Decree 214/2025/ND-CP detailing articles of the Bidding Law on contractor selection

DECREE

Detailing a number of articles of, and measures to implement, the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government No. 63/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of Local Administration No. 72/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15, which was amended and supplemented under Law No. 57/2024/QH15 and Law No. 90/2025/QH15;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance;

The Government hereby promulgates the Decree detailing a number of articles of, and measures to implement, the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

1. This Decree details a number of articles of the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection, including: Clause 5 Article 3; Clause 1 Article 5; Clause 6 Article 6; Clause 6 Article 10; Clause 3 Article 15; Clause 4 Article 19; Clause 2 Article 20; Article 23; Clause 1 Article 24; Clause 2 Article 29; Clause 2 Article 29a; Clause 3 Article 29b; Clause 4 Article 36; Clause 2 Article 39; Clause 2 Article 43; Clause 2 and Clause 4 Article 44; Clause 3 Article 45; Article 50; Clause 3 and Clause 7 Article 53; Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 55; Article 57; Clause 1 Article 61; Clause 4 Article 67; Clause 6 Article 70; Clause 2 Article 84; Clause 4 Article 86; Clause 5 Article 87; Clause 4 Article 88 and Clause 5 Article 89 of the Bidding Law.

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

a) Registration on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

b) Time of organization of contractor selection;

c) Public disclosure of information in bidding;

d) Management of contractors.

Article 2. Interpretation of terms

1. Online price offering means an iterative process in which contractors use electronic means to offer new prices or new values for quantifiable non-price elements according to the evaluation criteria in the bidding dossier, serving as a basis for ranking or re-ranking bid dossiers on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

2. Sustainable bidding comprises three key elements concerning environment, society, and economy, which are integrated into the contractor selection process: formulation of the general contractor selection plan (if any), contractor selection plan, design preparation, preparation of bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, evaluation of bid dossiers and dossiers of proposals, contract conclusion and contract performance management.

3. Winning bid means the bid stated in the decision approving the contractor selection result.

4. Online procurement means the direct procurement of goods and services on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System from the contractor who has won the bidding package for supply of such goods and services through centralized procurement.

Article 3. Application of the Bidding Law in case of different provisions in treaties or foreign loan agreements

Before signing in a treaty or foreign loan agreement with different provisions on bidding or with those not yet provided in the Bidding Law, the Government shall decide on applying provisions on bidding according to the following order and procedures:

1. Before proceeding with the negotiation, the project’s managing agency shall send to the agency in charge of negotiation a written proposal on application of the provisions on bidding that are different from, or not yet stipulated in the Bidding Law. Such proposal must comprise:

a) Provisions of the donor or international organization to which the State or the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party, that are different from or are not yet stipulated in the Bidding Law;

b) Necessity and assessment of the impact of application of the provisions mentioned at Point a of this Clause.

2. The agency in charge of negotiation shall consult the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and other related agencies on the proposal of application of the provisions that are different from, or not yet stipulated in the Bidding Law, together with the contents of the treaty or foreign loan agreement. The consulted agencies shall reply in writing to the agency in charge of negotiation within 5 working days after receiving the consultation request and relevant documents.

3. Before signing the treaty or foreign loan agreement, the agency in charge of negotiation shall propose the Government to consider and decide on the application of the provisions of the donor or the international organization to which the State or the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party.

Article 4. Assurance of competition in bidding

1. Contractors participating in bidding for construction, procurement, non-consultancy service, or PC bidding packages must be legally and financially independent from the following parties:

a) Contractors providing consultancy services for such bidding package, including: formulation, verification or appraisal of cost estimates, technical design, construction drawing design, and front-end engineering design (FEED); price appraisal; supervision of contract performance, inspection; formulation and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification and bidding dossiers; evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification and bid dossiers; appraisal of prequalification results and contractor selection results; project management consultancy, contract management consultancy, and other consultancy services directly related to the bidding package;

b) Project owners specified at Point d Clause 1 Article 6 of the Bidding Law.

