Decree No. 25/2020/ND-CP detailing the Bidding Law regarding investor selection

DECREE

Detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding investor selection^[1]

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

Pursuant to the November 26, 2013 Bidding Law;

Pursuant to the June 18, 2014 Law on Investment;

Pursuant to the June 13, 2019 Law on Public Investment;

Pursuant to the November 29, 2013 Land Law;

At the proposal of the Minister of Planning and Investment;

The Government promulgates the Decree detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding investor selection.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. Scope of regulation

This Decree details a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding selection of investors for implementation of projects, including:

a/ Investment projects in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) under the law on investment in the form of PPP;

b/ Investment projects using land for construction of commercial houses; trade and service works; or multi-functional works and complexes for commercial purposes;

c/ Projects not mentioned at Points a and b of this Clause but subject to bidding in accordance with relevant specialized laws and the law on mobilization of social resources.

2. Subjects of application

a/ Organizations and individuals engaged or involved in the selection of investors for implementation of the investment projects specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

b/ Organizations and individuals carrying out investor selection activities that are not regulated by this Decree may optionally apply this Decree but shall specifically determine articles and clauses to be implemented under the Bidding Law, this Decree and other relevant laws, ensuring equality, transparency and economic efficiency.

Article 2. Assurance of appeal in bidding

An investor participating in bidding shall be considered legally and financially independent from the consultancy contractor, competent state agency and bid solicitor defined in Clause 4, Article 6 of the Bidding Law when satisfying the following conditions:

1. The investor has no shares or capital contributions with the contractor providing consultancy on:

a/ Verification or appraisal of prefeasibility study reports, feasibility study reports, design dossier and cost estimates;

b/ Making and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification or bidding dossiers, evaluation of dossiers of participation in prequalification or bids, or appraisal of prequalification results or investor selection results.

2. The investor and consultancy contractor specified in Clause 1 of this Article each does not share 30% or more of shares or capital contributions of another organization or individual.

In case the investor participates in bidding as a partner or the consultancy contractor is selected as a partner, the holding rate of other organizations and individuals in the partnership shall be determined to be equal to the total rate of shares or capital contributions of all partners.

3. The holding rate of the competent state agency or bid solicitor does not exceed 49% of shares or capital contributions of the investor. In case the investor participates in bidding as a partner, the holding rate of the competent state agency and bid solicitor in the partnership shall be determined according to the following formula:

Of which:

X_i is the holding rate of the competent agency or bid solicitor in partner number i.

Y_i is the rate of capital contribution of partner number i as stated in the partnership agreement.

n is the number of partners in the partnership.

Article 3. Incentives in selection of investors for implementation of PPP projects 

In case an investor has an approved feasibility study report or prefeasibility study report (for hi-tech application projects), design and cost estimate (for projects implemented under build-transfer (BT) contracts or projects for which bidding is organized under a competent state agency’s decision on the basis of design and cost estimate), such investor is entitled to incentives in bidding when undergoing financial-commercial evaluation, specifically as follows:

1. In case the service price-based method is applied, if the investor is not entitled to incentives, an amount equal to 5% shall be added to its/his/her service price for comparison and ranking.

2. In case the state capital contribution-based method is applied, if the investor is not entitled to incentives, an amount equal to 5% shall be added to its/his/her proposed state capital contribution for comparison and ranking.

3. In case the social interest- or state interest-based method is applied, if the investor is entitled to incentives, an amount equal to 5% shall be added to its/his/her proposed state budget remittance or a period equal to 5% shall be reduced from its/his/her proposed contract performance duration for comparison and ranking.

4. In case a BT contract is applied, if the investor is entitled to incentives, an amount equal to 5% may be deducted from the bid after error correction or deviation adjustment minus price reduction (if any) proposed by the investor for comparison and ranking.

5. In case a combined method is applied, the investor is entitled to incentives in proportion stated in such method but the total value of incentives must not exceed 5%.

Article 4. Posting of bidding information

1. Responsibility to post bidding information in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System:

a/ Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and competent persons shall post the information specified at Points g and h, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

b/ Provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment, as focal points in managing PPP investment activities, shall post information on and lists of PPP projects and other relevant information specified at Points i and l, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

c/ Provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall post information on and lists of land-using investment projects, information on extension or change of duration registered for implementation of land-using investment projects (if any), and results of preliminary evaluation of capacity and experience of investors registering for implementation of land-using investment projects under Points i and l, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

d/ Bid solicitors shall post the information specified at Points a, b, c, d and dd, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law and information on change of the bid closing time (if any); and information on contracts of land-using PPP projects or investment projects specified at Point l, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

dd/ Investors shall post and update information on their capacity and experience to the database on investors under Point d, Clause 1, Article 5, and Point k, Clause 1, Article 8, of the Bidding Law.

2. For projects on the list of state secrets, the disclosure of their information must comply with the law on protection of state secrets.

3. If detecting invalid information, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall notify such in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System for information providers to modify and complete information for having it posted under regulations.

4. In addition to the responsibility to provide information prescribed at Point c, Clause 1 of this Article, provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall post information on land-using investment projects on their websites or an English-language newspaper distributed in Vietnam, for projects with the total estimated implementation expenditures (exclusive of the expense for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy or land rental) of VND 800,000,000,000 (eight hundred billion) or more.

5. In addition to the responsibility to provide information prescribed at Point d, Clause 1 of this Article, bid solicitors shall post notices of invitation to international prequalification or notices of invitation of international bids on their websites or an English-language newspaper distributed in Vietnam.

Article 5. Time limits for posting of bidding information

1. For the information specified at Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law, bid solicitors shall issue dossiers of invitation to prequalification or bidding dossiers within the time limit stated in notices of invitation to prequalification or notices of invitation for bids, which must be at least 3 working days from the first date such information is posted in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

2. For the information specified at Points a, d, dd, g, h, i and l, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law, organizations responsible for posting information shall post such information no later than 7 working days from the date relevant documents are issued.

3. Within 2 working days after organizations post the information specified at Points b, c, d, dd and g, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Bidding Law in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, the Bidding Newspaper shall post such information on 1 issue.

Article 6. Time limits in the process of investor selection

1. The time limit for appraising an investor selection plan is 20 days from the date of receipt of a complete dossier for approval; time limit for approving an investor selection plan is 10 days from the date of receipt of an appraisal report.

2. The time limit for an investor to prepare a dossier of its/his/her capacity and experience and to register for implementation of a land-using investment project is at least 30 days from the date the list of projects is posted.

3. A dossier of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossier, or dossier of requirements shall be issued after 3 working days from the first date the notice of invitation to prequalification or notice of invitation for bids is posted in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or the letter of invitation for bids is sent to before the bid closing time.

4. The time limit for preparing a dossier for participation in prequalification is at least 30 days from the first date the dossier of invitation to prequalification is issued to the bid closing date. Investors shall submit dossiers for participation in prequalification before the bid closing time.

5. The time limit for preparing a dossier of proposals is at least 30 days from the first date the dossier of requirements is issued to the bid closing date. Investors shall submit dossiers of proposals before the bid closing time.

6. The time limit for preparing a bid is at least 60 days, for national bidding, or 90 days, for international bidding, from the first date the bidding dossier is issued to the bid closing date. Investors shall submit bids before the bid closing time.

7. Documents modifying dossiers of invitation to prequalification shall be sent (by post or facsimile or via email or directly) to investors at least 10 days before the bid closing date. Documents modifying bidding dossiers shall be sent to the investors that have received such dossiers at least 15 days, for national bidding, or 25 days, for international bidding, before the bid closing date. Documents modifying dossiers of requirements shall be sent at least 10 days before the bid closing date. In case the time limit for sending documents modifying dossiers fails to satisfy the requirement specified in this Clause, the bid solicitor shall extend the bid closing time so as to ensure compliance with the time limit for sending documents modifying dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers or dossiers of requirements.

8. The time limit for the bid solicitor to send a notice of investor selection results to investors participating in bidding by post or facsimile is 5 working days after investor selection results are approved.

9. For projects subject to prequalification, a competent person or the head of a unit assigned to approve dossiers of invitation to prequalification or shortlists shall take responsibility for the progress of activities in the process of prequalification.

10. For other time limits in the process of bidding, competent persons shall make decisions according to the forms provided in Appendix I to this Decree and take responsibility for the progress and quality of activities in the process of investor selection.

Article 7. Expenses for investor selection

1. For national bidding, the selling price (tax-inclusive) of a set of bidding dossier or dossier of requirements must not exceed VND 20,000,000 (twenty million); for a set of dossier of invitation to prequalification, such price must not exceed VND 5,000,000 (five million). For international bidding, the selling price (tax-inclusive) of a set of bidding dossier or dossier of requirements must not exceed VND 30,000,000 (thirty million); for a set of dossier of invitation to prequalification, such price must not exceed VND 10,000,000 (ten million).

2. Expenses for making and appraisal of a dossier of invitation to prequalification; evaluation of a dossier for participation in prequalification; and appraisal of prequalification results:

a/ The expense for making a dossier of invitation to prequalification is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million);

b/ The expense for appraising a dossier of invitation to prequalification is 0.01% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 50,000,000 (fifty million);

c/ The expense for evaluating a dossier for participation in prequalification is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million);

d/ The expense for appraising prequalification results is 0.01% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 50,000,000 (fifty million).

3. Expenses for making and appraisal of a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements; evaluation of a bid or dossier of proposals; and appraisal of investor selection results:

a/ The expense for making a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements is 0.05% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million);

b/ The expense for appraising each content of a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements and the investor selection result is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million);

c/ The expense for evaluating a bidding dossier or dossier of proposals is 0.03% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 10,000,000 (ten million) and VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million).

4. For projects with similar contents the implementation of which is organized by the same competent state agency and the same bid solicitor, and projects for which investor selection has to be organized again, expenses for making and appraising dossiers of invitation to prequalification; and for making and appraising bidding dossiers or dossiers of requirements must not exceed 50% of the expenses specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article. If investor selection is organized again, the expense for such selection shall be included in estimated investment preparation costs.

5. The expenses specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article apply to cases in which tasks are directly performed by the competent state agency and bid solicitor. If the tasks specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article are performed by hired consultants, expenses shall be determined based on contents and scope of tasks, performance duration, capacity and experience of consultants, their salary norms as prescribed, and other factors.

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 amount.

6. The expense for the consultancy council to settle investors’ appeals about investor selection results is 0.02% of the total investment amount of the appeal-filing investor but must be between VND 20,000,000 (twenty million) and VND 200,000,000 (two hundred million).

7. The expense for posting of bidding information, expense for participation in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, and management and use of revenues from such expenses must comply with the guidance of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

8. The management and use of the revenues and expenses specified in Clauses 1 thru 6 of this Article must comply with the guidance of the Ministry of Finance.

Article 8. Time limits and expenses for investor selection for group-C PPP projects

1. Time limits for investor selection for group-C PPP projects:

a/ Time limit for appraising an investor selection plan is 10 days after the receipt of a complete dossier for approval; the time limit for approving an investor selection plan is 5 working days after the receipt of an appraisal report.

b/ A dossier of invitation to prequalification (if any), bidding dossier and dossier of requirements shall be issued after 3 working days from the first date the notice of invitation to prequalification or notice of invitation for bids is posted in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or the letter of invitation for bids is sent to before the bid closing time.

c/ The time limit for preparing a dossier for participation in prequalification is 10 days from the first date the dossier of invitation to prequalification is issued to the bid closing date. Investors shall submit dossiers for participation in prequalification before the bid closing time.

d/ The time limit for preparing a bid is 30 days, or for preparing a dossier of proposals is 15 days, from the first date the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements is issued to the bid closing date. Investors shall submit bids or dossiers of proposals before the bid closing time.

dd/ Documents modifying dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers or dossiers of requirements shall be sent (by post and facsimile or via email or directly) to the investors that have received such dossiers at least 3 working days before the bid closing date.

e/ The time limit for the bid solicitor to send by post or facsimile a notice of investor selection results to the investors participating in bidding is 5 working days after such results are approved.

g/ For projects subject to prequalification, a competent person or the head of a unit assigned to approve dossiers of invitation to prequalification and shortlists shall take responsibility for the progress of activities in the process of prequalification for selection of shortlists.

h/ For other time limits in the process of bidding, competent persons shall make decisions according to the form provided in Appendix I to this Decree and take responsibility for the progress and quality of activities in the process of investor selection.

2. Expenses for selection of investors for group-C PPP projects:

a/ The value of bid security must be between 0.5% and 1% of the total investment amount of a project; the value of contract performance security must be between 1% and 1.5% of the total investment amount of a project;

b/ The selling price (tax-inclusive) for a set of bidding dossier or dossier of requirements must not exceed VND 15,000,000 (fifteen million); for a set of dossier of invitation to prequalification, such price must not exceed VND 5,000,000 (five million);

c/ Expenses for making and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification; evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification; and appraisal of prequalification results:

- The expense for making a dossier of invitation to prequalification is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and VND 50,000,000 (fifty million);

- The expense for appraising a dossier of invitation to prequalification and prequalification results is 0.01% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and VND 25,000,000 (twenty-five million);

- The expense for evaluating a dossier for participation in prequalification is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and VND 50,000,000 (fifty million).

d/ Expenses for making and appraisal of bidding dossiers or dossiers of requirements; evaluation of bids or dossiers of proposals; and appraisal of investor selection results:

- The expense for making a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements is 0.05% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million);

- The expense for appraising a content in a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements and investor selection results is 0.02% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and VND 50,000,000 (fifty million);

- The expense for evaluating a bid or dossier of proposals is 0.03% of the total investment amount but must be between VND 5,000,000 (five million) and at most VND 100,000,000 (one hundred million).

dd/ For projects with similar contents the implementation of which is organized by the same competent state agency and the same bid solicitor, and projects for which investor selection has to be organized again, expenses for making and appraising dossiers of invitation to prequalification; and making and appraising bidding dossiers or dossiers of requirements must not exceed 50% of the expenses specified at Points c and d of this Clause. If investor selection is organized again, the expense for such selection shall be included in estimated investment preparation costs.

e/ The expenses specified at Points c, d and dd of this Clause apply to cases in which tasks are directly performed by the competent state agency and bid solicitor. Expenses for hiring of consultants, settlement of appeals by the consultancy council, posting of bidding information, and participation in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System must comply with Clauses 5, 6 and 7, Article 7 of this Decree.

