Bidding dossier-clarifying contents, which are not in contravention of the contents of the bidding dossier uploaded on the System, must be uploaded on the System at least 2 working days before the bid closing date. If the clarification leads to modification of the bidding dossier, such modification must comply with Clause 3 of this Article.

5. The decision on modification and the clarifying document constitute an integral part of the bidding dossier.

6. In case of extending the time limit for submission of a bid dossier, the bid solicitor shall upload the notice of extension and the decision on approval of extension on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, clearly stating the reason for extension and the new bid closing time.

Article 17. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification, replacement and withdrawal of bid dossiers

1. Investors shall prepare and submit bid dossiers as required in the bidding dossier.

2. The bid solicitor shall receive all investors’ bid dossiers that are submitted before the time of bid closing and manage bid dossiers submitted according to confidential regime until the investor selection result is disclosed. In no circumstance may information in the bid dossier submitted by an investor participating in bidding, except when such information is disclosed upon bid opening.

3. Any investor that wishes to modify, replace or withdraw the submitted bid dossier shall send a written request to the bid solicitor. The bid solicitor shall only approve the modification, replacement or withdrawal if receiving such request before the bid closing time.

4. Bid dossiers or documents sent by the investors to the bid solicitor after the time of bid closing shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected, except for documents clarifying bid dossiers at request of the bid solicitor or clarifying, modifying and supplementing documents to prove the investors’ eligibility, capacity and experience.

Section 4

EVALUATION OF BID DOSSIERS FOR PROJECTS
APPLYING THE SINGLE-STAGE SINGLE-ENVELOPE METHOD

Article 18. Bid opening

1. Bids shall be opened publicly within 2 hours after the time of bid closing. The bid solicitor shall only open bid dossiers received before the time of bid closing and meeting the requirements of the bidding dossier to the witness of investors’ representatives participating in the bid-opening ceremony, regardless of whether or not the investors are present.

2. The bid solicitor shall check the seal, open each bid dossier in the alphabetical order of investors’ names and read out the following information:

a) Investor’s name;

b) Number of originals and copies of the dossier;

c) Value proposed by the investor in terms of sectoral and local development investment efficiency in the bid application form, including any of the following information: value in money paid to the state budget; proportion of revenue that investors propose to pay to the state budget; prices of goods and services; the amount of technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, public space serving the community surrounding the project and accompanying operating services; the value of social assistance activities for social protection beneficiaries or the value of other social welfare activities that the investor contributes to the locality; threshold for total emissions of toxic substances;

d) Request for increase or decrease of the value specified at Point c of this Clause (if any);

dd) The validity period of the bid dossier;

e) Value and validity of the bid security;

g) Other relevant information.

3. The bid opening record, which includes information specified in Clause 2 of this Article, must bear signatures of representatives of the bid solicitor and investors who attend the bid opening ceremony, and shall be sent to the investors that participate in the bidding.

4. A representative of the bid solicitor shall sign the original of the bid application form, the power of attorney of the at-law representative of the investor (if any); joint-name agreement (if any); bid security; contents of the business investment plan and proposals on sectoral and local development investment efficiency of each bid dossier.

Article 19. Principles of evaluating bid dossiers

1. The evaluation of bid dossiers shall be based on criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers and other requirements stated in bidding dossiers as well as submitted bid dossiers and documents explaining or clarifying bid dossiers of investors so as to select investors that are capable and experienced and have feasible technical and financial plans to implement projects.

2. The evaluation shall be conducted based on copies; investors shall be held responsible for the consistency between originals and their copies. In case there exist minor disparities between originals and copies which do not change the concerned investor’s ranking, the evaluation shall be conducted based on originals. In case there exist large disparities between originals and copies, leading to the situation whereby the result of evaluation based on originals differs from that based on copies and consequently changing the concerned investor’s ranking, the bid dossier of such investor shall be disqualified.

3. When evaluating a bid dossier, the bid solicitor shall examine technical and financial information in the bid dossier so as to identify that such bid dossier does not contain disparities, impositions of conditions or omissions of basic contents, of which:

a) Disparities are differences with requirements stated in the bidding dossier; Imposition of conditions means the imposition of conditions that restrict or show the refusal to entirely accept the requirements stated in the bidding dossier; Omission of contents means the investor’s failure to provide part or the whole of information or documents as required in the bidding dossier;

b) On the condition that a bid dossier meets basic requirements stated in the bidding dossier, the bid solicitor may accept errors other than disparities, impositions of conditions or omissions of basic contents of the bid dossier;

c) Provided that a bid dossier is fundamental responsive to requirements of the bidding dossier, the bid solicitor may request the investor to submit the necessary information or documentation, within a reasonable period of time, to rectify nonmaterial disparities or nonconformities in the bid dossier related to documentation requirements. Requirements for provision of information and documentation to rectify these errors must not affect to the investors’ proposals on sectoral and local development investment efficiency. If the bid solicitor’s requirements are not satisfied, the investor’s bid shall be rejected.

Article 20. Clarification of bid dossiers

1. After bid opening, if the investor's bid dossier lacks documents on the eligibility, financial statements, and documents proving experience in implementing similar projects, the bid solicitor shall request the investor to clarify and provide additional documents to prove the investor’s eligibility, capacity and experience. The investor shall clarify its/his/her bid dossiers upon request of the bid solicitor. The clarification of contents about the eligibility, capacity and experience must ensure no change in the nature of eligibility, capacity and experience of the investors participating in bidding.

2. After bid closing, if the investor detects that the bid dossier lacks information and documents on its/his/her capacity and experience which have not submitted together with the bid dossier. Such documents and information shall be sent for supplementation and clarification. The bid solicitor shall receive additional documents clarifying and proving the investor's eligibility, capacity and experience for review and evaluation. Such documents shall be considered as a part of the bid dossier.

3. The clarification of the proposals on business investment plans, sectoral and local development investment efficiency must ensure not to change corresponding proposals in the submitted bid dossiers.

4. The bid dossier clarification shall only be carried out between the bid solicitor and the investor whose bid dossier needs clarifying. Clarified contents shall be expressed in writing and preserved by the bid solicitor as an integral part of the bid.

Article 21. Evaluation of bid dossiers

1. Examining the validity of a bid dossier, covering:

a) Checking the quantities of originals and copies of the bid dossier;

b) Checking the composition of the bid dossier, such as the bid application form, joint-name agreement (if any), power of attorney to sign the bid application form (if any); bid security; documents proving eligibility of the person signing the bid application form (if any); documents proving eligibility, capacity and experience of the investor; contents of proposals on business investment plans; sectoral and local development investment efficiency proposals; and other components of the bid dossier;

c) Checking the consistency between originals and copies of the bid dossier to serve the detailed evaluation of the bid dossier.

2. Evaluating the validity of a bid dossier:

An investor’s bid dossier shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the following conditions:

a) The original dossier is available;

b) There are valid bid application forms bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of investors as required by the bidding dossier. For a joint-name, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every joint-name member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the joint-name if so agreed in the joint-name agreement;

c) The value stated in the bid application form must be specific and fixed in figures and words, without proposing different values regarding the sectoral and local development investment efficiency or involving a condition unfavorable to the competent agency and bid solicitor;

d) The bid dossier's validity satisfies the requirements prescribed in the bidding dossier;

dd) There is a valid bid dossier;

e) The investor must not be named in two or more bid dossiers as an independent investor or a member of the consortium;

g) There is a joint-name agreement bearing the signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of every joint-name member;

h) The investor is eligible as prescribed in Article 5 of the Law on Bidding.

3. Evaluating bid dossiers:

a) The valuation of a bid dossier includes evaluation of capacity and experience of the investor, evaluation of the business investment plan, and evaluation of the sectoral and local development investment efficiency;

b) A bid dossier shall be evaluated according to the evaluation standards and methods stated in the bidding dossiers.

4. After evaluating the bid dossier, the expert team shall make a report and send it to the bid dossier for consideration. Such a report must state the following contents:

a) The investor ranking list;

b) The list of eliminated investors and the reasons for their elimination;

c) Remarks on competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency in the process of investor selection. In case competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency are not ensured, reasons shall be identified and remedies proposed.

5. Approval of bid winners:

An investor shall be proposed for selection when fully satisfying the conditions specified in Article 48 of this Decree.