2. Contractors participating in bidding for consultancy service bidding packages must be legally and financially independent from the following parties:

a) Contractors providing consultancy services for such bidding package, including: formulation and verification of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest and bidding dossier; evaluation of dossiers of expression of interest and bid dossiers; appraisal of results of invitation for expression of interest and contractor selection; project and contract management consultancy, and other consultancy services directly related to the bidding package;

b) Project owners specified at Point d Clause 1 Article 6 of the Bidding Law;

c) In addition to those specified at Points a and b of this Clause, contractors participating in bidding for consultancy service bidding packages related to procurement, construction, or non-consultancy service bidding packages, including: formulation and appraisal of technical designs, construction drawing designs, cost estimates; formulation and appraisal of FEEDs; price appraisal; formulation and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification and bidding dossiers; evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification and bid dossiers; appraisal of prequalification results and contractor selection results; inspection, supervision of contract performance, must be legally and financially independent from contractors providing such procurement, construction, or non-consultancy services.

3. Contractors that participate in bidding for an EPC, EP, or EC bidding package must be legally and financially independent from the following parties:

a) Contractor formulating and verifying FEEDs;

b) Contractor formulating and verifying the feasibility study report in case no FEED is formulated;

c) Contractor formulating and verifying the economic-technical reports in case where a feasibility study report or the FEED is not formulated in accordance with the law on construction;

d) Contractors providing services of project management consultancy, supervision consultancy, inspection consultancy, or contract management consultancy for the project owner, or those who are hired by the project owner;

dd) Contractors providing price appraisal consultancy; contractors formulating or appraising dossiers of invitation to prequalification and bidding dossiers; contractors providing consultancy for evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification and bid dossiers; contractors providing consultancy for appraisal of evaluation results of dossiers for participation in prequalification and contractor selection results; and other consultancy contractors directly involved in the organization of contractor selection;

e) Project owners specified at Point d Clause 1 Article 6 of the Bidding Law;

EPC, EP, or EC bidding packages shall be formed based on basic designs or FEEDs; in case a technical design already exists, EPC, EP, or EC bidding packages shall not be formed.

4. Contractors that participate in bidding for a turnkey bidding package must be legally and financially independent from the following parties:

a) Contractor formulating and verifying the prefeasibility study report;

b) Contractors providing services of project management consultancy, supervision consultancy, inspection consultancy, or contract management consultancy for the project owner, or those who are hired by the project owner;

c) Contractors providing consultancy for formulating or appraising dossiers of invitation to prequalification and bidding dossiers; contractors providing consultancy for evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification and bid dossiers; contractors providing consultancy for appraisal of contractor selection results; and other consultancy contractors directly involved in the organization of contractor selection;

d) Project owners specified at Point d Clause 1 Article 6 of the Bidding Law.

5. Except for contractors performing design tasks of an EPC, EP, EC, or turnkey bidding package, which must be legally and financially independent from the consultancy contractors specified at Points a, b, c, d and dd, Clause 3 of this Article and Points a, b and c, Clause 4 of this Article, consultancy contractors may provide one or more consultancy services for the same project or bidding package, including:

a) Formulation and verification of the investment policy proposal reports;

b) Formulation and verification of the prefeasibility study reports;

c) Formulation and verification of the feasibility study reports;

d) Formulation and verification of economic-technical reports;

dd) Construction survey;

e) Formulation and verification of design dossiers and estimates;

g) Formulation of the general contractor selection plans, contractor selection plans; formulation and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification, dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements; evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification, dossiers of expression of interest, bid dossiers, and dossiers of proposals; appraisal of the results of evaluating dossiers for participation in prequalification, results of evaluating dossiers of expression of interest, and contractor selection results;

h) Supervision consultancy.

For each item specified at Points a, b, c, d, e and g of this Clause, a contractor may only conduct formulation or verification or appraisal thereof.

6. The rate of shares or contributed capital among parties shall be determined at the time of bid closing and according to the rate stated in the enterprise registration certificate, the establishment decision, or other papers of equivalent validity.

7. In case a contractor participates in bidding as a consortium, or a consultancy contractor is selected as a consortium, the holding rate of another organization or individual in the consortium shall be determined according to the following formula:

Holding rate =

In which:

X_i: The holding rate of another organization or individual in the i^th consortium member;

Y_i: The percentage (%) of the workload of the i^th consortium member under the consortium agreement;

n: is the number of members in the consortium.

Article 5. Principles of preferences

1. Contractors participating in the bidding who are eligible for more than one type of preferences in the evaluation of capacity and experience or in the financial evaluation shall, when calculating preferences, only be entitled to the one type of preferences that is most beneficial to such contractors corresponding to each criterion of capacity and experience evaluation or financial evaluation.