Article 9. Forms of investor selection for PPP projects

1. Investor selection is subject to international open bidding, except the cases specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

2. Open national bidding shall be applied to:

a/ Projects in which foreign investment is restricted under Vietnam’s law or treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party;

b/ Foreign investors that do not participate in or fail international prequalification;

c/ Group-B and group-C projects as defined by the law on public investment. In case advanced technologies or international management experiences are needed, domestic investors may enter into partnership with foreign investors or employ foreign contractors to participate in bidding and implement the projects;

d/ Projects subject to national defense and security requirements as decided by the Prime Minister at the proposal of competent state agencies and after reaching agreement on national defense requirements or security requirements with the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security, respectively.

3. Contractor appointment provided in Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law shall be applied in the following cases:

a/ Only one investor registers for participation in prequalification and satisfies requirements set out in the dossier of invitation to prequalification; or only one investor passes prequalification;

b/ Only one investor is capable of implementing the project under Point b, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law;

c/ The project proposed by the investor is feasible and most efficient, and aims at protecting national sovereignty, national borders and islands under Point c, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law, as decided by the Prime Minister at the proposal of a competent state agency.

4. Contractor appointment provided at Point c, Clause 3 of this Article must fully satisfy the following conditions:

a/ There is an approved investment policy decision or feasibility study report (for group-C projects);

b/ Agreement on feasibility and efficiency in terms of national defense requirements or on feasibility and efficiency in terms of security requirements has been reached with the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security, respectively.

Article 10. Forms of investor selection for land-using investment projects

1. Open international bidding shall be applied to a project that fully satisfies the following conditions:

a/ Having the total estimated implementation expense (excluding the expense for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy or land rental) of VND 800,000,000,000 (eight hundred billion) or more;

b/ There are two or more investors, including at least one foreign investor, that satisfy preliminary requirements on capacity and experience specified in Clause 3, Article 13 of this Decree;

c/ Not falling into a case specified at Point a or c, Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Open national bidding shall be applied to:

a/ Projects in which foreign investment is restricted under Vietnam’s law or treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party;

b/ Projects each with two or more investors satisfying preliminary requirements on capacity and experience, without any foreign investor registering for project implementation or satisfying preliminary requirements on capacity and experience specified in Clause 3, Article 13 of this Decree;

c/ Projects subject to national defense or security requirements as decided by the Prime Minister at the proposal of competent state agencies and after reaching agreement on national defense requirements or security requirements with the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security, respectively.

3. Contractor appointment provided at Point b, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law.

Article 11. Conditions for identification of land-using investment projects

1. Being on the list of projects subject to land recovery approved under the land law or being located in land lots currently managed or used by the State; or being under urban development programs (if any) under the law on urban development.

2. Being in line with socio-economic development plans and sector-based development plans; construction master plans of a 1:2,000 or 1:500 scale (if any) or master plans on zoning of urban areas of 1:2,000 or 1:5,000 scale in accordance with law.

3. Being ineligible for organization of auction of land use rights in accordance with the land law.

Article 12. Lists of land-using investment projects

1. The projects specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree and fully satisfying conditions specified in Article 11 of this Decree (except those specified in Article 26 of the Bidding Law or Clause 3, Article 10 of this Decree) shall be included in the lists of land-using investment projects.

2. Making of lists of land-using investment projects:

a/ For projects formulated by specialized agencies of provincial- or district-level People’s Committees:

Specialized agencies of provincial- or district-level People’s Committees shall send proposals on land-using investment projects to provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment for summarization. Proposal contents include: name of the project, investment objectives and scale, total estimated expenditures for project implementation, investment capital, fundraising plan, investment location, duration and schedule, analysis of socio-economic efficiency of the project, and preliminary requirements on capacity and experience of investors.

b/ For projects proposed by investors:

Investors may propose land-using investment projects outside the lists of land-using investment projects approved by chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees. Investor-proposed projects must be those specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree and fully satisfy the conditions specified in Article 11 of this Decree. Investors shall make dossiers of proposals of projects and send them to provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment for summarization. A dossier of proposals must comprise:

- A written request for implementation of a land-using investment project, including the investor’s commitment to bear all expenses and risks in case the dossier is rejected;

- Contents of proposals of the project, including: name of the project, investment objectives and scale, total estimated expenditures for project implementation, investment capital, fundraising plan, investment location, duration and schedule, and analysis of socio-economic efficiency of the project;

- Documents proving the investor’s legal status, capacity and experience;

- Land use demand;

- Other documents (if any) necessary for explaining the dossier.

3. Approval of lists of land-using investment projects:

a/ Within 30 days after receiving a proposal specified at Point a or b, Clause 2 of this Article, the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with related agencies in drawing up the list of land-using investment projects, determining preliminary requirements on capacity and experience of investors and sending a report to the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee.

b/ Within 10 days after receiving a report from the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment, the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee shall consider and approve the list of land-using investment projects, including preliminary requirements on capacity and experience of investors.

4. Announcement of lists of projects:

a/ Based on an approval decision mentioned in Clause 3 of this Article, the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment shall announce the list of land-using investment projects under Point c, Clause 1, and Clause 4, Article 4, and Clause 2, Article 5, of this Decree.

b/ Information to be disclosed:

- Name of the project, investment objectives and scale; total estimated expenditures for project implementation; summary of basic requirements of the project; investment duration and schedule;

- Project location, area of land lots and land use purpose; approved planning norms, and actual conditions of land lots;

- Preliminary requirements on capacity and experience of the investor;

- Time limit for the investor to submit a dossier of project implementation registration;

- The investor shall submit a dossier of project implementation registration via the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. In case the Ministry of Planning and Investment has not yet provided the roadmap for application and specific instructions under Point b, Clause 1, Article 91 of this Decree, the investor shall submit such dossier to the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment;

- Address, telephone number and facsimile number of the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment;

- Other information (if necessary).

Article 13. Preparation and submission of dossiers of project implementation registration, and evaluation of capacity and experience of investors

1. An investor shall prepare and submit a dossier of project implementation registration to a provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment and via the Vietnam National E-Procurement system based on the information specified at Point b, Clause 4, Article 12 of this Decree. Such dossier must comprise a written request for project implementation registration; documents proving legal status, capacity and experience of the investor; and other relevant documents (if any).

2. Upon the expiration of the time limit for project implementation registration, the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with related agencies in preliminarily evaluating capacity and experience of the investors that have submitted dossiers of project implementation registration.

3. Based on evaluation results, the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment shall propose the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee to decide on organization of bidding in either of the following cases:

a/ In case there are two or more qualified investors, the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee shall decide to apply open bidding under Clause 1 or 2, Article 10 of this Decree; and assign the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment to post the list of qualified investors under Point c, Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree, and assign a specialized agency under the provincial-level People’s Committee or district-level People’s Committee to act as the bid solicitor;

b/ In case there is only one qualified investor, the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee shall decide to assign the provincial-level Department  of Planning and Investment to notify and guide the investor that has submitted the dossier to submit the investment policy decision under the investment law and other relevant laws. The allocation or lease of land for project implementation must comply with the land law.

Article 14. Storage of bidding information

1. All dossiers related to investor selection shall be stored for at least 3 years after a project contract is completed, except the dossiers specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

2. Dossiers of financial-commercial proposals of investors that do not pass technical evaluation shall be returned in their original conditions to investors concurrently with the refund or release of bid security of unselected investors. If investors refuse to receive back their dossiers of financial-commercial proposals, the bid solicitor shall consider and decide to destroy them in a way that information contained in such dossiers is not revealed.

3. In case of bid cancellation, relevant dossiers shall be stored for 12 months from the date of issuance of the decision on bid cancellation.

4. Dossiers of final settlement of project contracts and documents related to selected investors shall be stored in accordance with the law on archives.

Article 15. Expert teams

1. Every member of an expert team must possess a bidding practice certificate as required by a roadmap set by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, except those specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

2. Depending on characteristics and complexity of a project, an expert team must consist of experts in technology, finance, commerce, administration, law, land and relevant fields.

3. In order to join an expert team, an individual who is not specified in Clause 2, Article 16 of the Bidding Law must satisfy the following conditions:

a/ Possessing a certificate of bidding training;

b/ Possessing qualifications relevant to the project;

c/ Having foreign language skills that satisfy requirements of the project;

d/ Being conversant with relevant contents of the project;

dd/ Having at least 5 years’ experience in the field related to the project.

4. In special cases where opinions of experts are required, these experts are not required to possess certificates of bidding training.

5. Bidding training and further training for investor selection must comply with the bidding law.

Article 16. Investor selection in accordance with specialized laws and law on mobilization of social resources

1. The selection of investors for implementation of the projects specified at Point c, Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree must adhere to the following principles:

a/ The list of projects is posted in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as a basis for determination of the number of investors expressing their interest in project implementation.

b/ In case two or more investors express their interest in project implementation, open bidding shall be organized according to the one-stage two-envelope method, covering:

- Preparation for investor selection;

- Organization of investor selection;

- Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals; appraisal and approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements;

- Opening and evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

- Submission, appraisal, approval and announcement of investor selection results;

- Negotiation, finalization and signing of contracts.

c/ In case only one investor expresses its/his/her interest in project implementation, a competent authority shall decide on investment policy in accordance with the investment law, relevant specialized laws and law on mobilization of social resources.

d/ The selected investor must be the one satisfying requirements on capacity and experience for project implementation and must propose a feasible and efficient project implementation plan.

2. The assignment of responsibilities in investor selection must comply with the Bidding Law and this Decree. In case a specialized law or law on mobilization of social resources has provisions on assignment of responsibilities different from those of this Decree, the former will prevail.

3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall, within the ambit of their management responsibility, issue regulations on investor selection for the projects specified at Point c, Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree on the basis of ensuring competition, equality, transparency and economic efficiency. Such regulations must have contents on formulation, approval and announcement of lists of projects, model bidding dossier, and other contents (if any).

Chapter II

PREQUALIFICATION AND INVESTOR SELECTION PLANS

Section 1

PREQUALIFICATION FOR PPP PROJECTS

Article 17. Detailed process

1. Preparation for prequalification, including:

a/ Making a dossier of invitation to prequalification;

b/ Appraising and approving the dossier of invitation to prequalification.

2. Organization of prequalification, including:

a/ Notifying invitation to prequalification;

b/ Issuing, modifying and clarifying dossiers of invitation to prequalification;

c/ Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing dossiers for participation in prequalification;

d/ Opening bids.

3. Evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification.

4. Submission, appraisal and approval of prequalification results and publicization of shortlists.

Article 18. Application of prequalification

1. International prequalification is applied to projects of national importance and group-A projects, except the cases specified at Points a and d, Clause 2, Article 9 of this Decree.

2. Domestic prequalification is applied to projects of national importance and group-A projects in the cases specified at Points a and d, Clause 2, Article 9 of this Decree.

3. Prequalification is not applied to group-B and group-C projects.

4. Based on prequalification results, competent persons shall determine the form of open bidding under Clauses 1 and 2, Article 9 of this Decree or the form of contractor appointment under Point a, Clause 3, Article 9 of this Decree in investor selection plans.

Article 19. Making, appraisal and approval of dossiers of invitation to prequalification

1. Making of dossiers of invitation to prequalification:

Contents of a dossier of invitation to prequalification include:

a/ Instructions for investors: basic contents of the project and instructions for participation in prequalification for investors.

b/ Requirements on eligibility of investors specified in Article 5 of the Bidding Law.

c/ Requirements on capacity and experience of investors, including:

- Financial-commercial capacity, ability to arrange capital, and capacity to implement the project; and experience of implementing similar projects. In case of partnership, capacity and experience of investors shall be determined to be the total capacity and experience of partners; the investor leading a partnership must have a capital holding rate of at least 30%, while each of other partners must have a capital holding rate of at least 15% in the partnership;

- Methods of preliminarily implementing the project and project implementation commitments; declaration of disputes, complaints and lawsuits regarding contracts already and being performed.

For a BT project, the investor must also satisfy requirements on capacity and experience (if any) specified by the laws on investment, construction, housing, and real estate business, and relevant laws for implementation of other projects.

d/ Standards and methods of evaluation

Dossiers for participation in prequalification shall be evaluated according to evaluation standards mentioned in the dossier of invitation to prequalification. Scores shall be given on a scale of 100 or 1,000 points to evaluate capacity and experience of investors. When establishing standards for evaluating capacity and experience, the minimum score shall be specified for evaluating an investor as  qualified, which must not be lower than 60% of total prescribed points, and the score of each basic requirement must not be lower than 50% of the maximum score given to such requirement.

2. Appraisal and approval of dossiers of invitation to prequalification:

a/ The bid solicitor shall submit a draft dossier of invitation to prequalification and relevant documents to a competent person and concurrently to an appraising unit;

b/ A dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be appraised under Clause 1, Article 75 of this Decree;

c/ A dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be approved in writing based on the written request for approval and report on appraisal of such dossier.

Article 20. Notification of invitation to prequalification, issuance, modification and clarification of dossiers of invitation to prequalification

1. Notification of invitation to prequalification shall be made under Point d, Clause 1, Article 4, and Clause 1, Article 5, of this Decree.

2. Issuance, modification and clarification of a dossier of invitation to prequalification:

a/ A dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be issued under Clause 3, Article 6, and Point b, Clause 1, Article 8, of this Decree. In case of a partnership, only one partner is required to buy the dossier of invitation to prequalification, even when the partnership has not been established.

b/ In case of modification of a dossier of invitation to prequalification after issuance, the bid solicitor shall send a decision on modification and modified contents to the investors that have bought the dossier.

c/ If wishing to have a dossier of invitation to prequalification clarified, an investor shall send a written request to the bid solicitor at least 5 working days before the bid closing date. The bid solicitor shall clarify the dossier in one or more of the following ways:

- Sending dossier-clarifying documents to the investors that have bought or received the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- When necessary, holding a pre-bidding meeting to discuss contents of the dossier of invitation to prequalification that need to be clarified. Discussions shall be recorded in writing by the bid solicitor. Such a record may be used as a dossier-clarifying document and sent to the investors that have bought the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- The clarification must not contravene approved contents of the dossier of invitation to prequalification. If the clarification leads to modification of the dossier of invitation to prequalification, such modification must comply with Point b of this Clause.

d/ A decision on modification of a dossier of invitation to prequalification and a dossier-clarifying document constitute an integral part of such dossier.