Section 5

EVALUATION OF BID DOSSIERS FOR PROJECTS
APPLYING THE SINGLE-STAGE TWO-ENVELOP METHOD

Article 22. Opening dossiers of technical proposals

1. A dossier of technical proposals shall be publicly opened within 2 hours from the bid closing time. The order of evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Article 18 of this Decree. The record of opening of dossiers of financial proposals must contain information specified at Points a, b, dd, e and g Clause 2 Article 18 of this Decree.

2. Dossiers of financial proposals of all investors shall be sealed by the bid solicitor in separate bags and such seals shall be signed by representatives of the bid solicitor and investors that attend the ceremony of opening of dossiers of technical proposals.

Article 23. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals

1. Checking of validity of a dossier of technical proposals, covering:

a) Checking the quantity of originals and photocopies of the dossier of technical proposals;

b) Checking the components of the dossier of technical proposals including: Bid application form of the dossier of technical proposals, joint-name agreement form (if any), power of attorney to sign the bid application (if any); bid security; documents proving the investor’s eligibility, capacity and experience; technical proposals; and other components of the dossier of technical proposals;

c) Checking the consistency between the originals and photocopies to serve the detailed evaluation of the dossier of technical proposals.

2. Evaluation of validity of the dossier of technical proposals:

An investor’s dossier of technical proposals shall be evaluated as valid when all of the following conditions are satisfied:

a) The original dossier of technical proposals is available;

b) The bid application form in the valid dossier of technical proposals bears the signature and seal (if any) of the lawful representative of the investor as required in the bidding dossier. For a joint-name, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every joint-name member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the joint-name if so agreed in the joint-name agreement;

c) The validity of the dossier of technical proposals satisfies requirements in the bidding dossier;

d) There is a valid bid security;

dd) The investor’s name is not present in more than one dossier of technical proposals as an independent investor or joint-name member;

e) There is a valid joint-name agreement in case of joint-name;

g) The investor is eligible as prescribed in Article 5 of the Bidding Law.

3. The order and procedures for clarification of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Article 20 of this Decree.

4. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals:

a) The principles for evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Article 19 of this Decree;

b) Investors that have valid dossiers of technical proposals and meet capacity and experience requirements, and business investment plan requirements shall be considered and have their dossiers of technical proposals opened.

Article 24. Approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements

1. The list of investors satisfying technical requirements shall be approved by the bid solicitor in writing, based on the written request for approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements on the expert team.

2. The bid solicitor shall notify the list of investors satisfying technical requirements to all investors that have participated in the bidding, inviting all investors participating in bidding to open dossiers of financial proposals, clearly stating the time and location of opening the dossiers of financial proposals.

Article 25. Opening of dossiers of financial proposals

1. Dossiers of financial proposals of investors named in the list of investors satisfying technical requirements shall be publicly opened according to the time and location as stated in the notice of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements. The record of bid opening must contain information specified in Clause 2 Article 18 of this Decree and must be sent to investors participating in the bidding.

2. A representative of the bid solicitor shall sign the original of the bid application form, the power of attorney of the at-law representative of the investor (if any); joint-name agreement (if any); and proposals on sectoral and local development investment efficiency of each dossier of financial proposals.

Article 26. Evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals

1. Examining the validity of a dossier of financial proposals, including:

a) Checking the quantities of originals and copies of the dossier;

b) Checking the composition of the dossier of financial proposals, such as bid application form of the dossier of financial proposals, and other components of the dossier of financial proposals;

c) Checking the consistency between originals and copies of the dossier to serve the detailed evaluation of the dossier of financial proposals.

2. Evaluation of the validity of a dossier of financial proposals:

A dossier of financial proposals of an investor shall be evaluated as valid when fully satisfying the following conditions:

a) Being original;

b) The bid application form in the valid dossier of financial proposals bears the signature and seal (if any) of the lawful representative of the investor as required in the bidding dossier. For a joint-name, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every joint-name member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the joint-name if so agreed in the joint-name agreement;

c) The value stated in the bid application form in the dossier of financial proposals must be specific and fixed in figures and words, without proposing different values regarding the sectoral and local development investment efficiency or involving a condition unfavorable to the competent agency and bid solicitor.

d) The validity of the dossier of financial proposals satisfies requirements mentioned in the bidding dossier.

Investors that have valid dossiers of financial proposals may have their dossiers eligible for detailed evaluation in accordance with Clause 4 of this Article.

3. The order and procedures for clarification of dossiers of financial proposals must comply with Article 20 of this Decree.

4. Evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals:

a) The principles for evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals must comply with Article 19 of this Decree;

b) The detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals and ranking of investors shall be conducted according to the evaluation criteria and method mentioned in the bidding dossier.

5. After evaluating the bid dossier, the expert team shall make a report and send it to the bid dossier for consideration. Such a report must state the following contents:

a) The investor ranking list;

b) The list of eliminated investors and the reasons for their elimination;

c) Remarks on competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency in the process of investor selection. In case competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency are not ensured, reasons shall be identified and remedies proposed.

6. The approval of bid winners must comply with Article 48 of this Decree.

Section 6

SUBMISSION, APPRAISAL, APPROVAL AND PUBLICIZATION OF INVESTOR SELECTION RESULTS

Article 27. Submission, appraisal and approval of investor selection results

1. The submission, appraisal and approval of investor selection results shall be as follows:

a) Based on a report on bid dossier evaluation results, the bid solicitor shall submit investor selection results to the competent person and the appraising team for appraisal organization, clearly stating the bid solicitor’s opinions on appraisals of the expert team;

b) The appraising team shall appraise the investor selection results under Article 53 of this Decree before approval;

c) The competent person shall approve the investor selection results in writing on the basis of the report proposing approval and report on appraisal of investor selection results.

2. In case a bid-winning investor is selected, a document approving investor selection results must have the following contents:

a) Name of the project;

b) Name of the bid-winning investor, enterprise planned to be established by the bid-winning investor (if any);

c) One or several information as prescribed in Point c Clause 2 Article 18 of this Decree;

d) Other contents (if any).

3. In case of bidding cancellation under Point a Clause 2 Article 17 of the Bidding Law, a document approving investor selection results or a decision on bidding cancellation must clearly state reason(s) for bidding cancellation and responsibilities of related parties upon bidding cancellation.

Article 28. Publicization of investor selection results

1. Within 5 working days from the date on which the document approving investor selection results is issued, the bid solicitor shall disclose the information about investor selection results on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Point d Clause 2 Article 7 and Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law, at the same time, send the written notice of investor selection results to the investors participating in the bidding.

2. Such notice must have the following contents:

a) Information as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 27 of this Decree;

b) The list of unselected investors and reasons for non-selection;

c) Plan on contract negotiation, finalization and signing with the selected investor.

Section 7

CONTRACT NEGOTIATION, FINALIZATION AND CONCLUSION

Article 29. Contract negotiation and finalization

1. Based on investor selection results, the first-ranked investor shall be invited to contract negotiation and finalization. In case the invited investor fails to come or refuses to participate in the contract negotiation and finalization, it/he/she may not have bid security refunded.

2. Contract negotiation and finalization shall be carried out on the following bases:

a) The report on evaluation of the bid dossier;

b) The bid and clarifying and modifying documents (if any) provided by the investor;

c) The bidding dossier.

3. Principles of contract negotiation and finalization:

a) Contract negotiation and finalization shall not be carried out for the contents offered by the investor according to requirements set in the bidding dossier;

b) Contract negotiation and finalization must not change the basic contents of the bid dossier.

4. Contents of contract negotiation and finalization:

a) Contents proposed in the bid dossier that remain unspecific, unclear, or different; contents inconsistent between the bidding dossier and bid dossier, which might lead to disputes or affect rights and obligations of parties during the contract performance;

b) Matters that arise in the investor selection process (if any) for the purpose of finalizing details of the contract;

c) Other contents relating to the project for use as a basis for regulating provisions on rights, obligations and responsibilities in the contract;

d) Other necessary contents.

5. The investor may not change, withdraw or refuse to perform basic contents proposed in the bid dossier which has been evaluated as qualified in comparison to the bidding dossier by the bid solicitor, except for changes proposed by the investor that bring higher efficiency for the project.