Article 21. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of dossiers for participation in prequalification, and bid opening

1. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of a dossier for participation in prequalification:

a/ Investors shall prepare and submit dossiers for participation in prequalification via the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as required in the dossier of invitation to prequalification. In case the Ministry of Planning and Investment has not yet provided an application roadmap and detailed guidance under Point b, Clause 1, Article 91 of this Decree, investors shall submit dossiers for participation in prequalification to the bid solicitor as required in the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

b/ The bid solicitor shall receive and manage dossiers for participation in prequalification under regulations on management of confidential documents until prequalification results are publicized. In no circumstance may information in the dossier for participation in prequalification of an investor be revealed to any other investor, except information to be disclosed upon bid opening. Dossiers for participation in prequalification sent to the bid solicitor after the bid closing time shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected. Any documents sent by investors after the bid closing time for the purpose of modification or supplementation of submitted dossiers for participation in prequalification shall be considered invalid, except documents sent by investors for clarifying dossiers for participation in prequalification upon request of the bid solicitor or additional clarifying documents for proving eligibility, capacity and experience of investors;

c/ Any investor that wishes to modify or withdraw its/his/her submitted dossier for participation in prequalification shall send a written request to the bid solicitor. The bid solicitor shall only accept it if receiving such request before the bid closing time;

d/ The bid solicitor shall receive dossiers for participation in prequalification of all investors that submit such dossiers before the bid closing time, even when the investors have neither bought nor received the dossier of invitation to prequalification directly from the bid solicitor. If having not bought the dossier of invitation to prequalification, an investor shall pay to the bid solicitor an amount equal to the selling price of the dossier before the dossier is received.

2. Bid opening:

Dossiers for participation in prequalification submitted within the time limit and at the location specified in the dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be publicly opened within 1 hour from the bid closing time. The opening of these dossiers shall be recorded in writing and such a record shall be sent to every investor that has submitted the dossier. Dossiers for participation in prequalification sent after the bid closing time shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected.

Article 22. Evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification

1. A dossier for participation in prequalification shall be evaluated according to evaluation standards stated in the dossier of invitation to prequalification. Dossiers for participation in prequalification with scores not lower than the required minimum score shall be put on the shortlist; the dossier for participation in prequalification with the highest score shall be ranked first. If there are more than 3 qualified investors, at least 3 and at most 5 top-ranked investors shall be put on the shortlist.

2. Clarification of dossiers for participation in prequalification:

a/ After the bid opening, investors shall clarify their dossiers for participation in prequalification upon request of the bid solicitor. If a dossier for participation in prequalification of an investor lacks documents proving eligibility, capacity and experience of such investor, the bid solicitor shall request the investor to clarify and provide additional documents to prove the latter’s eligibility, capacity and experience;

b/ After the bid closing time, if an investor finds that its/his/her dossier for participation in prequalification lacks documents proving its/his/her eligibility, capacity and experience, it/he/she may send clarifying documents to the bid solicitor. The bid solicitor shall receive and evaluate the clarifying documents; additional documents for clarifying eligibility, capacity and experience of an investor shall be regarded as an integral part of the dossier for participation in prequalification;

c/ The clarification of a dossier for participation in prequalification shall only be carried out between the bid solicitor and the investor whose dossier needs clarifying. The clarification shall be made in writing and the bid solicitor shall preserve the clarifying documents as an integral part of the dossier for participation in prequalification. The clarification must not change the nature of the investor.

Article 23. Submission, appraisal and approval of prequalification results; publicization of shortlists

1. Based on a report on results of evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification, the bid solicitor shall submit prequalification results for approval, clearly stating its opinions about evaluation contents provided by an expert team.

2. Prequalification results shall be appraised under Clause 2, Article 76 of this Decree before being approved.

3. In case only one investor registers and satisfies requirements of the dossier of invitation to prequalification or only one investor passes the prequalification, a competent state agency shall assign the bid solicitor to carry out procedures for notifying the extension of the deadline for receiving dossiers for participation in prequalification for 20 days (from the date of notification).

4. After the extension, if no investor submits a dossier for participation in prequalification or all new investors submitting dossiers for participation in prequalification fail to satisfy requirements of the dossier of invitation to prequalification, the bid solicitor shall report such to a competent person for:  

a/ Deciding on contractor appointment under Point a, Clause 3, Article 9 of this Decree. In this case, the competent person shall take responsibility for ensuring competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency of the process of investor selection, and bear total responsibility in accordance with law for letting formalistic bidding and bid solicitation, bid rigging and other negative practices occur, thus leading to filing of complaints or lawsuits and loss of state resources; or,   

b/ Assigning the bid solicitor to carry out procedures for notifying the extension of the deadline for receiving dossiers for participation in prequalification and reviewing and modifying contents of the dossier of invitation to prequalification (when necessary).

5. The extension of the deadline for receiving and modification of contents of the dossier of invitation to prequalification (if any) under Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article shall be notified to all investors that have participated in bidding and posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

6. During the extension period mentioned in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, the investors that have submitted their dossiers for participation in prequalification may modify, replace or withdraw their dossiers.

7. After extending the deadline for receiving dossiers for participation in prequalification under Point b, Clause 4 of this Article, if no more investor submits a dossier for participation in prequalification or all new investors submitting dossiers for participation in prequalification fail to satisfy requirements of the dossier of invitation to prequalification, a competent person shall consider and approve prequalification results under regulations.

8. Prequalification results shall be approved in writing based on the written request for approval and report on appraisal of prequalification results. In case a shortlist is made, a document approving prequalification results must specify names of the investors that have passed the prequalification and notes (if any). In case no shortlist is made, such document must state the reason.

9. Publicization of a shortlist: A shortlist shall be publicized under Point d, Clause 1, Article 4, and Clause 2, Article 5, of this Decree, and notified to the investors that have submitted dossiers for participation in prequalification.

Section 2

INVESTOR SELECTION PLANS

Article 24. Making of investor selection plans

1. Bases for making an investor selection plan:

a/ For a PPP project:

- A decision approving a feasibility study report (or a prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies);

- A decision approving construction designs and cost estimates, for BT projects or projects for which bidding is decided by a competent state agency on the basis of designs and cost estimates;

- A treaty or an international agreement, for projects funded by official development assistance or concessional loans (if any);

- Prequalification results (if any);

- Relevant documents (if any).

b/ For a land-using investment project:

- A decision approving the list of land-using investment projects (except the projects specified in Article 26 of the Bidding Law or Clause 3, Article 10 of this Decree);

- A decision approving the application of open bidding;

- Relevant documents (if any).

2. On the bases specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the bid solicitor shall make an investor selection plan and submit it to a competent person and concurrently send it to an appraising unit.

3. A dossier of an investor selection plan to be submitted for approval must comprise:

a/ A written request for approval, briefly stating the process of implementation and contents of the investor selection plan as specified in Article 25 of this Decree;

b/ A table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities under Clause 10, Article 6 and Point h, Clause 1, Article 8 of this Decree;

c/ Attached documents, including copies thereof, for use as a basis for making the investor selection plan as specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 25. Contents of an investor selection plan

1. Name of the project.

2. Total investment or total investment capital amount, for PPP projects; preliminary total expenses for project implementation. and estimated expenses for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy and land rental, for land-using investment projects.

3. Preliminary state capital contribution in the PPP project and financial mechanism to support the project implementation (if any).

4. Form and method of investor selection:

a/ Clearly determining a form of investor selection under Articles 20, 22 and 26 of the Bidding Law and Articles 9 and 10 of this Decree;

b/ Clearly determining a method of investor selection as single-stage one-envelope or single-stage two-envelope under Article 28 or Article 29 of the Bidding Law.

5. Starting time of investor selection:

The starting time of investor selection is the time of issuing the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements, which is specified by month or quarter in the year.

6. Type of contract:

a/ For PPP projects, the type of contract shall be clearly determined under Article 68 of the Bidding Law and regulations on PPP investment;

b/ For land-using investment projects, the type of contract shall be clearly determined as land-using investment project contract.

7. Contract performance duration:

The performance duration of a contract shall be expressed in years or months, counting from the effective date of the contract to the time the contracting parties fulfill their contractual obligations.

Article 26. Appraisal and approval of investor selection plans

1. Appraisal of investor selection plans:

a/ Appraisal of an investor selection plan means examination and evaluation of contents of such plan as specified in Article 25 of this Decree;

b/ A unit assigned to appraise an investor selection plan shall make an appraisal report and submit it to a competent person for approval.

2. Based on an appraisal report, a competent person shall issue a decision to approve an investor selection plan and a table for monitoring the progress of investor selection activities for use as a basis for proceeding with investor selection.

Chapter III

OPEN BIDDING TO SELECT INVESTORS FOR PPP INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Section 1

DETAILED PROCESS

Article 27. Detailed process

1. Preparation for investor selection, including:

a/ Making a bidding dossier;

b/ Appraising and approving the bidding dossier.

2. Organization of investor selection, including:

a/ Inviting bids;

b/ Issuing, modifying and clarifying the bidding dossier;

c/ Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing bids;

d/ Opening dossiers of technical proposals.

3. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, including:

a/ Checking and evaluating validity of dossiers of technical proposals;

b/ Evaluating in detail dossiers of technical proposals;

c/ Appraising and approving the list of investors satisfying technical requirements.

4. Opening and evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals, including:

a/ Opening dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

b/ Checking and evaluating validity of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

c/ Evaluating in detail dossiers of financial-commercial proposals and ranking investors

5. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results.

6. Negotiation, finalization and signing of a contract, including:

a/ Negotiating and finalizing the contract;

b/ Signing the contract and disclosing information on the project contract.

7. For projects applying high technologies, the process of investor selection must comply with Clauses 1 thru 5 of this Article. Selected investors shall make feasibility study reports. Based on approved feasibility study reports, competent state agencies and investors shall negotiate on, finalize and sign contracts. Contents of feasibility study reports and contracts must conform with objectives of project implementation, investment scale, and basic criteria for approval of bid-winning investors.

Section 2

PREPARATION FOR INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 28. Making of bidding dossiers

1. Grounds for making a bidding dossier:

a/ A decision approving the feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies); project dossier and relevant documents;

b/ A decision approving construction designs and cost estimates, for BT projects or projects for which bidding is decided by a competent state agency on the basis of designs and cost estimates;

c/ Prequalification results (if any);

d/ A decision approving an investor selection plan;

dd/ Relevant regulations and state policies.

2. Contents of a bidding dossier:

a/ A bidding dossier 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;

b/ A bidding dossier must contain sufficient information for investors to make their bids, including the following basic contents:

- General information about the project, including contents and scope of the project, specific description of project outcomes and services to be provided when the project is completed;

- Instructions to investors, including bidding procedures and datasheet;

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

- Requirements on capacity and experience of investors to implement the project under Point c, Clause 1, Article 19 of this Decree (for projects not subject to prequalification);

- Requirements on the project according to an approved feasibility study report (or approved prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies), including:

+ Technical requirements: standards for project implementation, required quality of project works, products or serviced to be provided; detailed description of technical requirements and technical norms applied to evaluation of bids, and environmental and safety requirements;

+ Financial-commercial requirements: a plan for organization of investment and business operations; a financial plan (total investment, capital structure and capital raising plan; state capital contribution to the PPP project (if any); expenses, revenues, and goods and service prices and charges; capital recovery duration, and profits); and specific requirements on risk distribution;

- Bid evaluation standards, including standards for evaluation of capacity and experience and technical and financial-commercial evaluation standards and method of evaluation;

- Bidding forms including bidding participation application, technical proposal, financial-commercial proposal, bid security, commitment of a financial institution (if any), and other forms;

- Type of project contract, contract conditions and a draft contract, including project implementation requirements, construction quality standards, service provision standards, pricing mechanism, applied regulations, contractual rewards and penalties, force majeure events, reconsideration of the contract during the project implementation, and other contents specified in regulations on PPP investment.

Article 29. Bid evaluation standards and methods

A method of bid evaluation may be expressed through evaluation standards stated in a bidding dossier, including:

1. Capacity and experience evaluation standards and method:

a/ For projects for which prequalification has been held, a bidding dossier is not required to contain capacity and experience evaluation standards but must require investors to update information about their capacity and experience;

b/ For projects not subject to prequalification, capacity and experience evaluation standards and method shall be determined under Point d, Clause 1, Article 19 of this Decree.

2. Technical evaluation standards and method:

a/ Depending on the scale, characteristics and type of a specific project, technical evaluation standards include:

- Quantitative and qualitative standards;

- Operation, management, business and maintenance standards;

- Environmental and safety standards.

When making a bidding dossier, it is required to establish detailed technical evaluation standards based on the standards specified at this Point that suit each specific project and ensure that every selected investor satisfies the project implementation outcome requirements. In the course of establishment of detailed technical evaluation standards, other technical standards may be added to suit each specific project.

b/ Technical evaluation method

Scores shall be given on a scale of 100 or 1,000 points to establish technical evaluation standards, including the minimum and maximum scores for each overall standard and detailed standard. When establishing technical evaluation standards, it is required to set the minimum score for evaluating an investor as qualified, which must not be lower than 70% of total technical score, and the score for each of the requirements on quality and quantity; operation, management, commercial operation and maintenance; environment and safety, and other main requirements must not be lower than 60% of the maximum score for such requirement.

c/ The corresponding score proportion structure for the standards mentioned at Point a of this Clause must suit each specific type of project contract, provided the total score ratio must be 100%.

3. Financial-commercial evaluation method:

Bid evaluation methods specified in a bidding dossier include:

a/ Service price-based method:

- This method shall be applied to a project in which goods and service prices and charges constitute a criterion for financial-commercial evaluation. Other criteria such as standards on assets and services of the project, capital recovery duration and related factors are already specified in the bidding dossier;

- For bids that are evaluated as satisfying technical requirements, their goods and service prices and charges shall be used for comparison and ranking. The investor that offers the lowest goods and service price and charge shall be ranked first and considered and proposed as the bid winner.

b/ State capital contribution-based method:

- This method shall be applied to a project in which state capital contribution constitutes a criterion for financial-commercial evaluation. Other criteria such as standards on assets and services of the project, capital recovery duration, goods and service prices and charges, and related factors are already specified in the bidding dossier;

- For bids that are evaluated as satisfying technical requirements, their proposed state capital contributions shall be used for comparison and ranking. The investor that proposes the lowest state capital contribution shall be ranked first and considered and proposed as the bid winner.

c/ Public interest- or state interest-based method:

- This method shall be used to evaluate investors that offer the most efficient project implementation plan; other contents such as standards on assets and services of the project, goods and service prices and charges and related factors are already specified in the bidding dossier. Investment efficiency shall be evaluated according to the criterion of proposed in-cash payment to the state budget (in addition to obligations of investors toward the state budget prescribed by current laws) or contract performance duration;

- For bids that are evaluated as satisfying technical requirements, their proposed in-cash payments to the state budget or contract performance duration shall be used for comparison and ranking. The investor that offers the highest payment to the state budget or the shortest contract performance duration shall be ranked first and considered and proposed as the bid winner.

d/ Combined method:

This is a method that combines the methods prescribed at Points a, b and c of this Clause, including combination of the service price-based method and state capital contribution-based method, and combination of the service price-based method and social interest- or state interest-based method.

dd/ For a project for which none of the above methods can be applied, the bid solicitor shall report to a competent person for consideration and approval another evaluation method and corresponding principles of consideration and approval of bid winners in the bidding dossier, ensuring achievement of the objectives of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency in bidding.

4. Financial-commercial evaluation method for BT projects:

a/ To use the social interest- or state interest-based method to evaluate and select an investor that proposes a project implementation plan with the highest investment efficiency. Investment efficiency shall be evaluated according to the criterion of the investor with the lowest evaluation price and the proposed bid after error correction or deviation adjustment minus a markdown value not exceeding the value of the BT project determined in the bidding dossier. The investor whose bid offers the lowest evaluation price shall be ranked first and considered and proposed as the bid winner;

b/ Methods of determining evaluation prices are provided in Appendix II to this Decree.

Article 30. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

1. Bidding dossiers shall be appraised under Clause 2, Article 75 of this Decree before being approved.

2. Bidding dossiers shall be approved in writing based on written requests for approval and appraisal reports of bidding dossiers.

Section 3

ORGANIZATION OF INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 31. Invitation for bids

1. For a project for which prequalification has been held, a letter of invitation for bids shall be sent to investors named in a shortlist, clearly stating the time and location of issuance of the bidding dossier, bid closing time and bid opening time.

2. For a project not subject to prequalification, a letter of invitation for bids shall be publicized under Point d, Clause 1, and Clause 5, Article 4; and Clause 1, Article 5, of this Decree.

Article 32. Issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers

1. Bidding dossiers shall be issued to shortlisted investors, for projects subject to prequalification. For projects not subject to prequalification, bidding dossiers shall be widely issued to investors participating in bidding. In case of a partnership, only one partner is required to buy the bidding dossier.

2. In case of modification of a bidding dossier after it is issued, the bid solicitor shall send a decision on modification enclosed with modified contents of the bidding dossier to the investors that have bought or received the bidding dossier.

3. If wishing to have a bidding dossier clarified, an investor shall send a written request at least 7 working days (for domestic bidding) or 15 days (for international bidding) before the bid closing date to the bid solicitor for consideration and processing. The bid solicitor shall clarify the bidding dossier in one or several of the following ways:

a/ Sending clarifying documents to the investors that have bought the bidding dossier;

b/ When necessary, holding a pre-bidding meeting to discuss contents of the bidding dossier that need to be clarified. The bid solicitor shall record discussions in writing and such a record shall be used as a clarifying document and sent to the investors that have bought the bidding dossier.

Clarified contents must not contravene approved contents of the bidding dossier. If the clarification leads to modification of the bidding dossier, such modification must comply with Clause 2 of this Article.

4. A decision on modification of and documents clarifying a bidding dossier constitute an integral part of such dossier.

Article 33. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bids

1. Investors shall prepare and submit bids as required in a bidding dossier.

2. The bid solicitor shall receive and manage bids under regulations on management of confidential documents until investor selection results are publicized. In no circumstance may information in the bid submitted by an investor be revealed to any other investor, except information to be disclosed upon bid opening. Bids sent to the bid solicitor after the bid closing time shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected. Any documents sent by investors after the bid closing time for the purpose of modification or supplementation of submitted bids shall be considered invalid, except documents submitted by investors for clarifying bids upon request of the bid solicitor or additional documents for proving eligibility, capacity and experience of investors.

3. Any investor that wishes to modify or withdraw its/his/her submitted bid shall send a written request to the bid solicitor. The bid solicitor shall only approve the modification or withdrawal if receiving such request before the bid closing time.

Article 34. Opening of dossiers of technical proposals

1. A dossier of technical proposals shall be publicly opened within 1 hour from the bid closing time, even there is only one investor submitting the bid. Only dossiers of technical proposals received by the bid solicitor before the bid closing time shall be opened as required by the bidding dossier in front of representatives of investors who attend the bid-opening ceremony, regardless of the presence of investors.

2. Each of bids shall be opened in the alphabetical order of names of investors and in the following order:

- Checking the seal;

- Opening the bid and reading out information about the name of the investor; number of originals and copies of the dossier of technical proposals; a bidding participation application in technical proposals; validity duration of the dossier of technical proposals; contract performance duration; value and validity of bid security; and other relevant information.

3. Bid opening record: The information specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall be written in a bid opening record. Such record 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 bidding participation application, the power of attorney of the at-law representative of the investor (if any); partnership agreement (if any); bid security; and important contents of each dossier of technical proposals.

5. Dossiers of financial-commercial 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 bid-opening ceremony.

Article 35. Principles of bid evaluation

1. Bid evaluation shall be carried out based on evaluation standards and other requirements stated in the bidding dossier, submitted bids, and explanatory and clarifying documents of investors in order to ensure selection of investors having full capacity and experience with feasible technical and financial-commercial plans to implement projects.

2. Bid evaluation shall be based on copies. Investors shall take responsibility for the consistency of copies with originals. In case of a discrepancy between a copy and the original which does not affect investor ranking, the original shall be used for evaluation.

3. In case of a discrepancy between a copy and the original of an investor’s bid which leads to different evaluations and changes investor ranking, such bid shall be rejected.

Article 36. Clarification of bids

1. After the bid opening, investors shall clarify their bids upon request of the bid solicitor. The clarification of technical proposals and financial-commercial proposals in bids must ensure no change in basic contents of submitted bids.

2. After the bid closing, for a project not subject to prequalification, if an investor finds that its/his/her bid lacks documents proving its/his/her eligibility, capacity and experience, it/he/she may send additional documents to the bid solicitor to clarify its/his/her eligibility. The bid solicitor shall receive, consider and evaluate the clarifying documents; additional documents to clarify eligibility, capacity and experience of an investor shall be regarded as an integral part of the bid.

3. The clarification of a bid shall only be carried out between the bid solicitor and the investor whose bid needs clarifying, ensuring no change in the nature of the investor. Clarified contents shall be expressed in writing and preserved by the bid solicitor as an integral part of the bid.

Article 37. Correction of errors and adjustment of deviation

1. Correction of errors means correction of errors in a bid, including arithmetic errors, unit errors; differences between contents in technical proposals and contents in financial-commercial proposals, and other errors.

2. Adjustment of deviation means adjustment of unseriously missing or redundant contents of a bid compared to requirements of the bidding dossier. Adjustment of deviation shall be carried out to ensure fairness, transparency and economic efficiency.

3. After correcting an error or adjusting a deviation, the bid solicitor shall send a notice of the error or deviation and error correction or deviation adjustment to the concerned investor. Within 7 working days after receiving such notice, the investor shall send a written response to the bid solicitor which must state:

a/ Whether or not it/he/she accepts error correction results. If the investor does not accept error correction results, its/his/her bid shall be rejected;

b/ Its/his/her opinions about deviation adjustment results. If the investor does not accept deviation adjustment results, it/he/she shall clearly state the reason to the bid solicitor for consideration and decision;

c/ Whether or not it/he/she accepts deviation adjustment results, for BT projects. If the investor does not accept deviation adjustment results, its/his/her bid shall be rejected.

Section 4

EVALUATION OF DOSSIERS OF TECHNICAL PROPOSALS

Article 38. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals

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

a/ Checking of the number of originals and copies of the dossier;

b/ Checking of composition of the dossier, including the bidding participation application, partnership agreement (if any), power of attorney to sign the bidding participation application (if any); bid security; document proving eligibility of the person signing the bidding participation application (if any); document proving eligibility, capacity and experience of the investor (for a project not subject to prequalification); technical proposals; and other components of the dossier;

c/ Checking the consistency of copies with originals to serve the detailed evaluation of the dossier.

2. Evaluation of validity of a 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 bidding participation application in the dossier bears the signature and seal (if any) of the lawful representative of the investor as required in the bidding dossier. The bidding participation application of an investor in a partnership must bear signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all partners or shall be signed by the leading partner on behalf of the partnership as assigned in the partnership agreement;

c/ Validity of the dossier of technical proposals satisfies requirements in the bidding dossier;

d/ There is a bid security with the value and validity duration satisfying requirements of the bidding dossier. In case of bid security in the form of letter of guarantee, the letter of guarantee shall be signed by the lawful representative of a credit institution, with value, validity duration and beneficiary as required in the bidding dossier;

dd/ The name of the investor is not present in two or more dossiers of technical proposals as an independent investor or a partner;

e/ There is a partnership agreement bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all partners;

g/ The investor is not banned from participation in bidding as prescribed by the bidding law;

h/ The investor has eligibility under Article 5 of the Bidding Law.

3. Evaluation of capacity and experience:

a/ For a project for which prequalification has been held, investors shall make written commitments that they still satisfy project implementation requirements. In case of any change compared to information declared in dossiers of participation in prequalification, capacity and experience of investors shall be updated and evaluated according to the standards and by the method provided in the dossier of invitation to prequalification; 

b/ For a project not subject to prequalification, capacity and experience evaluation shall be carried out according to the standards and by the evaluation method provided in the bidding dossier. 

4. Investors whose dossiers of technical proposals are valid and that satisfy capacity and experience requirements shall be considered for detailed technical evaluation.

5. Detailed evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals:

a/ Detailed evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals shall be carried out according to technical evaluation standards stated in the bidding dossier;

b/ If satisfying technical requirements, investors shall be considered for having their dossiers of financial-commercial proposals evaluated.

Article 39. Appraisal and approval of lists of investors satisfying technical requirements

A list of investors satisfying technical requirements shall be approved in writing based on a written request for approval and a report on appraisal of such list. The bid solicitor shall notify the list of investors satisfying technical requirements to all investors that have participated in the bidding, inviting those satisfying technical requirements to open dossiers of financial-commercial proposals.

Section 5

OPENING AND EVALUATION OF DOSSIERS OF FINANCIAL-COMMERCIAL PROPOSALS

Article 40. Opening of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals 

1. Checking seals of envelopes containing dossiers of financial-commercial proposals.

2. Opening dossiers of financial-commercial proposals:

a/ Only dossiers of financial-commercial proposals of investors named on the list of investors satisfying technical requirements may be opened in the presence of representatives of investors participating in the dossier-opening ceremony, regardless of the presence of investors.

b/ The representative of each investor participating in the opening of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals is required to certify whether or not there is a letter of proposal for reduction of service prices or state capital contributions or for increase of state budget remittances enclosed with his/her dossier of financial-commercial proposals.

c/ Dossiers of financial-commercial proposals shall be opened in an alphabetic order of names of investors on the list of investors satisfying technical requirements and the following order:

- Checking the seal;

- Opening the dossier and reading out information about the name of the investor; number of originals and copies of the dossier; bidding participation application in financial-commercial proposals; validity duration of the dossier; total investment and total capital of the project, service price, state capital contribution (if any), proposed state budget remittance in cash stated in the bidding participation application (if any); value of service price discount or reduction of state capital contribution or increase of state budget remittance (if any); technical scores of bids evaluated as satisfying technical requirements; and other relevant information.

3. Minutes of opening of dossiers of financial proposals:

a/ The information specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall be recorded in a minutes of opening of a dossier of financial-commercial proposals. Such minutes must bear signatures of representatives of the bid solicitor and investors that attend the opening of the dossier and shall be sent to investors that satisfy technical requirements;

b/ The bid solicitor’s representative shall sign all original pages of a dossier of financial-commercial proposals.

Article 41. Evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals

1. Checking the validity of a dossier of financial-commercial proposals:

a/ Checking the number of originals and copies of the dossier;

b/ Checking composition of the dossier, including bidding participation application included in the dossier and other components of the dossier;

c/ Checking the consistency of contents of copies with their originals to serve detailed evaluation of the dossier.

2. Evaluating the validity of a dossier of financial-commercial proposals:

A dossier of financial-commercial proposals of an investor shall be evaluated as valid when the following conditions are fully satisfied:

a/ The original dossier is available;

b/ There is a bidding participation application bearing the signature and seal (if any) of the lawful representative of the investor as required by the bidding dossier. Total investment and total capital of the project, service price, state capital contribution or state budget remittance stated in the bidding participation application must be specific and fixed in figures and words and conformable and logical with the financial plan of the investor, without proposing different values regarding the same content or involving a condition unfavorable to the competent state agency and bid solicitor. For an investor in a partnership, a bidding participation application must bear signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all partners or the signature of the leading partner on behalf of the partnership as assigned in the partnership agreement;

c/ Validity of the dossier satisfies requirements in the bidding dossier.

An investor with a valid dossier of financial-commercial proposals is eligible for detailed financial-commercial evaluation.

3. Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals and ranking of investors:

a/ Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals and ranking of investors shall be carried out according to evaluation standards mentioned in the bidding dossier.

b/ After drawing up an investor ranking list, the expert team shall make a report and send it to the bid solicitor for consideration. Such report must state:

- The list of investors ranked and their rankings;

- The list of eliminated investors and reasons for their elimination;      

- 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;

- Contents of the bidding dossier which are incompliant with the bidding law, leading to unclear or different understandings in the course of implementation, or causing falsification of investor selection results (if any); proposed remedies.

4. In case of necessity, the bid solicitor shall propose a competent person to permit the investor ranked first to participate in a preliminary contract negotiation in order to facilitate the negotiation and finalization of a contract after investor selection results are obtained. 