6. In case contract negotiation and finalization fail, the bid solicitor shall propose a competent person to consider and decide on cancellation of investor selection results and invite the investor ranked next to contract negotiation and finalization. In case of successful contract negotiation and finalization with the next-ranked investor, the bid solicitor shall submit, appraise, approve and publicize investor selection results in accordance with Articles 27 and 28 of the Bidding Law. In case contract negotiation and finalization with the next-ranked investor also fail, the bid solicitor shall propose a competent person to consider and decide on bidding cancellation under Point a Clause 2 Article 17 of the Bidding Law.

Article 30. Signing of contracts and disclosure of principal information of business investment project contracts

1. The signing of business investment project contracts must comply with Articles 71, 72, 74 and 75 of the Bidding Law.

2. A business investment project contract must contain basic information specified in Article 73 of the Bidding Law, Appendix II to this Decree and specialized laws (if any).

3. Within 7 working days from the effective date of the business investment project contract, the bid solicitor shall disclose principal information of the contract on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Information to be disclosed includes:

a) Name of the project; identification number of the contract; time of contract signing;

b) Name and address of the competent agency;

c) Name and address of the investor;

d) Objectives and scale of the project;

dd) Project implementation schedule;

e) Project implementation location, land area and land use term;

g) Expected total investment capital;

h) One or several information as prescribed at Point c Clause 2 Article 18 of this Decree;

i) Other contents (if any).

Chapter III

PROCESS, PROCEDURES FOR SELECTION OF INVESTORS FOR PROJECTS FOR WHICH OPEN BIDDING IS ORGANIZED BY THE TWO-STAGE SINGLE-ENVELOPE METHOD

Article 31. Preparation for first-stage bidding

1. The two-stage single-envelope method shall be applied to open bidding for selection of investors to implement business investment projects with special socio-economic development requirements of sectors, regions and localities in which specific technical, economic, social and environmental standards have not been determined in accordance with Clause 3 Article 35 of the Bidding Law.

2. Procedures for preparation for first-stage bidding include:

a) The formulation and approval of the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities shall comply with Article 11 of this Decree, in which the specific progress for each stage shall be defined;

b) The business investment project shall be announced in accordance with Article 9 or 10 of this Decree;

c) First-stage bidding dossiers shall be made in accordance with Clause 3 of this Article;

d) First-stage bidding dossier appraisal and approval must comply with Clause 3 Article 13 of this Decree.

3. The first-stage bidding dossier, which must comprise the following principal information, shall be made according to Article 12 of this Decree:

a) General information about the project, including the project's name; objectives; investment scale; project implementation location; current status of land use, land area for project implementation; land use purposes; approved planning norms; time limit and project implementation schedule;

b) Instructions for preparation and submission of firs-stage bid dossiers;

c) Requirements on eligibility of investors as specified in Article 5 of the Bidding Law;

d) Requirements on the investors’ declaration of the history of disputes, complaints and lawsuits related to contracts already or being performed;

dd) Preliminary ideas on the business investment plan; sectoral and local development investment efficiency;

e) Other necessary contents (if any).

The first-stage bidding dossiers shall not require the investors to make financial proposals and take bid security measures.

Article 32. Organization of first-stage bidding

1. First-stage bid invitation must comply with Clause 1 Article 16 of this Decree.

2. The distribution, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clauses 2, 3 and 4 Article 16 of this Decree.

3. The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification, replacement and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Article 17 of this Decree.

4. Bid opening:

a) Bids shall be opened publicly within 2 hours after the time of bid closing. The bid opening records shall be sent to investors that participate in the bidding;

b) A representative of the bid solicitor shall sign the original of the bid application form, the power of attorney of the at-law representative of the investor (if any); joint-name agreement (if any); and important contents of each bid dossier.

5. Exchange of opinions on first-stage bid dossiers:

a) Based on the requirements specified in bidding dossiers and investors’ proposals in first-stage bid dossiers, the bid solicitor shall exchange opinions with every investor to confirm the requirements on business investment plan, sectoral and local development investment efficiency of the projects to serve the finalization of second-stage bidding dossiers;

b) The exchange of opinions on first-stage bid dossiers must not change the contents of decisions on approval of investment policy (for projects subject to investment policy approval), or contents of the document approving the business investment project information (for projects not subject to investment policy approval);

c) Results of exchanging shall be made in a record with signatures and certification of representatives of the bid solicitor and investors participating in the bidding, and shall be sent directly to investors.

Article 33. Preparation for, and organization of second-stage bidding

1. The second-stage bidding dossiers shall be made on the basis of provisions of Article 12 of this Decree, and results of exchange of opinions on first-stage bid dossiers.

2. Contents of second-stage bid dossiers must comply with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 13 of this Decree.

3. Second-stage bidding dossier appraisal and approval must comply with Clause 3 Article 13 of this Decree.

4. Organization of bidding:

a) The bid solicitor shall invite investors that have submitted first-stage bid dossiers to receive second-stage bidding dossiers. The distribution, modification and clarification of second-stage bidding dossiers must comply with Clauses 2, 3 and 4 Article 16 of this Decree;

b) The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification, replacement and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Article 17 of this Decree;

c) Bid opening must comply with Article 18 of this Decree.

Article 34. Evaluation of second-stage bid dossiers

1. The evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 19 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 20 of this Decree.

3. The evaluation of second-stage bid dossiers must comply with Article 21 of this Decree.

Article 35. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results; contract negotiation, finalization and signing, disclosure of project contracts

1. The submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results must comply with Articles 27 and 28 of this Decree.

2. The contract negotiation, finalization and signing; and disclosure of information on project contracts must comply with Articles 29 and 30 of this Decree.

Chapter IV

ORDER AND PROCEDURES FOR SELECTION OF INVESTORS FOR PROJECTS FOR WHICH THE NUMBER OF INVESTORS EXPRESSING INTEREST MUST BE DETERMINED

Article 36. Application of procedures for invitation for expression of interest

1. The procedures for invitation for expression of interest shall be applied to projects for which the number of investors expressing interest must be determined shall comply with specialized laws as prescribed at Point h Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree.

2. Invitation for international interest expression shall be applied to business investment projects specified in Clause 1 of this Article, except for the cases specified at Points a, b, c and d Clause 2 Article 11 of the Bidding Law, and other cases as prescribed by specialized laws.

3. The competent person shall assign an agency or unit under a ministry or ministerial-level agency; specialized agency or agency under the provincial-level People's Committee, Economic Zone Management Board; or the district-level People's Committee to act as the party inviting the expression of interest.

4. The party inviting the expression of interest shall follow the order and procedures specified in Articles 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 of this Decree. The competent agency shall create and assign professional accounts to the party inviting the expression of interest to post information and invite the expression of interest on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Article 37. Preparation for invitation for expression of interest

Before inviting the expression of interest, the competent agency shall disclose the project information on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System by one of the two followings:

1. For projects within the competence of investment policy approval, the competent agency shall post the decision on approval of investment policy.

2. For projects falling outside the competence of investment policy approval, the competent agency shall, based on the dossiers for project proposals made and approved under Article 10 of this Decree, post information specified at Points b, c, d and e Clause 2 Article 47 of the Bidding Law.

Article 38. Preparation and approval of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest

1. dossiers of invitation for expression of interest shall be made on the basis of provisions of Article 12 of this Decree.

2. A dossier of invitation for expression of interest must include:

a) Instructions for investors;

b) Requirements on eligibility of investors specified in Article 5 of the Bidding Law;

c) The method and standards for preliminary evaluation of the investors’ capacity and experience must comply with Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article;

d) Forms for expression of interest;

dd) Information and requirements for implementation of the business investment project;

e) Other relevant contents (if any).

3. The “pass” and “fail” methods shall be applied for preliminary evaluation of the investors’ capacity and experience. The investor shall be considered satisfying preliminary requirements on capacity and experience if all criteria are considered passed.

4. Criteria for preliminary evaluation of investors’ capacity and experience include:

a) Requirements on equity as prescribed at Point a Clause 1 Article 45 of this Decree;

b) The investor's experience in performing similar projects in accordance with Points a and b Clause 2, Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 45 of this Decree.

5. In case the project applies domestic invitation for expression of interest, and the application of advanced techniques, technologies and international management experience needs to be promoted, the dossier of invitation for expression of interest may comply with Clause 5 Article 45 of this Decree.

6. A dossier of invitation for expression of interest must state requirements only for the purpose of selecting the qualified investor for the project implementation. It must not contain any condition that restricts the participation of investors or creates advantages for one or more than one investor, thus causing an unfair competition.