Article 42. Principles of approval of bid-winning investors

An investor shall be proposed for selection when fully satisfying the following conditions:

1. Having a valid bid.

2. Satisfying capacity and experience requirements.

3. Offering technical proposals satisfying requirements.

4. Offering the bid-winning value determined by one of the following methods:

a/ Offering the lowest service price which does not exceed the service price stated in the approved feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies) and is compliant with the laws on prices, and charges and fees, in case the service price-based method is applied;

b/ Proposing the lowest state capital contribution which does not exceed the value of state capital contribution determined in the approved feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies), in case the state capital contribution-based method is applied;

c/ Proposing the highest state budget remittance in cash or the shortest contract performance duration which does not exceed the duration stated in the approved feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report, for projects applying high technologies), in case the social interest- or state interest-based method is applied;

d/ Offering the lowest evaluation price and bid after error correction or deviation adjustment minus markdown value (if any) not exceeding the approved value of the BT project determined in the bidding dossier, for BT projects.

Section 6

SUBMISSION, APPRAISAL, APPROVAL AND PUBLICIZATION OF INVESTOR SELECTION RESULTS

Article 43. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results

1. Based on a report on bid evaluation results, the bid solicitor shall submit investor selection results, clearly stating its opinions on appraisals of the expert team.

2. Investor selection results shall be appraised under Clause 4, Article 76 of this Decree before being approved.

3. Investor selection results shall be approved in writing based on a written request for approval and an appraisal report of investor selection results.

4. In case a bid-winning investor is selected, a document approving investor selection results must contain the following information:

a/ Name, location and size of the project;

b/ Name of the bid-winning investor;

c/ Type of contract;

d/ Time limits for construction commencement and completion, and operation and transfer of project works;

dd/ Land use conditions for project implementation (location, area, and use purpose and duration);

e/ Total investment and total capital of the project;

g/ Service price, state capital contribution or state budget remittance or contract performance duration;

h/ Notes (if any).

5. In case of bidding cancellation under Clause 1, Article 17 of the Bidding Law, a document approving investor selection results or a decision on bidding cancellation must clearly state reasons and responsibilities of related parties for the bidding cancellation.

6. After receiving a document approving investor selection results, the bid solicitor shall publicize information on investor selection results under Point d, Clause 1, Article 4, and Clause 2, Article 5, of this Decree; send a notice of investor selection results to the investors that have participated in the bidding within the time limit prescribed in Clause 8, Article 6, or at Point e, Clause 1, Article 8, of this Decree. Such notice must include:

a/ Information specified in Clause 4 of this Article;

b/ A list of unselected investors and a summary of reasons for non-selection;

c/ A plan on contract negotiation, finalization and signing with the selected investor and a plan on making and approval of a feasibility study report (for projects applying high technologies).

Section 7

CONTRACT NEGOTIATION, FINALIZATION AND SIGNING

Article 44. Contract negotiation and finalization

1. Based on investor selection results, the investor ranked first shall be invited to contract negotiation and finalization. The invited investor that fails to come or refuses to negotiate and finalize a contract may not have bid security refunded.   

2. Contract negotiation and finalization shall be based on the following grounds:

a/ A report on bid evaluation;

b/ Bids and documents clarifying or modifying bids (if any) of investors;

c/ Bidding dossier.

3. Principles of contract negotiation and finalization:

a/ Contract negotiation and finalization shall not be carried out for the contents on which investors have offered bids as required in the bidding dossier;

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

4. Contents of contract negotiation and finalization:

a/ Contents that remain not specific enough, unclear or inappropriate or inconsistent between the bidding dossier and bid or between different contents in the bid that might lead to problems or disputes or affect responsibilities of parties in the course of contract performance;

b/ Matters (if any) arising in the process of investor selection in order to finalize detailed contents of the project;

c/ In addition to the contents specified at Points a and b of this Clause, the bid solicitor shall report to a competent persons for decision other necessary contents of contract negotiation and finalization appropriate to the type of project contract.

5. In the course of contract negotiation and finalization, the parties shall proceed with finalization of bases for signing the project contract, draft contract, and modifications of special clauses of the contract (if any).

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 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 Clause 1, Article 17 of the Bidding Law.

Article 45. Signing of project contracts and publicization of information thereon

1. For projects of national importance, group A or group B, contracts between parties must comply with Articles 69, 70, 71 and 72 of the Bidding Law and regulations on PPP investment.

2. For group-C projects, contracts between parties must comply with Articles 69, 70, 71, and Clauses 1, 3 and 4, Article 72, of the Bidding Law; Point a, Clause 2, Article 8 of this Decree, and regulations on PPP investment.

3. Within 7 working days after signing a project contract, the bid solicitor shall publicize information on such contract on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Information to be publicized must comply with regulations on PPP investment.

Chapter IV

OPEN BIDDING TO SELECT INVESTORS TO IMPLEMENT LAND-USING INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Section 1

DETAILED PROCESS

Article 46. Detailed process           

1. Preparation for investor selection, including:

a/ Making a bidding dossier;

b/ Appraising and approving the bidding dossier.

2. Organization of investor selection, including:

a/ Inviting bids;

b/ Issuing, modifying and clarifying bidding dossiers;

c/ Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing bids;

d/ Opening dossiers of technical proposals.

3. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, including:

a/ Checking and evaluating validity of dossiers of technical proposals;

b/ Evaluating in detail dossiers of technical proposals;

c/ Appraising and approving the list of investors satisfying technical requirements.

4. Opening and evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals, including:

a/ Opening dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

b/ Checking and evaluating validity of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

c/ Evaluating in detail dossiers of financial-commercial proposals and ranking investors.

5. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results.

6. Negotiation, finalization and signing of a contract, including:

a/ Negotiating and finalizing the contract;

b/ Signing the contract and publicizing information on the project contract.

Section 2

PREPARATION FOR INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 47. Making of bidding dossiers 

1. Bases for making a bidding dossier:

a/ A list of land-using investment projects that need investor selection announced under regulations;

b/ An approved investor selection plan;

c/ Current regulations on land, housing, real estate business, investment, and construction, and relevant regulations.

2. Contents of a bidding dossier:

A bidding dossier must not contain any condition that restricts participation of investors and creates advantages to one investor or several investors, thus leading to unfair competition. A bidding dossier must have sufficient information for investors to make their bids, including the following basic contents:

a/ General information on the project, including the name; objectives and utilities; location; scale; preliminary schedule of implementation; current status of land area; and planning norms;

b/ Instructions to investors, including bidding procedures and datasheet;

c/ Project implementation requirements; architecture, environmental and safety requirements; and other contents (if any) of the project;

d/ Standards for evaluation of bids, including standards for evaluation of capacity and experience of investors; standards for technical and financial-commercial evaluation and methods of evaluation;

dd/ Bid forms, including bidding participation application, technical and financial-commercial proposals, bid security, commitments of financial institutions (if any) and other forms;

e/ Land allocation or lease term; land use purposes; land use structure;

g/ Land use levy or land rental estimated by the bid solicitor on the basis of selection of the most appropriate land pricing method and input parameters or how to determine input parameters corresponding to the land pricing method.

Land use levy or land rental payable by the bid-winning investor shall be determined at the time the State decides on land allocation or lease in accordance with the land law;

h/ Estimated total expenses for project implementation, excluding expenses for compensation, support and resettlement and land use levy or land rental (m₁) determined by the bid solicitor in accordance with relevant provisions of the construction law for each specific project, ensuring the highest land use efficiency, land use coefficient, and compliance with relevant master plans on land use space;

i/ Plan on and expenses for compensation, support and resettlement, in which expenses for compensation, support and resettlement for the land area that needs ground clearance (m₂) shall be determined based on:

- Land-related compensation;

- Investment in the land area which is left after land recovery by the State (if any);

- Compensation for house, construction work and land-attached asset damage; production or business loss caused by land recovery by the State (if any);

- Monetary support for those whose land is recovered by the State (if any), covering support for life and production stabilization; support for vocational training, job change and employment; support for resettlement; and support for other purposes;

- Funding for organization of compensation and ground clearance.

k/ Floor level of state budget remittance (m₃) shall be determined by the bid solicitor according to the following formula:

m₃ = S x ΔG x k

In which:

- S means the area, which is subject to collection of land use levy or land rental, of the land plot to be allocated or leased to an investor for project implementation;

- ΔG means the average added value after the winning of the auction of land use rights per area unit of land plots with the same use purpose within a locality, or of the areas where exists the land plot for project implementation. In case a locality of project implementation has no land plots with the same use purpose, land databases of localities with similar socio-economic conditions may be referred to;

- k means a coefficient adjusting the average added value after the winning of the auction of land use rights of land plots, taking into account similarities with the land plot for project implementation and other necessary factors (if any).

This value shall be determined in a relative manner to serve as a basis for investors to propose their state budget remittances and is independent from land use levy or land rental payable by investors in accordance with the land law.

 l/ A draft contract, which must contain project implementation requirements, land allocation or lease term; land area; estimated land use levy or land rental; land pricing method to be used to determine land use levy or land rental at the time of land allocation or lease in accordance with the land law; input parameters or method of determining input parameters corresponding to the pricing method; applicable regulations; contract rewards and fines; force majeure events; reconsideration of the contract in the course of project operation, and other contents.      

Article 48. Standards and methods of bid evaluation

Methods of bid evaluation shall be expressed through evaluation standards stated in bidding dossiers, specifically as follows:

1. Based on preliminary requirements on capacity and experience approved under Clause 3, Article 12 of this Decree, capacity and experience evaluation standards and methods shall be updated or supplemented (when necessary) under Point d, Clause 1, Article 19 of this Decree. In case of a partnership, capacity and experience of investors shall be determined to be the total capacity and experience of partners. The investor leading the partnership must have a capital holding rate of at least 30% while every other partner must have a capital holding rate of at least 15% in the partnership.

2. Technical evaluation standards and methods:

a/ Technical evaluation standards:

- Conformity of project objectives proposed by investors with socio-economic development and sector development plans; construction plans on an 1:2,000 or 1:500 scale (if any) or urban zoning plans on an 1:2,000 or 1:5,000 scale in accordance with law;

- Requirements on project scale, architectural solutions and basic utilities of project works;

- Environmental and safety requirements;

- Other standards in conformity with each specific project.

b/ Technical evaluation methods:

Scores shall be given on a scale of 100 or 1,000 points to establish technical evaluation standards, including the minimum and maximum scores for each overall standard and detailed standard. When establishing technical evaluation standards, it is required to set the minimum score for evaluating an investor as qualified, which must not be lower than 70% of total technical score, and the score for each of the requirements specified at Point a of this Clause must not be lower than 60% of the maximum score for such requirement.

The score proportion structure for the contents specified at Point a of this Clause must suit each specific project, provided the total score ratio must be 100%.

3. Financial-commercial evaluation standards and methods:

a/ Financial-commercial evaluation standards:

- Standard on total expenses for project implementation (M₁);

- Standard on value of compensation, support and resettlement (M₂);

- Standard on investment efficiency (M₃).

In which:

+ M₁ means total expenses for project implementation (excluding expenses for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy or land rental) proposed by an investor in the bid based on the content of m₁ determined in the bidding dossier; 

+ M₂ means value of compensation, support and resettlement proposed by an investor in the bid based on the content of m₂ determined in the bidding dossier.

In case the value of compensation, support and resettlement stated in an approved compensation, support and resettlement plan is lower than M₂, the difference shall be remitted into the state budget. In case this value is higher than M₂, an investor shall make up for the deficit and account the deficit value into investment capital of the project.

An investor may clear the value of compensation, support and resettlement stated in an approved compensation, support and resettlement plan against land use levy or land rental but must ensure that this value does not exceed the payable land use levy or land rental amount in accordance with the land law. The remaining amount for ground clearance compensation (if any) as stated in an approved plan which is not yet cleared against the payable land use levy or land rental amount may be accounted into investment capital of the project.

+ M₃ means value of state budget remittance in cash proposed by an investor in the bid in addition to its/his/her obligations toward the state budget in accordance with current laws.

b/ Financial-commercial evaluation methods:

- Social interest- or state interest-based method shall be used for financial-commercial evaluation. Bids evaluated as satisfying technical requirements shall be compared and ranked based on investment efficiency proposals. Investment efficiency shall be evaluated according to the criterion that investors propose state budget remittances in cash in addition to their obligations toward the state budget in accordance with current laws (M₃);

- An investor that proposes the total expenses for project implementation (M₁) not lower than m₁ (M₁ ≥ m₁), value of compensation, support and resettlement (M₂) not lower than m₂ (M₂ ≥ m₂), and value of state budget remittances in cash in addition to its/his/her obligations toward the state budget in accordance with current laws (M₃) not lower than the floor price and the highest shall be ranked first and proposed to be the bid winner.

Article 49. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

The appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

Section 3

ORGANIZATION OF INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 50. Conditions for issuance of bidding dossiers

A bidding dossier may only be issued to select investors for a land-using investment project when the following conditions are fully satisfied:

1. The conditions specified in Clause 2, Article 7 of the Bidding Law;

2. Having a construction plan on an 1:2,000 or 1:500 scale (if any) or an urban zoning plan on an 1:2,000 or 1:5,000 scale approved by a competent authority in accordance with law.

Article 51. Organization of investor selection

Investor selection shall be organized in accordance with Section 3, Chapter III of this Decree. Invitation for bids, issuance of bidding dossiers and opening of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with the following provisions:

1. Invitation for bids:

Notices of invitation for bids shall be published under Point d, Clause 1, Article 4, and Clause 1, Article 5, of this Decree.

2. Issuance of bidding dossiers:

a/ Bidding dossiers shall be issued to investors that participate in bidding;

b/ In case of a partnership, only one partner is required to buy the bidding dossier, even when the partnership has not been formed yet.

3. Opening of dossiers of technical proposals:

Dossiers of technical proposals shall be opened under Article 34 of this Decree, even if there is only one investor submitting the bid.

Section 4

EVALUATION OF DOSSIERS OF TECHNICAL PROPOSALS

Article 52. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals

1. Checking and evaluation of the validity of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Clauses 1 and 2, Article 38 of this Decree.

2. Evaluation of capacity and experience

Evaluation of capacity and experience shall be carried out according to evaluation standards stated in the bidding dossier.

3. Investors that have valid dossiers of technical proposals and satisfy capacity and experience requirements are eligible for detailed technical evaluation.