7. The dossier of invitation for expression of interest shall be prepared and approved concurrently during the decision of approval of investment policy (for projects subject to investment policy approval as prescribed by the law on investment), or during the formulation and approval of the business investment project information (for projects not subject to investment policy approval), or after such decisions are approved by competent authorities.

Article 39. Notices of invitation for expression of interest, distribution, modification and clarification of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest; extension of time limits for submission of dossiers of registration for project implementation

1. Notices of invitation for expression of interest shall be posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Clause 2 Article 8 of the Bidding Law. For projects subject to international invitation for expression of interest under Clause 2 Article 36 of this Decree, a notice of invitation for expression of interest must be posted in English and Vietnamese on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and websites of the line ministry, provincial-level People’s Committee (if any), or on a newspaper issued in English in Vietnam.

2. Dossiers of invitation for expression of interest shall be distributed on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The party inviting the expression of interest shall upload free of charge and complete files of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

3. In case of modifying the dossiers of invitation for expression of interest after distribution, the party inviting the expression of interest must post on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System the decision on modification together with the modifications of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, and the modified dossiers of invitation for expression of interest. The modification decisions on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System shall be posted at least 10 days before the deadline for submission of dossiers of registration for project implementation.

4. Clarification of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest:

a) If wishing to have the dossier of invitation for expression of interest clarified, the investor shall send a written request to the party inviting the expression of interest via the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 5 working days before the expiry date of dossiers of registration for project implementation;

b) Documents clarifying the dossier of invitation for expression of interest shall be posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 2 working days before the expiry date of dossier of registration for project implementation;

c) The clarification of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest must not contravene contents of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. If the clarification leads to modification of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, such modification must comply with Clause 3 of this Article;

d) The decision on modification and documents clarifying the dossier of invitation for expression of interest constitute an integral part of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest.

5. In case of extending the time limit for submission of a dossier of registration for project implementation, the party inviting the expression of interest shall upload the notice of extension and the decision on approval of extension on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, clearly stating the reason for extension and the new bid closing time.

Article 40. Preparation, submission, receipt, modification and withdrawal of dossiers of registration for project implementation

1. The investor shall prepare and submit a dossier of registration for implementation of the business investment project on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as required by the dossier of invitation for expression of interest. The time limit for preparing a dossier of registration for project implementation is at least 30 days from the first date of distributing the dossier of invitation for expression of interest to the bid closing date.

2. The dossier of registration for implementation of the business investment project of an investor must comprise a written registration for implementing the project, a dossier about legal status, capacity and experience of the investor; other relevant documents (if any).

3. The modification and withdrawal of the dossier of registration for implementation of a business investment project shall only be carried out before the deadline for submission of the dossier of registration for project implementation.

Article 41. Bid opening and evaluation of dossiers of registration for implementation of business investment projects

1. The bid opening shall be carried out on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 2 hours after the deadline for submission of dossiers of registration for implementation of the business investment project.

2. The party inviting the expression of interest shall organize the evaluation of dossiers of registration for implementation of the business investment project submitted by investors. The investor shall clarify is/her/his dossier of registration for project implementation at requests of the party inviting the expression of interest, or self-clarify or supplement documents proving the legal status, capacity and experience when the investor detects that the dossier of registration for project implementation lacks of information or documents on its/her/his capacity and experience which have not yet been submitted together with the dossier of registration for project implementation. All requirements for clarification and clarifying documents of the investor shall be posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Article 42. Submission, approval and publicization of results of invitation for expression of interest

1. Based on results of evaluation of the dossier of registration for implementation of the business investment project, the party inviting the expression of interest shall submit to the competent person for review and approval of the result of invitation for expression of interest and organization of investor selection as follows:

a) In case there are two or more investors satisfying requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, the open bidding for selection of investors shall be organized in accordance with Article 43 of this Decree;

b) In case there is only one investor registering and satisfying requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, or there is more than one investor registering but only one satisfying requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, the approval of investor shall comply with the law on investment;

c) In case no one shows the interest, or no investor satisfies requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, a written notice of ending of the procedures for invitation for expression of interest shall be issued.

2. For projects specified at Point a Clause 1 of this Article, the competent person shall approve the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities in accordance with Article 11 of this Decree, including decision on the bid solicitor, form and method of bidding for selection of investors, starting time of selection of investors for implementation of the business investment project. The form of bidding for investor selection shall be determined according to the following provisions:

a) Domestic open bidding, if the number of foreign investor submitting the dossier of registration for project implementation or satisfying requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest under Point dd Clause 2 Article 11 of the Bidding Law is 0;

b) International open bidding, if there is at least one foreign investor satisfying requirements of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest.

3. For the cases specified at Point c Clause 1 of this Article, the competent person shall issue a written notice on ending of the invitation for expression of interest, and consider to decide on carrying out one of the two procedures as follows:

a) Re-carrying out the procedures for invitation for expression of interest within a period decided by the competent person;

b) Reviewing and modifying the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, while ensuring the compliance with the decision of investment policy approval, or written approval of the project information, and re-carrying out the procedures for invitation for expression of interest.

4. Based on the competent person’s decision as specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the party inviting the expression of interest shall upload the result of invitation for expression of interest and the table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities, or written notice of ending the procedures for invitation for expression of interest on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Article 43. Order and procedures of bidding for selection of investors

The order and procedures for open bidding for selection of investors shall comply with regulations of Section 2 thru Section 7 of Chapter II or Chapter III of this Decree.

Chapter V

METHODS AND STANDARDS FOR EVALUATION OF BID DOSSIERS

Article 44. Evaluation methods

1. Investors’ bid dossiers shall be evaluated based on methods and standards specified in Article 62 of the Bidding Law, detailed standards and criteria specified in Articles 45, 46 and 47 of this Decree.

2. A scale of 100 or 1,000 points shall be used to evaluate a bid dossier, in which general scores shall be developed on the basis of combination of scores of capacity, experience, business investment plan, sectoral and local development investment efficiency, provided the total score ratio must be 100%. In which:

a) Score of capacity and experience accounts for from 20% to 30% of the total scores;

b) Score of business investment plan accounts for from 20% to 50% of the total scores;

c) Score of sectoral and local development investment efficiency accounts for from 30% to 50% of the total scores.

3. The investor must obtain the following minimum scores for evaluation and ranking:

a) The minimum general score must not be lower than 70% of the total score;

b) The minimum score of a standard or detailed standard must not be lower than 60% of the maximum score of such standard. For a project applying the single-stage two-envelope method, the minimum score of a standard or detailed standard specified in Articles 45 and 46 of this Decree must not be lower than 70% of the maximum score of such standard;

c) The minimum score of each criterion must not be lower than 50% of the maximum score of such criterion.

The investor with the minimum score of each standard specified in this Clause and the highest general score shall be ranked first.

4. For a business investment project with specific requirements on conditions for business investment, management and sectoral development as prescribed by the law on investment and specialized laws, the bidding dossier may provide a fixed regulation on one or several criteria for evaluation of the business investment plan of the investor, or sectoral and local development investment efficiency without developing a point scale for such fixed criteria.

Article 45. Standards for capacity and experience evaluation

1. Standards for evaluation of capacity in term of finance, capital arrangement ability include the following criteria:

a) Requirements on equity, determined based on the total investment capital of the project;

For projects specified in Clause 4 Article 1 of this Decree, which use land, requirements on minimum equity shall be determined in accordance with the land law. For other projects, requirements on minimum equity shall be determined according to specialized laws. In case specialized laws do not provide any regulations, the the minimum equity must not be lower than 15% of the total investment capital.

In case of joint-name, the join-name investor's equity must be equal to total equity of joint-name members, each joint-name member must satisfy the requirement corresponding to the equity contribution according to the joint-name agreement. The investor leading a joint-name must have an equity holding rate of at least 30%, while each joint-name member must have an equity holding rate of at least 15%.

b) Requirements on capital arrangement ability of the investor; in case of join-name, the loan capital of the joint-name investor is equal to total loan capital of joint-name members;

c) Requirements on financial criteria (if any).

2. Standards for evaluation of experience in implementing similar projects based on sectors; investment scale; duration and level of completion of works and projects; equity holding rate of the investor in similar projects, including the following criteria:

a) Experience in investing and building similar works and projects (for projects with construction components); experience in investing in similar projects (for projects without construction components);

b) Experience in operating or conducting business relating to similar works and projects;

c) Requirements on experience of key personnel, special-use equipment (if any);

d) Requirements on investor’s declaration of history of disputes, complaints and lawsuits regarding projects that have been and are being performed; assessment of competent agencies regarding the investor’s operations in the province or centrally-run city where the project is implemented (if any).

3. In case of joint-name, the joint-name investor's experience in performing similar projects specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall be equal to total projects implemented by joint-name members.

4. The investor may use its/his/her partners’ experience to prove the experience in performing similar projects specified in Clause 2 of this Article. The partner shall be an organization signing a contract with the investor to participate in implementing a business investment project and be proposed by the investor in the bid dossier on the basis of requirements on experience as prescribed in the bidding dossier.

5. In case the project applies domestic bidding form, but the application of advanced techniques, technologies and international management experience needs to be promoted, the bidding dossier may provide regulations to allow the domestic investors to use a partner that is a foreign contractor.

6. For a business investment project that follows the order and procedures specified in Article 43 of this Decree, standards for capacity and experience evaluation must be updated and supplemented on the basis of the approved preliminary requirements on capacity and experience, provisions of Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article, and documents specified in Article 12 of this Decree.

Article 46. Standards for evaluation of investors’ business investment plans

1. Standard for technical evaluation:

a) Requirements on the conformity of the plan for investment or construction of project works of the investor (including scope, scale and preliminary total costs for project implementation, duration, progress and construction investment phasing), for plannings and plans approved by the competent authorities as prescribed by the law on planning and construction, specialized law and relevant laws; programs and plans for development of houses, plans for renovation and construction of condominiums in accordance with the housing law (for social housing investment projects, investment projects of renovation and re-construction of condominiums);

b) Requirements on the conformity of architecture design proposed by the investors, including requirements on main functions of the project, technical infrastructure, architecture, and landscape to ensure synchronization with the overall work (for projects with construction components), except for the provisions in Point g of this Clause;

c) Requirements on feasibility of technology application solutions proposed by investors; technology transfer requirements (if any); requirements on conformity with regulations on technology criteria for domestic solid waste treatment as prescribed by the law on environmental protection (for investment projects to construct domestic solid waste treatment works);

d) Requirements on conformity with investment and business conditions in accordance with the investment laws and specialized laws (if any); requirements on phasing plans, operation and business organization of investors;

dd) Requirements on the compatibility of the betting system investment plan and betting business plan with the provisions of law on horse racing, greyhound racing and international football betting business (for international football betting business projects; horse and greyhound racing investment projects, including business activities of betting on horse racing and greyhound racing);

e) Requirements on the quality of goods and services provided by investors (for investment projects for construction of domestic solid waste treatment works, projects in the field of socialization encouragement); specialized technical requirements, scope and scale of dredging, volume of recovered products (for projects of dredging in seaport waters and inland waterways combined with product recovery); requirements on clean water quality, reducing water loss rate and ensuring safe, continuous and stable water supply (for investment projects for construction of water supply projects and water systems water supply);

g) Requirements on main functions of the project, technical infrastructure, architecture, and landscape to ensure synchronization with the overall work (for projects for specialized aviation services at airports and aerodromes with construction components).

2. Social evaluation standard:

a) Requirements on plans, expenses for compensation, support and resettlement (if any);

b) Requirements on the ability to contribute to social welfare for local workers through the use of local workers, human resource training, average income level and average income growth rate;

c) Requirements on meeting the needs and benefits of health care, education and training benefits for people (for projects that encourage socialization in the fields of health and education).

3. Environmental evaluation standard:

a) Requirements on the conformity of the works, goods and services provided with the provisions of environmental law; requirements on solutions for dredging seaport waters and inland waterway waters to limit recovery of products affecting seaport waters and inland waterway waters (for projects of dredging in seaport waters and inland waterways combined with product recovery);

b) Requirement on application of solutions to minimize adverse impacts on the environment (for projects in the group with a high risk of adverse impacts on the environment as prescribed by the law on environmental protection);

c) Requirements for environmental protection, clean production, and energy saving;

d) Requirements on land and resource use rates; ability to preserve or improve land, resources, and natural ecosystems in the project area.

Article 47. Standards for evaluation of sectoral and local development investment efficiency

Based on requirements for development of sectors, fields and localities, standards for evaluation of sectoral and local development investment efficiency shall be developed on the basis of one of the following standards:

1. Value in money paid to the state budget, for projects of dredging in seaport waters and inland waterways combined with product recovery. In which:

a) Minimum value of the difference between dredging costs and the value of recovered products in case the project's dredging costs are less than or equal to the value of recovered products;

b) Maximum value of the difference between dredging costs and the value of recovered products in case the project's dredging costs are greater than the value of recovered products.

2. The minimum value in money paid to the state budget shall be determined based on the specific requirements and criteria specified in specialized laws.

3. The minimum revenue ratio shared by the investor shall be equivalent to the value in money paid to the state budget according to the business investment plan used to prepare bidding dossiers for projects for specialized aviation services at airports and aerodromes that generate revenue.

4. Price bracket and maximum price shall comply with the law on prices and specialized laws.

5. The minimum number of technical infrastructure, social infrastructure and public space serving the community surrounding the project and accompanying operating services shall comply with the demands of localities where the projects are implemented.

6. The minimum value of social assistance activities for social protection beneficiaries or the minimum value of other social welfare activities that the investor contributes to the locality, in conformity with demands of the locality where the project is implemented.

7. Maximum threshold for total emissions of toxic substances shall comply with the law on environmental protection.

The values and ratios specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article are independent of the investor's obligations to the state budget as prescribed by law.

Article 48. Principles of approval of winning investors

1. An investor shall be considered and proposed to be the bid winner if meeting the following conditions:

a) Having a valid bid dossier;

b) Satisfying the requirements on capacity and experience;

c) Satisfying the requirements on business investment plan;

d) Satisfying the requirements on sectoral and local development investment efficiency;

dd) Having the highest general scores on capacity, experience, business investment plan and sectoral and local development investment efficiency.

2. For investors that are not selected, notices of investor selection results must clearly state the reason for not winning.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Article 49. Establishment of enterprises for implementation of the business investment projects of bid-winning investors

1. A bid-winning investor may establish an enterprise to implement a business investment project or to directly implement the project. A foreign investor winning the bid must establish an enterprise to implement the project. The establishment and organization of management, operation and dissolution of an enterprise shall comply with the law on enterprises, investment and relevant laws.

2. In case of wishing to establish an enterprise to implement a business investment project in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article, the investor must propose such in the bid dossier.

3. An enterprise established by the investor in accordance with Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article has the following rights and obligations:

a) 100% of charter capital of the enterprise must be held by the bid-winning investor;

b) Inheriting the rights and obligations to implement the business investment project committed in the bid dossier and contract by the bid-winning investor;

c) Satisfying the conditions for establishment and operating in accordance with the law on enterprises, investment, construction, land and specialized laws;

d) Not transferring the business investment project when the conditions specified in Clause 2 Article 76 of the Bidding Law and conditions as prescribed by the law on investment and specialized laws are not satisfied.

4. The bid-winning investor may contribute capital, or increase charter capital of the enterprise to implement other business investment projects (if any) without affecting rights and obligations committed in the bid dossier and contract.

5. In case of carrying out activities specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article gives rise to financial obligations to the State in accordance with relevant laws, the bid-winning investor and related parties must fulfill obligations.

Article 50. Implementation of the business investment projects of bid-winning investors

1. After completing the compensation, support and resettlement of the project's land area, the bid-winning investor or enterprise established under Article 49 of this Decree shall be allocated land, leased land, and determined land use levy and land rental in accordance with the land law.

2. The bid-winning investor and enterprise established by the bid-winning investor shall implement the business investment project in accordance with the contract, law on enterprises, investment, construction, land and relevant laws.

Article 51. Implementation of business investment projects by investors approved under the law on investment

1. The investor approved under Point b Clause 1 Article 42 of this Decree shall be allocated or leased land, determined land use levy or land rental in accordance with the land law and Clause 1 Article 50 of this Decree.