4. Detailed evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Clause 5, Article 38 of this Decree.

Article 53. Appraisal and approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements

Appraisal and approval of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements must comply with Article 39 of this Decree.

Section 5

OPENING AND EVALUATION OF DOSSIERS OF FINANCIAL-COMMERCIAL PROPOSALS

Article 54. Opening of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals

1. The opening of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals must comply with Article 40 of this Decree.

2. Particularly, information that must be read out loud at the ceremony of opening of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals must include:

a/ Names of investors; number of originals and copies of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

b/ Bidding participation applications belonging to financial-commercial proposals; validity duration of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals;

c/ Total expenses for project implementation proposed by investors (M₁);

d/ Value of compensation, support and resettlement proposed by investors (M₂);

dd/ Proposed value of state budget remittances in cash in addition to obligations of investors toward the state budget in accordance with current laws (M₃);

e/ Proposed added value of state budget remittances in cash (in addition to obligations of investors toward the state budget in accordance with current laws), if any;

g/ Technical scores of bids evaluated as satisfying technical requirements;

h/ Other relevant information.

Article 55. Evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals

The evaluation of dossiers of financial-commercial proposals must comply with Article 41 of this Decree. Particularly, the evaluation of validity of bidding participation applications in these dossiers shall be based on the following contents:

1. Bidding participation applications bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of investors as required by the bidding dossier;

2. Values stated in bidding participation applications must be specific and fixed in numbers and words and appropriate and logical. Different values may neither be proposed for the same content nor accompanied with conditions unfavorable to competent state agencies and the bid solicitor, including:

a/ Total expenses for project implementation proposed by investors (M₁);

b/ Value of compensation, support and resettlement proposed by investors (M₂);

c/ Proposed value of state budget remittances in cash in addition to obligations of investors toward the state budget in accordance with current laws (M₃);

d/ Proposed added value of state budget remittances in cash (in addition to obligations of investors toward the state budget in accordance with current laws), if any.

3. For an investor in a partnership, the bidding participation application must bear signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all partners or the signature of the leading partner on behalf of the partnership as assigned in the partnership agreement.

Article 56. Principles of approval of bid-winning investors

An investor shall be proposed for selection when fully meeting the following conditions:

1. Having a valid bid.

2. Satisfying capacity and experience requirements.

3. Offering technical proposals satisfying requirements.

4. Offering a proposed bid-winning value with components satisfying the following requirements:

a/ The proposed total expense for project implementation (M₁) is not lower than m₁ approved in the bidding dossier;

b/ The proposed value of compensation, support and resettlement (M₂) is not lower than m₂ approved in the bidding dossier;

c/ The proposed value of state budget remittances in cash in addition of obligations of investors toward the state budget in accordance with current laws (M₃) is not lower than the floor price and is the highest among other proposed values.

Section 6

SUBMISSION, APPRAISAL, APPROVAL AND PUBLICIZATION
OF INVESTOR SELECTION RESULTS; CONTRACT NEGOTIATION, FINALIZATION AND SIGNING

Article 57. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of investor selection results

1. The submission, appraisal and approval of investor selection results must comply with Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 43 of this Decree.

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

a/ Name, objectives and scale of the project;

b/ Name of the bid-winning investor;

c/ Project implementation schedule;

d/ Project implementation location, land area, and land use purposes and term;

dd/ Estimated total expenses for project implementation (excluding expenses for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy or land rental);

e/ Estimated land use levy or land rental payable by the investor;

g/ Other contents (if any).

3. In case of bidding cancellation under Clause 1, 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.

4. After obtaining a document approving investor selection results, the bid solicitor shall publicize information on investor selection results under Point d, Clause 1, Article 4 and Clause 2, Article 5 of this Decree; and send a notice of investor selection results to the investors that have participated in the bidding within the time limit prescribed in Clause 8, Article 6 of this Decree. Such notice must have the following contents:

a/ The information specified in Clause 2 of this Article;

b/ A list of unselected investors and summarized reasons for the non-selection;

c/ A plan on negotiation, finalization and signing of a contract with the selected investor.

5. After obtaining a decision approving investor selection results, the selected investor shall decide to establish a project enterprise to implement the project or shall directly implement the project. The organization of management, operation and dissolution of the project enterprise must comply with the laws on enterprises, investment, and project contracts.

Article 58. 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/ A report on evaluation of the bid;

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 basic contents of the bid.

4. Contents of contract negotiation and finalization:

a/ Contents that remain unspecific, unclear or inconsistent between the bidding dossier and bid or among different contents in the bid, which might lead to problems or disputes or affect responsibilities of parties during the contract performance;

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

c/ Progress of handover of construction grounds; progress of transfer by investors of value of compensation, support and resettlement and state budget remittances in cash to a responsible state management agency under regulations;

d/ Bases for determination of land use levy or land rental in accordance with the land law; land pricing method to be used to determine land use levy or land rental at the time of land allocation or lease in accordance with the land law; input parameters or method of determining input parameters corresponding to the pricing method;

dd/ Other necessary contents.

5. In the course of contract negotiation and finalization, the parties shall improve bases for signing of the project contract, finalization of the draft contract and modification of special clauses of the contract (if any).

6. In case the contract negotiation or finalization fails, 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 the contract negotiation or finalization with the next-ranked investor also fails, the bid solicitor shall propose a competent person to consider and decide on bidding cancellation under Clause 1, Article 17 of the Bidding Law.

Article 59. Signing of project contracts and publicization of information thereon

1. Principles of contract signing

a/ The proposed bid-winning value is the value for contract signing and serves as a basis for organizing contract performance and supervision.

b/ The payable land use levy or land rental amount determined in accordance with the land law plus state budget remittance proposed by the bid-winning investor are recognized as market prices at the time of land allocation or lease stated in the contract.

2. Contract signing must comply with Articles 69, 70, 71 and 72 of the Bidding Law.

3. Within 7 working days from the date of project contract signing, the bid solicitor shall publicize information on the project contract on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Information to be initially publicized includes:

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

b/ Name and address of the competent state 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/ Estimated total expenses for project implementation (excluding those for compensation, support and resettlement, land use levy or land rental);

h/ Estimated land use levy or land rental; land pricing method to be used to determine land use levy or land rental at the time of land allocation or lease in accordance with the land law; input parameters or method of determining input parameters corresponding to the pricing method;

i/ Other contents (if any).

Article 60. Organization of implementation of land-using investment projects

1. After the contract signing, the bid solicitor and investor shall coordinate with a specialized agency in proposing a competent authority to decide on land recovery and approve a plan on compensation, support and resettlement in accordance with the land law. The investor shall remit the value of compensation, support and resettlement (M₂) and value of state budget remittances in cash (M₃) proposed in the bid to the responsible state management agency based on the progress agreed upon in the contract. No loan interest shall be charged on expenses for compensation, support and resettlement.

2. Procedures for land allocation or lease; determination of land use levy or land rental for a bid-winning investor:

a/ After completing compensation, support and resettlement for the land plot for project implementation, the land allocation or lease to the investor shall be carried out according to land allocation or lease procedures prescribed in Clause 3, Article 68 of the Government’s Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP of May 15, 2014, detailing a number of articles and clauses of Land Law No. 45/2013/QH13 and amending, supplementing or replacing documents (if any).

b/ The provincial-level land management agency shall determine land use levy or land rental payable by the investor at the time the State decides on land allocation or lease in accordance with the land law, then report it to the land price appraisal council before submitting it to the provincial-level People’s Committee for approval.

3. Bid-winning investors shall implement land-using investment projects in accordance with provisions of contracts, the laws on investment, construction, land, planning, housing, and real estate business, and other relevant laws.

Chapter V

CONTRACTOR APPOINTMENT AND INVESTOR SELECTION
IN SPECIAL CASES

Section 1

APPOINTMENT OF INVESTORS TO IMPLEMENT PPP PROJECTS           

Article 61. Preparation for investor selection

1. Making of a dossier of requirements

a/ Grounds for making a dossier of requirements:

The making of a dossier of requirements must comply with Clause 1, Article 28 of this Decree.

b/ Contents of a dossier of requirements must include:

- General information on the project; instructions to investors;

- Requirements on the project based on the approved feasibility study report (or the prefeasibility study report, for hi-tech projects);

- Requirements on project implementation to ensure the protection of national sovereignty, national borders and islands, for projects applying the method of contractor appointment prescribed at Point c, Clause 3, Article 9 this Decree;

- Standards for evaluating dossiers of proposals, including standards and methods for evaluating capacity and experience, and technical and financial-commercial evaluation;

- The bid forms; contractual conditions and draft contract.

- Standards and methods for evaluating dossiers of proposals under Article 29 of this Decree though comparison and ranking of investors satisfying financial-commercial requirements are not required; for a BT project, the determination of evaluation bids is not required.

2. Appraisal and approval of dossiers of requirements and identification of investors proposed to be appointed as contractors:

a/ A dossier of requirements shall be appraised under Clause 2, Article 75 of this Decree before it is approved;

b/ The approval of dossiers of requirements must be made in writing based on the request for approval and the appraisal report;

c/ In case of applying the method of contractor appointment under at Point a, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law and Point a, Clause 3, Article 9 of this Decree, an investor shall be identified as being entitled to receive the dossier of requirements when it/he/she has eligibility status as prescribed at Points a, b, c, d, dd, e and g, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Bidding Law and has sufficient capacity and experience to implement the project;

d/ In case of applying the method of contractor appointment under Points b and c, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law and Points b and c, Clause 3, Article 9 of this Decree, an investor shall be identified as being entitled to receive the dossier of requirements when it/he/she has eligibility status as prescribed at Points a, b, c, d, e and g, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Bidding Law and has sufficient capacity and experience to implement the project.

Article 62. Organization of investor selection

1. Dossiers of requirements shall be issued to identified investors.

2. Investors shall prepare and submit dossiers of proposals as required by dossiers of requirements.

Article 63. Evaluation of dossiers of proposals

Dossiers of proposals shall be evaluated according to the standards and methods stated in dossiers of requirements. In the course of evaluation, bid solicitors may invite investors to come to clarify or modify and supplement necessary information in dossiers of proposals.

Article 64. Principles of approval of bid-winning investors

An investor shall be proposed for selection when fully meeting the following conditions:

1. It/he/she has a valid dossier of proposals.

2. It/he/she satisfies capacity and experience requirements.

3. Its/his/her technical proposals meet requirements.

4. Its/his/her proposed bid is determined by one of the following methods:

a/ Offering a service price not exceeding the service price stated in the approved feasibility study report (or the prefeasibility study report, for hi-tech projects) in conformity with the laws on prices, and charges and fees, in case the service price-based method is applied;

b/ Proposing a state capital contribution not exceeding the value of state capital contribution determined in the approved feasibility study report (or the prefeasibility study report, for hi-tech projects), in case the state capital contribution-based method is applied;

c/ Proposing cash payment to state budget or a contract performance period not exceeding the period determined in the approved feasibility study report (or the prefeasibility study report, for hi-tech projects), in case the public interest- or state interest-based method is applied;

d/ Having its/his/her bid, after having errors corrected, deviations adjusted, or  markdown value (if any) subtracted, not exceeding the value of the BT project determined in the approved dossier of requirements, for projects to be implemented after the model of BT contract.

5. For project applying the method of contractor appointment under Point c, Clause 3, Article 9 of this Decree, in addition to the conditions specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Article, the project implementation plan proposed by the investor must ensure the protection of national sovereignty, national borders and islands.

Article 65. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of contractor appointment results

The submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of contractor appointment results must comply with Article 43 of this Decree.

Article 66. Contract negotiation, finalization and signing and publicization of information on project contracts

1. The contract negotiation and finalization must comply with Article 44 of this Decree.

2. The signing of contracts and publicization of information on project contracts must comply with Article 45 of this Decree.

Section 2

APPOINTMENT OF INVESTORS TO IMPLEMENT LAND-USING INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Article 67. Preparation for investor selection  

1. Making of a dossier of requirements:

a/ Grounds for making a dossier of requirements:

- The list of approved projects requiring land recovery in accordance with the land law; urban development programs (if any) in accordance with the law on urban development;

- Socio-economic development plans, sectoral development plans, construction  master plan of an 1:2,000 or 1:500 scale (if any) or urban zoning master plan of an 1:2,000 or 1:5,000 scale in accordance with law;

- The approved investor selection plan;

- Current regulations on land, housing, real estate business, investment, and construction, and other relevant regulations.

b/ The contents of a dossier of requirements must comply with Clause 2, Article 47 of this Decree. Standards and methods for evaluating dossiers of proposals must comply with Article 48 of this Decree though comparison and ranking of investors satisfying financial-commercial requirements are not required.

2. Appraisal and approval of dossiers of requirements and identification of investors proposed to be appointed as contractors:

a/ Dossiers of requirements shall be appraised under Clause 2, Article 75 of this Decree before they are approved;

b/ The approval of dossiers of requirements shall be made in writing based on the  requests for approval and appraisal reports;

c/ In case of applying the method of contractor appointment prescribed at Point b, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Bidding Law and Clause 3, Article 10 of this Decree, an investor shall be identified as being entitled to receive the dossier of requirements when it/he/she has the eligibility status under Points a, b, c, d, e and g, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Bidding Law and has sufficient capacity and experience to implement the project.

Article 68. Organization of investor selection

1. Dossiers of requirements shall be issued to identified investors.

2. Investors shall prepare and submit dossiers of proposals as required by dossiers of requirements

Article 69. Evaluation of dossiers of proposals

Dossiers of proposals shall be evaluated according to the standards stated in the dossier of requirements. In the course of evaluation, bid solicitors may invite investors to come to clarify or modify and supplement necessary information in their dossiers of proposals.

Article 70. Principles of approval of bid-winning investors

An investor shall be proposed for selection when fully meeting the following conditions:

1. It/he/she has a valid dossier of proposals.

2. It/he/she satisfies capacity and experience requirements.

3. Its/his/her technical proposals meet requirements.

4. Its/his/her proposed bid includes elements that satisfy the following requirements:

a/ The proposed total expense for the project implementation (M₁) is not lower than m₁ approved in the dossier of requirements;

b/ The proposed expense for compensation, support and resettlement (M₂) is not lower than m₂ approved in the dossier of requirements;

c/ In addition to investors’ obligations toward the state budget prescribed by current law, it/he/she proposes making a cash payment to the state budget (M₃) not lower than the floor price approved in the dossier of requirements.

Article 71. Submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of contractor appointment results

The submission, appraisal, approval and publicization of contractor appointment results must comply with Article 57 of this Decree.

Article 72. Contract negotiation, finalization and signing and publicization of information on project contracts

1. The contract negotiation and finalization must comply with Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 58 of this Decree.

2. The contract signing and publicization of information on project contacts must comply with Articles 59 of this Decree.

3. Bid-winning investors shall implement projects under Article 60 of this Decree.

Section 3

INVESTOR SELECTION IN SPECIAL CASES

Article 73. Order of appraisal and approval of investor selection plans in special cases

1. Competent persons shall make dossiers of request for application of investor selection plans in special cases and submit them to the Prime Minister and concurrently send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for appraisal.

2. Within 30 days after receiving a complete dossier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall appraise the relevant investor selection plan in the special case and report it to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.

3. Based on dossiers of request of the competent persons and appraisal reports of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Prime Minister shall consider and approve investor selection plans in special cases.

Article 74. Dossiers of request for application of regulations on investor selection in special cases

1. A request for application of regulations on investor selection in special cases must have the following contents:

a/ Basic information on the project; 

b/ Distinct characteristics of the project that make it impossible to apply the forms of investor selection prescribed in Articles 20 and 22 of the Bidding Law and Articles 9 and 10 of this Decree;

c/ Investor selection plan in the special case (including stages of  investor selection, specific solution to deal with distinct characteristics of the project so as to ensure its investment efficiency).

2. Relevant legal documents.

3. Other necessary explanatory documents (if any).

Chapter VI

CONTENTS OF APPRAISAL, AND DECENTRALIZATION OF APPRAISAL AND APPROVAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN INVESTOR SELECTION

Article 75. Appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements

1. Appraisal of a dossier of invitation to prequalification:

a/ A dossier to be submitted for appraisal or approval must comprise:

- The bid solicitor’s request for approval of the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- The draft dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- Copies of documents serving as the legal grounds for prequalification;

- Other relevant documents.

b/ Contents of appraisal include:

- Checking documents serving as the grounds for making the dossier of invitation to prequalification;   

- Examining the conformity of the dossier of invitation to prequalification with the scale, objectives, and scope of work and implementation period of the project; and the compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws;

- Considering divergent opinions (if any) of organizations and individuals engaged in making the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- Other relevant contents.

c/ An appraisal report must contain:

- A summary of the project, and legal grounds for making the dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- Comments and opinions of the appraising unit on the legal grounds and compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws; opinions agreeing or disagreeing with contents of the draft dossier of invitation to prequalification;

- Proposals and recommendations of the appraising unit on the approval of the dossier of invitation to prequalification; handling measures in case the dossier of invitation to prequalification is detected to be incompliant with the bidding law and other relevant laws; and handling measures in case grounds for approving the dossier of invitation to prequalification are insufficient;

- Other opinions (if any).

d/ Before signing the appraisal report, if finding it necessary, the appraising unit shall organize a meeting of involved parties to solve remaining problems.

2. Appraisal of a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements:

a/ A dossier to be submitted for appraisal or approval must comprise:

- The bid solicitor’s request for approval of the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- The draft bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- Copies of the decision approving the investor selection plan and the document approving the prequalification result (if any);

- Other relevant documents.

b/ Contents of appraisal include:

- Checking documents serving as the grounds for making the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- Examining the conformity of the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements with the scale, objectives, and scope of work and implementation period of the project; and compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws;

- Considering divergent opinions (if any) of organizations and individuals engaged in making the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- Other relevant contents.

c/ An appraisal report must contain:

- A summary of the project, and legal grounds for making the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- Comments and opinions of the appraising unit on legal grounds and compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws; opinions agreeing or disagreeing with contents of the draft bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

- Proposals and recommendations of the appraising unit on the approval of the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements; handling measures in case the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements is detected to be incompliant with the bidding law and other relevant laws; and handling measures in case grounds for approving the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements are insufficient;

- Other opinions (if any).

d/ Before signing the appraisal report, if finding it necessary, the appraising unit shall organize a meeting of involved parties to solve remaining problems.

Article 76. Appraisal of prequalification results, lists of investors satisfying technical requirements, and investor selection results

1. General principles:

a/ Prequalification results, lists of investors satisfying technical requirements, and investor selection results shall be appraised before being approved;

b/ For projects to which the single-stage one-envelope method is applied, only investor selection results shall be appraised;

c/ For projects to which the single-stage two-envelope method is applied, lists of investors satisfying technical requirements shall be appraised before being approved;

d/ Investor ranking lists are not required to be appraised before being approved. Such a list shall be approved at the request of the bid solicitor;

dd/ Before signing the appraisal report, if finding it necessary, the appraising unit may organize a meeting of involved parties to solve remaining problems.

2. Appraisal of prequalification results:

a/ A dossier for appraisal must comprise:

- A report on the results of evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification;

- The bid solicitor’s request for appraisal of the results of evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification, clearly stating its opinions on opinions, proposals and recommendations of the expert team;

- Copies of the dossier of invitation to prequalification, bid closing record, bid opening record, dossiers for participation in prequalification of investors, and other relevant necessary documents.

b/ Appraisal contents include:

- Checking documents serving as the grounds for prequalification;

- Examining the compliance with regulations on time limits during the prequalification;

- Examining thee compliance with regulations of the dossier of invitation to prequalification and the bidding law during the prequalification.

c/ An appraisal report must contain:

- A summary of the project, and legal grounds for organizing the investor selection;

- A summary of the prequalification process and proposals of the submitting agency about the prequalification result;

- Comments on the compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws during the prequalification;

- Opinions agreeing or disagreeing with the prequalification result; proposals on handling measures if detecting non-compliance with the bidding law during the prequalification or in case grounds for conclusion on the prequalification result remain insufficient;

- Opinions of the appraising unit on assurance of competition, fairness and transparency during the prequalification;

- Proposals and recommendations of the appraising unit;

- Other opinions.

3. Appraising the list of investors satisfying technical requirements:

a/ A dossier for appraisal must comprise:

- The bid solicitor’s request for appraisal of the results of evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals;

- A report on the results of evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals;

- Copies of the bidding dossier, bid closing record, bid opening record, dossiers of technical proposals of investors, and other relevant necessary documents.

b/ Appraisal contents include:

- Examining the evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals; compliance with the bidding law and relevant laws during the evaluation of the dossiers;

- Other relevant contents.

c/ An appraisal report must contain:

- A summary of the investor selection process, from the stage of shortlisting (if any) to submission of the list of investors satisfying technical requirements;

- Comments on the compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws during the investor selection process;

- Opinions of the appraising unit on assurance of competition, fairness and transparency in the investor selection process;

- Proposals and recommendations to the bid solicitor and expert team;

- Opinions agreeing or disagreeing with the results of evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals; proposals on handling measures if detecting non-compliance with the bidding law during the investor selection process or in case grounds for conclusion on the results of evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals remain insufficient;

- Other opinions.

4. Appraising the investor selection result:

a/ A dossier for appraisal must comprise:

- The bid solicitor’s request for appraisal of the investor selection result;

- A report on the results of evaluation of bids or dossiers of proposals;

- Copies of the bidding dossier, dossier of requirements, bid closing record, bid opening record, bids, dossiers of proposals of investors, and other relevant documents.

b/ Appraisal contents include:

- Examining the conformity and compliance of the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements with regulations; compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws;

- Examining the compliance with regulations on time limits during contract negotiation and finalization;

- Examining the compliance with regulations on submission of the investor selection result.

c/ An appraisal report must contain:

- A summary of the project, and legal grounds for organizing the investor selection;

- Review of the whole investor selection process from the stage of shortlisting (if any) to submission of the investor selection result;

- Comments on the compliance with the bidding law and other relevant laws during the investor selection process;

- Opinions of the appraising unit on assurance of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency in the investor selection process;

- Proposals and recommendations to the bid solicitor and expert team;

- Opinions agreeing or disagreeing with the investor selection result; proposals on handling measures if detecting non-compliance with the bidding law in the investor selection process or in case grounds for conclusion on the investor selection result remain insufficient;

- Other opinions.

Article 77. Responsibilities of ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies; and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees

1. For PPP projects under their management, ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

a/ Approve investor selection plans and investor selection results;

b/ Approve dossiers of invitation to prequalification, prequalification results, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, lists of investors satisfying technical requirements, and investor ranking lists, or authorize heads of organizations under their ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, or heads of specialized agencies under provincial- or district-level People’s Committees to do so;

c/ Perform other tasks falling under the responsibility of competent persons prescribed in Article 73 of the Bidding Law.  

2. For land-using investment projects, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

a/ Approve lists of land-using investment projects;

b/ Approve investor selection plans and investor selection results;

c/ Approve dossiers of invitation to prequalification, prequalification results, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, lists of investors satisfying technical requirements, and investor ranking lists, or authorize heads of specialized agencies under provincial- or district-level People’s Committees to do so;

d/ Perform other tasks under the responsibility of competent persons as prescribed in Article 73 of the Bidding Law. 

Article 78. Responsibilities of heads of organizations under ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies; and specialized agencies of provincial- 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;

2. To perform other tasks related to investor selection as authorized by their superiors.

Article 79. Responsibilities of appraising units

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall appraise investor selection plans in special cases which are to be considered and approved by the Prime Minister as prescribed in Article 26 of the Bidding Law and other cases as requested by the Prime Minister.

2. Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall assign their attached units and organizations to appraise:

a/ Investor selection plans and investor selection results, for projects for which ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies or government-attached agencies act as competent persons;

b/ Dossiers of invitation to prequalification, prequalification results, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, and lists of investors satisfying technical requirements in case these dossiers, results and lists are to be approved by ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies or government-attached agencies.

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

a/ Investor selection plans and investor selection results, for projects for which chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees act as competent persons;

b/ Dossiers of invitation to prequalification, prequalification results, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, and lists of investors satisfying technical requirements, in case these dossiers, results and lists are to be approved by chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees.

4. In case of authorization under Point b, Clause 1, and Point c, Clause 2, Article 77 of this Decree, units assigned by organizations under ministries, ministerial-level agencies or government-attached agencies, or planning and finance sections under specialized agencies of provincial- or district-level People’s Committees shall appraise dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, prequalification results, and lists of investors satisfying technical requirements.

Chapter VII

HANDLING OF CASES AND SETTLEMENT OF APPEALS IN
THE INVESTOR SELECTION PROCESS

Article 80. Handling of cases in the investor selection process

1. In case of necessity to adjust or modify contents of an investor selection plan, procedures for modifying such plan shall be carried out in accordance with law before the opening of the dossier of technical proposals (for open bidding) or dossier of proposals (for contractor appointment).

2. For a PPP project of national importance or of group A, in an urgent case which is likely to affect investment efficiency, a competent person shall decide on investor selection through international open bidding without prequalification while adhering to the principles of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency. In this case, the bidding dossier must contain requirements on capacity and experience of investors.

3. For a group-B or group-C PPP project, depending on its characteristics, a competent person may consider and decide on the application of domestic prequalification before the investor selection plan is made while adhering to the principles of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency.

4. In case no investor submits a dossier of participation in prequalification or a bid by the bid closing time, the bid solicitor shall report such to a competent person for him/her to consider and:

a/ Permit the extension of the time limit for bid closing for at most 30 days; or,

b/ Decide to cancel the bidding and at the same time request the bid solicitor to modify the dossier of invitation to prequalification or bidding dossier and organize the investor selection again, or consider change of the form of investment as the project is unattractive to investors.

5. Past the time limit for registration of implementation of a land-using investment project, if no investor submits a registration dossier, the concerned provincial-level Planning and Investment Department shall report such to the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee for him/her to consider and:

a/ Permit the extension of the time limit for registration of implementation of the land-using investment project; or,

b/ Determine a plan on re-disclosure of the project’s information.

6. For a project subject to contractor appointment, the investor may propose the bid closing time or bid opening time earlier than the time prescribed in the dossier of requirements. In this case, the bid solicitor shall report the proposal to a competent person for consideration and approval.

7. At the time of contract signing, if the bid-winning investor fails to satisfy the requirements on technical and financial capacity prescribed in Clause 2, Article 70 of the Bidding Law, 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 and bid security if the bid has become invalid and the bid security has been refunded or released.

8. After dossiers of financial-commercial proposals are evaluated, if investors are all ranked equal, the investor with the highest technical score shall be ranked first.

9. In case all investors that satisfy technical requirements and are ranked propose the service price and state capital contribution higher than those determined in the approved feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report for PPP projects applying high technologies), a competent person shall consider and:

a/ Permit these investors to make financial-commercial proposals again; or,

b/ Permit these investors to make financial-commercial proposals again and at the same time reconsider the service price and state capital contribution determined in the approved feasibility study report (or prefeasibility study report for PPP projects applying high technologies), if deeming it necessary.

10. Depending on specific requirements and conditions of a project, in case of necessity, ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall guide and decide on organization of prequalification on the basis of investment policy decisions for PPP projects other than those specified in Clause 3, Article 9 of the Government’s Decree No. 63/2018/ND-CP of May 4, 2018, on investment in the form of public-private partnership, or on the basis of the approved feasibility study reports (for group-C PPP projects) under their management, while adhering to the principles of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency.

11. In case of organizing bidding on the basis of the approved cost estimate, if an investor proposes changing or modifying design solutions or construction measures or applying new and more effective technologies, a competent person shall consider and approve such proposal if it meets requirements on quality of works and services provided, schedule of project implementation, and cost-difference incurrence by the investor.

12. For land-using investment projects, if an investor proposes in the bid the highest value of cash remittance to the state budget (M₃) in addition to the investor’s obligations toward the state budget under current regulations but proposes total expenditures for project implementation (M₁) lower than m₁, the bid solicitor shall request the investor to clarify expenses for project implementation and consider:

a/ Economic factors relating to the use of new and modern technologies in construction measures, production processes or service provision leading to cost advantages for the investor;

b/ Economic solutions to be applied or special advantages of the investor leading to the cost-saving possibility for the investor.

If the above-said conditions are satisfied, the investor’s bid shall not be rejected. If the investor receives a grant from any organization or individual, leading to unfair competition, its/his/her bid shall be rejected.