2. The investor approved under Point b Clause 1 Article 42 of this Decree shall implement the business investment project according to the dossier of request for approval of investor and decision on approval of the investor, the law on enterprises, investment, construction, land and relevant laws.

Chapter VII

CONTENTS OF APPRAISAL, APPRAISAL AND APPROVAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE PROCESS OF INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 52. Appraisal of a bidding dossier

1. A dossier submitted for appraisal and approval must comprise:

a) The bid solicitor’s written request for approval of the bidding dossier;

b) The draft bidding dossier;

c) The copy of the decision on investment policy approval (for projects subject to investment policy approval in accordance with the investment law), or a written approval of the business investment project information (for projects not subject to investment policy approval);

d) Other documents as prescribed by specialized law and relevant laws.

2. Appraisal contents include:

a) Checking legal bases and documents serving as grounds for making the bidding dossier;

b) Checking the conformity of the bidding dossier with the size, objectives, scope of work and implementation period of the project; and the bidding dossier's compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws;

c) Considering other divergent opinions (if any) of organizations and individuals involved in making the bidding dossier;

d) Other related contents.

3. Appraisal report contents include:

a) An overview of the project information, and legal bases for making the bidding dossier;

b) Summary opinions of relevant agencies and units (if any);

c) Remarks and opinions of the appraising team on contents specified in Clause 2 of this Article; opinions agreeing or disagreeing with contents of the draft bidding dossier;

d) Recommendations and petitions of the appraising team about the approval of the bidding dossier; proposals on measures for handling of cases in which the bidding dossier is incompliant with the bidding law and other relevant laws; recommendations in cases where there are insufficient grounds for approval of the bidding dossier;

dd) Other opinions (if any).

4. Before signing in the appraisal report, the appraising team shall hold a meeting between the parties to discuss and resolve issues with different opinions of the bidding dossier (if any).

Article 53. Appraisal of investor selection results

1. A dossier submitted for appraisal and approval must comprise:

a) The bid solicitor's written request for approval of contractor selection results;

b) The expert team’s report on results of evaluation of bid dossiers;

c) Copies of the bidding dossier, record of bid closing and opening, bid

dossiers of investors and other relevant documents.

2. Appraisal contents include:

a) Checking documents used as the basis for organizing the bidding for investor selection;

b) Examining the compliance with regulations on time limits during the organization of bidding for investor selection;

c) Examining the evaluation of bid dossiers; the observance of the bidding law and other relevant laws in the course of evaluation of bid dossiers;

d) Considering divergent opinions (if any) between the bid solicitor and expert team; among individuals in the expert team;

dd) Other relevant contents.

3. Appraisal report contents include:

a) Summary of the project, legal bases for organizing the bidding for investor selection;

b) Summary of implementation organization and proposals of the bid solicitor on investor selection results;

c) Summary opinions of relevant agencies and units (if any);

d) Remarks and opinions of the appraising team on contents specified in Clause 2 of this Article; ensuring competitiveness, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency, and responsibility for explanation during the bidding process for investor selection; opinions agreeing or disagreeing with investor selection results;

dd) Recommendations and petitions of the appraising team about the approval of investor selection results; proposals on measures for handling of cases of noncompliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws during the bidding for investor selection; recommendations in cases where there are insufficient grounds for approval of investor selection results;

e) Other opinions (if any).

Article 54. Responsibilities of Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees and Heads of the Economic Zone Management Boards

1. To approve results of invitation for expression of interest, results of investor selection.

2. To approve dossiers of invitation for expression of interest.

3. To approve bidding dossiers or authorize the head of an agency under a ministry, ministerial-level agency; specialized agency or agency under the provincial-level People's Committee, Economic Zone Management Board; or the district-level People's Committee to approve bidding dossiers.

4. To perform other tasks under the responsibility of competent persons prescribed in Article 77 of the Bidding Law.

Article 55. Responsibilities of heads of agencies under ministries, ministerial-level agencies; specialized agencies and agencies under provincial-level People's Committees, Economic Zone Management Boards; or district-level People's Committees

1. To perform the tasks under the responsibility of bid solicitors as prescribed in Article 75 of the Bidding Law; to approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements.

2. To perform the tasks under the responsibility of the party inviting the expression of interest as prescribed in Clause 4 Article 36 of this Decree.

3. To perform other tasks related to investor selection as authorized by the competent authorities.

Article 56. Responsibilities of appraising teams

1. Provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall appraise:

a) Bidding dossiers for projects for which chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees act as competent persons, except for the cases prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Investor selection results, for projects for which chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees act as competent persons.

2. Agencies and units assigned the appraisal tasks by the ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies or heads of Economic Zone Management Boards shall organize the appraisal of the following contents:

a) Bidding dossiers for projects for which ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies or heads of Economic Zone Management Boards act as competent persons, except for the cases prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Investor selection plans and investor selection results, for projects for which ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies or heads of Economic Zone Management Boards act as competent persons.

3. In case the bid solicitor is authorized to approve bidding dossiers in accordance with Point d Clause 2 Article 79 of the Bidding Law, and Clause 3 Article 54 of this Decree, the bid solicitor shall establish an appraising team or assign tasks to an affiliated unit to organize the appraisal of the contents odd bidding dossiers.

4. When organizations or individuals assigned to perform the appraisal task are incapable, a capable and experienced consultancy organization shall be selected to conduct the appraisal.

Chapter VIII

HANDLING OF CASES AND INSPECTION, SUPERVISION OF BIDDING ACTIVITIES IN INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 57. Handling of cases in the investor selection process

1. In case no investor submits a dossier of registration for project implementation or a bid dossier by the bid closing time, the party inviting the expression of interest or the bid solicitor shall report such to a competent person for him/her to consider and:

a) Permit the extension of the deadline for bid closing for no more than 30 days;

b) Decide to cancel the notice of invitation for expression of interest, notice of invitation for bids, and at the same time request the bid solicitor to modify the dossier of invitation for expression of interest or bidding dossier and organize the investor selection again.

2. In case fewer than 3 investors submit dossiers of registration for project implementation or bid dossiers by the bid closing time, the party inviting the expression of interest or the bid solicitor shall report such to a competent person for him/her to consider and settle within 4 hours after the time of bid closing in either of the following ways:

a) Permitting the extension of the time of bid closing, at the same time, reviewing and modifying dossiers of invitation for expression of interest or bidding dossiers (if necessity) in order to allow more investors to register to implement the project or participate in the bidding. In this case, the new time of bid closing and corresponding deadlines shall be clearly specified for investors to modify or supplement their submitted dossiers of registration for project implementation or bid dossiers. In case of modification of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest or bid dossiers, the investors that have submitted dossiers of registration for project implementation or bid dossiers may modify, replace or withdraw their submitted dossiers;

b) Permitting the immediate opening of bids for evaluation.

3. If detecting that a bidding dossier contains contents leading to unclear or different understandings in the course of evaluation of bid dossiers, or causing falsification of investor selection results, the bid solicitor shall report such to a competent person for consideration and handling according to the following steps:

a) Modifying or clarifying the bidding dossier, ensuring not contravention of the decision on approval of investment policy (for projects subject to investment policy approval as prescribed by the law on investment), documents approving the project information (for projects not subject to investment policy approval), the bidding law and specialized laws;

b) Notifying all investors that have submitted bid dossiers of the modification of the bidding dossier and requesting them to additionally submit their bid dossiers with respect to modified contents or other contents of the bid dossiers if such contents are impacted by the modified contents of the bidding dossier (if necessary);

c) Organizing reevaluation of bid dossiers.

4. In case after selecting a shortlist for a business investment project applying restricted bidding, if fewer than 3 investors are qualified, the bid solicitor shall report such to the competent person for consideration and approval of the shortlist with fewer than 3 investors.

5. In case after evaluating bid dossiers, there are two or more investors with highest and equal general score, the investor with the higher score in terms of sectoral and local development investment efficiency shall be considered and proposed to win the bid.

6. At the time of contract signing, if the bid-winning investor fails to satisfy the requirements on technical and financial capacity to implement the business investment project as required by the bidding dossier, the investor ranked next shall be invited to contract negotiation and finalization. In this case, the invited investor shall restore the validity of the bid dossier and bid security if the bid dossier has become invalid and the bid security has been refunded or released.