13. An investor that wishes to change its/his/her status of participation in bidding compared with the name in the shortlist (for projects subject to prequalification) shall send a notice thereof to the bid solicitor at least 7 working days before the bid closing date. The bid solicitor shall report such change to a competent person for consideration and decision, specifically as follows:

a/ Allowing the addition of the investor outside the shortlist as a partner;

b/ In case there are 3 or more investors in the shortlist after the prequalification, allowing these investors to enter into partnership with one another provided there remain at least 3 investors participating in the bidding.

14. In addition to the above cases, the bid solicitor 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 and economic efficiency.

Article 81. Conditions for an appeal to be considered and settled

1. The appeal is made by an investor that participates in the bidding.

2. The appeal bears the signature of the person having signed the bidding participation application or a lawful representative of the investor, and a seal (if any).

3. The person responsible for settling appeals receives the appeal under Clauses 3, 4 and 5, Article 92 of the Bidding Law.

4. The appeal has not yet been included in the investor’s lawsuit initiated at court.

5. The investor pays appeal settlement expenses under Clause 6, Article 7 of this Decree to the permanent assisting body of the consultancy council, for appeals about investor selection results to be settled by competent persons.

Article 82. Consultancy councils      

1. Chairpersons of consultancy councils:

a/ The chairperson of a central-level consultancy council is a competent representative of the Ministry of Planning and Investment. A central-level consultancy council shall provide consultancy on the settlement of appeals about projects of national importance on which investment policy is decided by the National Assembly, group-A investment projects or the equivalent;

b/ The chairperson of a consultancy council of a ministry, ministerial-level agency or government-attached agency (below referred to as ministerial-level consultancy council) is the head of the unit assigned to manage bidding activities of such ministry or agency. The chairperson of a local-level consultancy council is the director of the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment. Ministerial-level or local-level consultancy councils shall provide consultancy on the settlement of appeals about PPP projects on which investment policy is decided or about group-C PPP projects of which feasibility study reports are approved by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies or local administrations, except the projects mentioned at Point a of this Clause.

2. Members of consultancy councils:

a/ Members of the central-level consultancy council include persons of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s unit assigned to manage bidding activities, and representatives of competent state agencies and related professional associations. Members of a ministerial-level consultancy council include persons of the concerned ministry’s unit assigned to manage bidding activities, and representatives of competent state agencies and related professional associations. Members of a local consultancy council include persons of the provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment and representatives of competent state agencies and related professional associations.

b/ Depending on characteristics of each project and in case of necessity, the chairperson of a consultancy council may invite other persons to join the council.

c/ Members of a consultancy council must not be relatives (blood parents, parents-in-law, spouses, offspring, adopted children, children-in-law or siblings) of persons signing the appeal and persons directly evaluating bids or dossiers of proposals, of the persons directly appraising the list of investors satisfying technical requirements and investor selection results, or of the persons approving investor selection results.

3. Operation of consultancy councils:

a/ The chairperson of a consultancy council shall issue a decision to establish the council within 5 working days after receiving an appeal filed by an investor. The consultancy council shall operate on an ad hoc basis;

b/ The consultancy council shall work on a collegial basis, vote by majority, and send work reports to a competent person for consideration and decision; members of the council may reserve their opinions and take responsibility before law for such opinions.

4. Permanent standing bodies of consultancy councils:

a/ The permanent standing body of the central-level consultancy council is the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s unit assigned to manage bidding activities. The permanent assisting body of a ministerial-level consultancy council is the concerned ministry’s unit assigned to manage bidding activities. The permanent assisting body of a local-level consultancy council is the concerned provincial-level Department of Planning and Investment’s unit assigned to manage bidding activities. A permanent assisting body may not be composed of persons directly appraising investor selection results of a project.

b/ The permanent assisting body shall perform administrative tasks prescribed by the chairperson of the consultancy council; and receive and manage payments made by appealing investors under Clause 6, Article 7 of this Decree.

Article 83. Settlement of appeals about investor selection

1. The time limit for settling an appeal specified in Clauses 3 and 4, Article 92 of the Bidding Law shall be counted from the date the administrative section of the person responsible for appeal settlement receives the appeal.

2. The person responsible for appeal settlement shall notify in writing the investor of refusal to consider and settle the appeal if such appeal fails to meet the conditions prescribed in Article 81 of this Decree.

3. Investors may withdraw their appeals in the course of appeal settlement, provided they make written requests for withdrawal.

4. A written reply on appeal settlement results to the investor must specify conclusions on appeal contents. In case the appeal is concluded to be grounded, such reply must clearly state measures, method and time limit for remedying consequences (if any); at the same time the permanent assisting body shall request responsible organizations and individuals to pay to the appealing investor the money amount paid by the investor to the consultancy council. In case the appeal is concluded to be groundless, such reply must clearly state the reason.

Chapter VIII

HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS, INSPECTION, SUPERVISION AND MONITORING OF BIDDING ACTIVITIES IN INVESTOR SELECTION

Section 1

HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 84. Forms of handling violations    

1. Warning and fine shall be imposed on organizations and individuals violating the bidding law in accordance with the law on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of planning and investment.

2. Ban on participation in bidding activities shall be imposed on organizations and individuals violating Article 89 of the Bidding Law.

3. Examination for penal liability shall be imposed on individuals whose violations of the bidding law constitute crimes in accordance with the criminal law.

4. Cadres and civil servants violating the bidding law shall also be handled in accordance with the law on cadres and civil servants.

Article 85. Ban on participation in investor selection

Depending on the severity of their violations, violators shall be banned from participation in bidding activities for:

1. Between 3 years and 5 years, for one of the violations prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 89 of the Bidding Law.

2. Between 1 year and 3 years, for one of the violations prescribed at Points a, b, c, d and h, Clause 6, Article 89 of the Bidding Law.

3. Between 6 months and 1 year, for one of the violations prescribed in Clause 7, Article 89 of the Bidding Law.

Article 86. Bid cancellation, bidding termination and refusal to recognize investor selection results

1. Bid cancellation shall be applied by competent persons to handle violations of the bidding law and other relevant regulations committed by organizations and individuals participating in bidding activities.

Competent persons shall decide on bid cancellation in the cases specified in Article 17 of the Bidding Law.

2. Bidding termination, refusal to recognize investor selection results, and invalidation of decisions made during the investor selection process are specified as follows:

a/ Termination of a bidding or refusal to recognize investor selection results shall be applied when there is evidence to believe that bidding participants commit violations of the bidding law or other relevant regulations, rendering bidding objectives unachievable or falsifying investor selection results;

b/ Bidding termination shall be applied to remedy a violation immediately upon its occurrence and before approval of investor selection results. Refusal to recognize investor selection results shall be applied from the date of approval of investor selection results to before the date of contract signing;

c/ A document on bidding termination or refusal to recognize investor selection results must clearly state the reason, contents, measures and time limit for remedying the violation;

d/ Invalidation of decisions of the bid solicitor shall be decided by a competent person when detecting that such decisions are incompliant with the bidding law and other relevant laws.

Article 87. Compensation for damage caused by violations of the bidding law

Organizations and individuals that commit violations of the bidding law and cause damage shall pay compensation in accordance with the law on compensation and other relevant regulations.

Section 2

INSPECTION, SUPERVISION AND MONITORING

Article 88. Inspection of bidding activities in investor selection

1. Inspection of bidding activities in investor selection shall be carried out as planned or on an extraordinary basis when a problem arises or an appeal or a request or a recommendation is made by the Prime Minister, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees or competent persons of agencies in charge of bidding inspection as specified in Clause 2 of this Article. Inspection methods include direct inspection or reporting request.

2. Ministers; heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies; chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees; directors of provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment, and heads of specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees; and chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees shall direct bidding inspection of units under their management and of projects in which investment is decided by them for the purpose of management, administration and rectification of bidding activities in order to accelerate and improve efficiency of bidding activities and promptly detect, prevent and handle violations of the bidding law.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall assume the prime responsibility for inspecting bidding activities nationwide. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies; provincial-level People’s Committees; provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment and specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees, and district-level People’s Committees shall assume the prime responsibility for inspecting bidding activities when requested by competent persons of bidding inspection agencies. Provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment shall assist provincial-level People’s Committees in assuming the prime responsibility for inspecting bidding activities in their localities.

4. Contents of bidding inspection:

a/ Contents of peoriodical inspection include:

- Inspection of the promulgation of documents guiding and directing the investor selection and decentralization of powers for investor selection;

- Inspection of bidding training activities;

- Inspection of the grant of bidding training certificates and bidding practice certificates;

- Inspection of the making and approval of investor selection plans, dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, prequalification results and investor selection results;

- Inspection of contents of contracts to be signed and compliance with legal bases during the contract signing and performance;

- Inspection of the project implementation process and progress according to approved investor selection plans;

- Inspection of bidding reporting;

- Inspection of the organization of bidding inspection and supervision.

b/ Contents of extraordinary inspection: Based on extraordinary inspection requirements and decisions, heads of inspection teams shall determine appropriate inspection contents.

5. After an inspection is completed, inspection report and conclusions shall be made. An inspection agency shall monitor the resolution of problems (if any) stated in inspection conclusions. In case a violation is detected, this agency shall propose handling measures or transfer the violation to an inspectorate or investigative agency for handling under regulations.

6. Contents of inspection conclusions include:

a/ Organization of bidding activities at the inspected unit;

b/ Inspection contents;

c/ Comments;

d/ Conclusions;

dd/ Recommendations.

Article 89. Supervision and monitoring of bidding activities in investor selection     

1. Supervision and monitoring of bidding activities shall be carried out in case ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies authorize heads of organizations of their ministries or agencies; chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees authorize heads of specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees or chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees to perform investor selection in order to detect and handle acts and contents violating the bidding law and other relevant laws.

2. Competent persons shall appoint persons or units having the bidding management function to supervise and monitor investor selection contents specified in Clause 3 of this Article in order to ensure compliance with the bidding law.

3. Bidding contents subject to supervision and monitoring include:

a/ Making, appraisal and approval of dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements;

b/ Evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification, bids and dossiers of proposals;

c/ Appraisal and approval of prequalification results and investor selection results;

d/ Contract negotiation, finalization and signing results.

4. Methods of supervision and monitoring:

a/ The bid solicitor shall publicly notify the name and contact address of the supervising and monitoring person or unit to the investors that have bought the dossier of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossier or dossier of requirements;

b/ The bid solicitor shall provide information relating to the investor selection to the supervising and monitoring person or unit when receiving a written request;

c/ When detecting an act or a content in contravention of the bidding law, the supervising and monitoring person or unit shall promptly report it in writing to a competent person so as to take appropriate handling measures to ensure efficiency of the investor selection.

5. Responsibilities of persons or units supervising and monitoring bidding activities:

a/ To be honest and impartial; not to cause troubles to authorized persons and bid solicitors in the course of supervision and monitoring;

b/ To request authorized persons and bid solicitors to provide relevant dossiers and documents to serve the supervision and monitoring;

c/ To receive information reported by investors and organizations and individuals involved in the selection of investors for projects subject to supervision and monitoring;

d/ To keep confidential information under regulations;

dd/ To perform other responsibilities prescribed by the bidding law and other relevant laws.

Chapter IX

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 90. Transitional provisions

1. For group-B PPP projects with investor selection plans approved in the form of international open bidding without prequalification for which bidding has not yet been held before the effective date of this Decree, competent persons shall consider continuing to apply the form of international open bidding or adjust the method of investor selection in accordance with Point c, Clause 2, Article 9 of this Decree.

2. For land-using investment projects with preliminary total expenditures for implementation (excluding expenses for compensation, support, resettlement, land use levy or land rental) of between VND 120,000,000,000 (one hundred and twenty billion) and under VND 800,000,000,000 (eight hundred billion) and having investor selection plans approved in the form of international open bidding without prequalification for which bidding has not yet been held before the effective date of this Decree, competent persons shall consider continuing to apply the form of international open bidding or applying domestic open bidding.

3. Dossiers of invitation to prequalification issued before the effective date of this Decree must comply with the Government’s Decree No. 30/2015/ND-CP of March 17, 2015, detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law concerning investor selection, and guiding circulars.

4.  Bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements issued before the effective date of this Decree must comply with the Government’s Decree No. 30/2015/ND-CP of March 17, 2015, detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law concerning investor selection, and guiding circulars.

Article 91. Implementation guidance

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

a/ Assume the prime responsibility for preparing and promulgating model dossiers for bidding, including dossier of invitation to prequalification; bidding dossier; dossier of requirements for selection of investors to implement PPP projects; bidding dossier and dossier of requirements for selection of investors to implement land-using investment projects; model report on situation of contractor selection, and other forms;

b/ Draw up a roadmap for application and guide in detail the submission of registration dossiers for implementation of land-using investment projects and submission of dossiers for participation in prequalification for implementation of PPP projects on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System under Point b, Clause 4, Article 12, and Point a, Clause 1, Article 21, of this Decree;

c/ Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related agencies in, building the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and a roadmap for application; formulate a mechanism for managing, operating and guiding online investor selection;

d/ Guide the implementation of other necessary provisions of this Decree to meet requirements of state management of bidding activities in investor selection.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall guide the management and use of expenses for investor selection.

3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

a/ Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in, promulgating model dossiers for bidding for investor selection for group-C PPP projects in sectors under their management;

b/ Guide in detail, within the ambit of their management, relevant provisions of this Decree (if necessary) in accordance with Bidding Law No. 43/2013/QH13 and this Decree;

c/ Annually summarize bidding activities for investor selection and send reports thereon to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for summarization and reporting to the Prime Minister. Particularly for projects for which the form of contractor appointment and investor selection is applied in special cases, a summary report on bidding activities must include evaluation of investor selection results based on objectives, reasons, conditions, progress and implementation plans.

4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies and chairpersons of People’s Committees at all levels shall appoint leading officials to take direct charge of and responsibility for investor selection, and assign attached units to manage investor selection under the management by their sectors or localities. Any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Decree, which are not yet mentioned in this Decree, should be reported to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

Article 92. Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on April 20, 2020.

2. This Decree replaces the Government’s Decree No. 30/2015/ND-CP of March 17, 2015, detailing a number of articles of the Bidding Law concerning investor selection.-

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC

* The appendices to this Decree are not translated.