7. In case a joint-name investor wins the bid but has not yet signed a project contract or the project contract has been signed but not yet taken effect, when there is any change to the equity contribution ratio in the joint-name, the bid solicitor shall evaluate and update information about the investor’s capacity in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree, ensuring that the investor is qualified and ensuring the minimum equity holding rate of each member in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree. After updating the capacity information, the bid solicitor shall report such to the competent person for consideration and decision for further procedures as prescribed in this Decree.

8. In case there is an incident leading to the Vietnam National E-Procurement System not being able to operate and the troubleshooting is expected to take place in a long time, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall notify on the System the method of organizing investor selection during the such period, including organizing the selection of investors offline.

9. In case the party inviting the expression of interest, the bid solicitor shall upload information other than that approved before the time of bid closing on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, the party inviting the expression of interest or the bid solicitor shall report such to the competent person for cancellation of the uploaded information for re-posting.

10. In addition to the cases specified from Clause 1 thru Clause 9 of this Article, the party inviting the expression of interest shall report any circumstances arising in the investor selection process to a competent person for consideration and decision in adherence to the bidding’s objectives of competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency, and explanation responsibility.

Article 58. Inspection of bidding for investor selection

1. Competence to inspect the bidding for investor selection:

a) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall assume the prime responsibility for periodically inspecting bidding activities and investor selection nationwide;

b) Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Economic Zone Management Boards shall assume the prime responsibility for organizing the inspection of bidding for investor selection for projects under their competence;

c) Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall assume the prime responsibility for organizing the inspection of bidding for investor selection for projects under their competence. The provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall assist Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees to organize the inspection of bidding for investor selection in localities.

2. Contents of the inspection of bidding for investor selection:

a) The issuance of documents guiding and directing the selection of investors;

b) Announcement of business investment projects (for projects subject to approval of investment policy the decision on investment policy approval); formulation, approval and disclosure of information on business investment projects (for projects not subject to investment policy approval);

c) Preparation and approval of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest; evaluation and approval of results of invitation for expression of interest;

d) Formulation and approval of bidding dossiers; evaluation and approval of investor selection results;

dd) Contents of the signed contracts and compliance with legal bases during the contract signing and performance;

e) Other necessary contents.

3. Principles of organization, forms, methods, order and procedures for inspection of the implementation of relevant regulations in Decrees detailing a number of articles, and measures to implement the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection.

Article 59. Supervision of bidding for investor selection

1. The supervision of investor selection as prescribed at Point a Clause 3 Article 86 of the Bidding Law shall be integrated with the supervision of investment projects or general investment supervision of the state agency managing the investment or registration agency in charge of investment in accordance with the law on investment.

2. Competence to supervise the bidding for investor selection:

a) Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Economic Zone Management Boards shall assume the prime responsibility for organizing the supervision of bidding for investor selection for projects under their competence or management;

b) Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall assume the prime responsibility for organizing the supervision of bidding for investor selection for projects under their competence in localities. The provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall assist Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees to organize the supervision of bidding for investor selection in their localities.

3. Contents of supervision of investor selection:

a) Announcement of business investment projects (for projects subject to approval of investment policy the decision on investment policy approval); formulation, approval and disclosure of information on business investment projects (for projects not subject to investment policy approval);

b) Formulation, appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers;

c) Evaluation of bid dossiers;

d) Appraisal of investor selection results;

dd) Contract negotiation, finalization and signing results.

4. After the contract term, the agency competent to perform the state management regarding investment shall supervise the investment project, or carry out overall investment supervision in accordance with the law on investment, ensuring that the investors fully follow commitments in the implementation of the investment project.

Chapter IX

ONLINE SELECTION OF INVESTORS

Article 60. Roadmap for application of the online investor selection method

1. From January 1, 2025: Carry out the procedures for invitation for expression of interest in the country in accordance with Article 61 of this Decree on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System (hereinafter referred to as the System).

2. From July 1, 2025: Carry out online selection of investors for business investment projects for which open bidding or restricted bidding is organized according to the single-stage single-envelope method or single-stage two-envelope method in accordance with Article 62 of this Decree on the System.

3. For business investment projects subject to international bidding, online selection of investors shall not be applied, provided that the project information shall be disclosed on the System in accordance with Clause 2 Article 7 of the Bidding Law.

Article 61. Procedures for invitation for expression of interest

1. Electronic notices of invitation for expression of interest, distribution of electronic dossiers of invitation for expression of interest:

a) Electronic notices of invitation for expression of interest (hereinafter referred to as E-NIEIs) shall be posted on the System in accordance with Clause 2 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

b) Electronic dossiers of invitation for expression of interest (hereinafter referred to as E-DIEIs) shall be distributed at the same time as E-NIEIs on the System. The party inviting the expression of interest shall upload free of charge and complete files of E-DIEIs on the System;

c) The modification, cancellation of E-NIEIs shall only be carried out before the deadline for online submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation, except for the case there is no investor submitting electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation.

2. Modification and clarification of E-DIEIs; extension of the time limits for submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation:

a) In case of modifying the E-DIEIs after distribution, the party inviting the expression of interest must post on the System the decision on modification together with the modifications of E-DIEIs, and the modified E-DIEIs.

b) Clarification of E-DIEIs:

If needing clarification of an E-DIEI, at least 5 working days before the deadline for submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation, the investor shall send a request for clarification to the party inviting the expression of interest via the System for consideration and settlement.

Documents clarifying an E-DIEI shall be posted on the System at least 2 working days before the deadline for submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation. Clarification of an E-DIEI must not be contravention of the contents of an E-DIEI already posted on the System.

If the clarification of an E-DIEI leads to modification of the E-DIEI, such modification must comply with Point a of this Clause.

c) In case of extending the time limit for submission of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation on the System, the party inviting the expression of interest shall upload the notice of extension and the decision on approval of extension on the System, clearly stating the reason for extension and the new bid closing time.

3. Submission, modification, replacement and withdrawal of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation:

a) Submission of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation:

The investor shall create and attach an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation on the System. In case of joint-name, the head of the joint-name, or a joint-name member who is assigned in the joint-name agreement shall submit an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation, and concurrently attach a joint-name agreement on the System.

The System shall notify the investor the status of submission of the electronic dossier of registration for project implementation (successful or unsuccessful) via the email address registered by the investor. Information recorded on the System shall be used as a basis for settlement of petitions or disputes (if any), including information about the sender, the receiver, sending time, sending status, the number of files attached on the System when the investor submits its/his/her electronic dossier of registration for project implementation.

b) Clarification of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation:

The investor shall clarify is/her/his electronic dossier of registration for project implementation at requests of the party inviting the expression of interest, or self-clarify or supplement documents proving the legal status, capacity and experience when the investor detects that the electronic dossier of registration for project implementation lacks of information or documents on its/her/his capacity and experience which have not yet been submitted together with the dossier. The clarification of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation shall be carried out on the System.

c) Modification, replacement and withdrawal of an electronic dossier of registration for project implementation:

After submission, the investor may modify, replace or withdraw its/her/his electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation. The investor is not allowed to withdraw dossiers that have been submitted after the deadline for submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation.

4. Bid opening:

Electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation shall be opened and decoded for evaluation. The records of opening electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation shall be publicized on the System within 2 hours after the time of bid closing.

5. Evaluation of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation:

After the deadline for submission of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation, the party inviting the expression of interest shall access in the System and evaluate electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation submitted by investors.

6. After obtaining results of evaluation of electronic dossiers of registration for project implementation, the approved results of invitation for expression of interest, including the list of investors satisfying requirements of E-DIEIs shall be posted on the System.

Article 62. Procedures for online investor selection

1. Online bid invitation and distribution of bidding dossiers:

a) Electronic notices of invitation for bids (hereinafter referred to as E-NIBs) shall be posted on the System in accordance with Clause 2 Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

b) Electronic bidding dossiers (hereinafter referred to as E-BiDs) shall be distributed on the System at the same time as E-NIBs. The bid solicitor shall upload free of charge and complete files of E-BiDs on the System.

c) The modification or cancellation of E-NIEs shall be carried out only before the time of bid closing, unless no investor submits E-BDs.

2. Modification and clarification of E-BiDs:

a) In case of modifying the E-BiDs after distribution, the bid solicitor must post on the System the decision on modification together with the modifications of E-BiDs, and the modified E-BiDs.

b) Clarification of E-BiDs:

If needing clarification of E-BiDs, the investor shall send a request for clarification to the bid solicitor via the System within the time limit specified in the E-BiDs for consideration and settlement.

Clarifying documents shall be posted on the System at least 2 working days before the time of bid closing. Clarification of E-BiDs must not be contravention of the contents of E-BiDs already posted on the System.

If the receipt of the request for clarification of E-BiDs leads to modification of these E-BiDs, such modification must comply with Point a of this Clause.

c) In case of extending the time limit for submission of E-BDs on the System, the bid solicitor shall upload the notice of extension on the System, clearly stating the reason for extension and the new bid closing time.

3. Submission, modification, replacement and withdrawal of E-BDs:

a) Submission of E-BDs:

The investor shall create and attach E-BDs on the System, implement electronic bid security (if any) on the System.

In case of joint-name, the head of the joint-name, or a joint-name member who is assigned in the joint-name agreement shall submit an E-BD, and concurrently attach a joint-name agreement on the System.

The System shall notify the investor the status of submission of the E-BD (successful or unsuccessful) via the email address registered by the investor. Information recorded on the System shall be used as a basis for settlement of petitions or disputes (if any), including information about the sender, the receiver, sending time, sending status, the number of files attached on the System when the investor submits its/his/her E-BD.

b) Clarification of E-BDs:

The investor shall clarify its/her/his E-BD at requests of the bid solicitor, or self-clarify or supplement documents proving the legal status, capacity and experience when the investor detects that the E-BD lacks of information or documents on its/her/his capacity and experience which have not yet been submitted together with the dossier. The clarification of an E-BD shall be carried out on the System.

c) Modification, replacement and withdrawal of an E-BD:

After submission, the investor may modify, replace or withdraw its/her/his E-BD. The investor is not allowed to withdraw dossiers that have been submitted after the time of bid closing.

4. Bid opening:

The bid solicitor shall open and decode E-BDs for evaluation. The records of opening E-BDs shall be publicized on the System within 2 hours after the time of bid closing.

5. Evaluation of E-BDs:

After the deadline for submission of E-BDs, the bid solicitor shall access in the System and evaluate E-BDs submitted by investors.

6. After evaluating E-BDs, the investor selection results shall be approved and publicized on the System within the time limit prescribed in Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

Article 63. National database on investors

1. National database on investors on the System includes:

a) Information about investors’ legal status;

b) Information on capacity and experience of investors;

c) Information about handling of investors’ violations against bidding laws;

d) Other information about investors.

2. The investors shall register on the System in accordance with Point d Clause 1 Article 5 of the Bidding Law before the investor selection results are approved, and regularly update and take responsibility for the accuracy of the information specified at Points a and b Clause 1 of this Article. The order for registration and updating of the investors’ information on the System shall comply with corresponding regulations in the Government's Decree on detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law regarding investor selection.

3. Information specified at Point c Clause 1 of this Article shall be uploaded by the competent agencies on the System in accordance with Point b Clause 2 and Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

Chapter X
IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 64. Amending Clause 3 Article 5 of the Government’s Decree No. 52/2020/ND-CP dated April 27, 2020, on investment in building and commercial operation of golf courses

“3. The determination of forms of selection of investors to implement golf course projects must comply with the bidding law, land law and relevant laws.”

Article 65. Transitional provisions

1. For projects of which the investment policy is approved by the competent authority, or of which the project list is approved by the competent authority (for projects not subject to investment policy approval), but until the effective date of the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience have not yet been issued, the following provisions shall be complied with:

a) For projects applying the procedures for invitation for expression of interest under this Decree, the organization of invitation for expression of interest and distribution of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest shall comply with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree;

b) For projects not applying the procedures for invitation for expression of interest under this Decree, the organization of bidding for selection of investors shall comply with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree.

2. For projects for which the notices of invitation for expression of interest have been distributed on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, but until the effective date of the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, the results of evaluating dossiers of registration for project implementation have not yet been approved, the dossiers of registration for project implementation shall continue to be evaluated according to the issued preliminary requirements on capacity and experience and relevant laws in force at the time of approval of preliminary requirements on capacity and experience. After obtaining the results of preliminary evaluation of capacity and experience, the following order and procedures shall be carried out according to any of the following cases:

a) For projects in industries and fields that do not have legal documents detailing the investor selection before the time the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree take effect, the preparation, appraisal, approval of bidding dossiers shall be organized and the following order and procedures shall be carried out in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree;

b) For projects in industries and fields that have had legal documents detailing the investor selection before the time Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree take effect, while the line ministries have not issued any replacing, amending or supplementing legal documents, the agencies competent to make decision shall continue preparing, appraising and approving bidding dossiers in accordance with legal documents providing detailed guidance of such industries and fields or in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree.

3. For projects of which the results of preliminary evaluation of the investors’ capacity and experience have been approved, but until the effective date of the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, the bidding dossiers have not yet been distributed, any of the following cases shall be applied:

a) For projects in industries and fields that do not have legal documents detailing the investor selection before the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree take effect, the preparation, appraisal, approval of bidding dossiers shall be organized and the following order and procedures shall be carried out in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree;

b) For projects in industries and fields that have had legal documents detailing the investor selection before the time Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree take effect, while the line ministries have not issued any replacing, amending or supplementing legal documents, the agencies competent to make decision shall continue preparing, appraising and approving bidding dossiers in accordance with legal documents providing detailed guidance of such industries and fields or in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree.

4. For projects for which the bidding dossiers have been distributed, but until the effective date of the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, the results of evaluating bid dossiers have not yet been approved, the bid dossiers shall continue to be evaluated according to the distributed bidding dossiers and relevant laws in force at the time of preliminary approval of bidding dossiers. The contract conclusion and performance shall comply with the law in force at the time of approving the bidding dossiers.

5. In case the project of which the investment policy has been approved under decision (for projects subject to investment policy approval) or project list has been approved (for projects not subject to investment policy approval) or the bidding dossiers have been distributed or investor selection results are available and the approval document has the content that the winning-bid investor will reimburse investor selection costs in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 43/ 2013/QH13, the refund principle shall continue to be followed according to approved documents.

6. For golf course projects of which the investment policy has been aproved by the competent authority, with the request for organization of investor selection in accordance with the bidding law, but until the effective date of the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, the invitation for expression of interest has not been issued, or preliminary requirements on capacity and experience have not yet been issued, the carrying out of procedures for investor selection shall be suspended in accordance with Article 64 of this Decree. In case where the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience or bidding dossiers have been issued or distributed before the effective date of this Decree, the provisions of Clause 2, Clause 3 or Clause 4 of this Article shall continue to be complied with.

7. Projects ineligible for transition as prescribed at Clauses 1 thru 6 of this Article, which are implemented from January 1, 2024 until the effective date of this Decree in accordance with the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and specialized laws, are not required to be re-implemented for compliance with corresponding provisions of this Decree.

Article 66. Effect

1. This Decree takes effect from the date of its signing.

2. From the effective date of this Decree, the provisions of Point c Clause 1 Article 1 and Article 16 of the Government’s Decree No. 25/2020/ND-CP dated February 28, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding investor selection, and the provisions of Clause 7 Article 108 of the Government's Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Investment Law, cease to be effective.

3. In cases where the specialized laws stipulate that the bidding organization for a project shall be carried out after the effective date of this Decree, the selection of investors to implement a business investment project shall be carried out according to the order and procedures specified in the Bidding Law and this Decree; methods and standards for evaluating dossiers of registration for project implementation, bidding dossiers, and other contents (if any) shall comply with the specialized laws, ensuring competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency and accountability.

Article 67. Implementation responsibility

1. The Minister of Planning and Investment shall issue document and dossier templates in the online and offline selection of investors.

2. Line ministers shall:

a) Review legal documents relating to bidding for selection of investors to implement business investment projects under the competence; timely amend, supplement and replace them to ensure they will not be contrary to the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 and this Decree;

b) Organize to review and assess the application of standards and criteria for evaluating investors’ business investment project plans, standards and criteria for evaluating the sectoral and local development investment efficiency and the performance of business investment contracts for promulgation or submission to the competent authority for issuance of documents providing implementation measures appropriate to the specific conditions of the industries and fields within the management in case of necessity.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities shall, within their ambit of functions and powers, implement this Decree.

* All Appendices are not translated herein.