2. In case all contractors participating in the bidding are entitled to the same preferences or all contractors are ineligible for preferences, there is no need to calculate preferences for comparison and ranking.

3. For mixed bidding packages, preferences shall be determined based on proposals of contractors in all consultancy, goods supply and construction and installation jobs. Contractors are entitled to preferences if their proposed domestic production costs (consultancy, non-consultancy, supply of goods of Vietnamese origin, and construction and installation expenses) account for 25% or more of the value of jobs under the bidding package.

4. A contractor must prove that the contractor as well as goods and services offered by such contractor are eligible for preferences in accordance with Clause 1, Article 10 of the Bidding Law.

Article 6. Preferences for goods of Vietnamese origin

1. Preferences for goods of Vietnamese origin with a domestic production cost ratio of less than 50%, in cases where no goods have a domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more, and preferences for drugs shall be determined as follows:

a) In case of applying the lowest bid method, contractors with goods or drugs not entitled to preferences shall have their bid prices, after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any), added with an amount of money equal to 7.5% of such bid prices for comparison and ranking;

b) In case of applying the evaluated price method, contractors with goods or drugs not entitled to preferences shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 7.5% of their bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) for comparison and ranking;

c) In case of applying the combined technique-and-price method, the general score of goods or drugs entitled to preferences will be added with preferential score by the following formula:

Preferential score = 7.5% x (the price of goods or drugs entitled to preferences/the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any)) x the general score

In which: The price of goods or drugs entitled to preferences is the bid price for such goods or drugs after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any);

d) For cases specified at Points a, b and c of this Clause, the contractor offering goods of Vietnamese origin with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% produced at its facility that has at least 50% of its employees who are disabled, war invalids, and ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bidding closing, shall be entitled to a preferential coefficient of 10% instead of 7.5%.

2. Preferences for goods of Vietnamese origin with a domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more shall be determined as follows:

a) In case of applying the lowest bid method: The contractors with goods not entitled to preferences, shall have their bid prices, after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any), added with an amount of money equal to 10% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) of such goods for comparison and ranking; The contractors with goods entitled to preferences and having the domestic production cost ratio less than 50%, shall have their bid prices, after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any), added with an amount of money equal to 2.5% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) of such goods for comparison and ranking. No amount shall be added to the bid prices of contractors for comparison and ranking if their goods of Vietnamese origin have the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% produced at facilities that have at least 50% of employees who are disabled, war invalids, and ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bidding closing;

b) In case of applying the evaluated price method: For goods not entitled to preferences, the contractors shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 10% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) of such goods for comparison and ranking. For goods with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% but entitled to preferences, the contractors shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 2.5% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) of such goods for comparison and ranking. No amount shall be added to the evaluated prices of contractors for comparison and ranking if they offer goods of Vietnamese origin with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% produced at facilities that have at least 50% of employees who are disabled, war invalids, and ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bidding closing;

c) In case of applying the combined technique-and-price method, the general score of goods entitled to preferences, of which domestic production costs account for 50% or more, shall be added with preferential score by the following formula:

Preferential score = 10% x (the price of goods entitled to preferences/the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any)) x the general score

In which: The price of goods entitled to preferences, of which domestic production costs account for 50% or more, is the bid price for such goods after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any).

For goods with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% but entitled to preferences, the formula specified at Point c Clause 1 of this Article shall be applied. For goods of Vietnamese origin with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% produced at a facility that has at least 50% of its employees who are disabled, war invalids, and ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bidding closing, the preferential coefficient of 10% shall be applied;

d) For cases specified at Points a, b and c of this Clause, the contractor offering goods of Vietnamese origin with the domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more produced at its facility that has at least 50% of its employees who are disabled, war invalids, and ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bidding closing, shall be entitled to a preferential coefficient of 12% instead of 10%.

3. Preferences for goods being innovative products of Vietnamese origin and products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall be determined as follows:

a) In case the lowest price method is applied, goods not subject to preferences must have an additional amount equal to 15% of the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) of such goods added to the contractor's bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) for comparison and ranking; goods subject to preferences with a domestic production cost ratio of under 50% must have an additional amount equal to 7.5% of the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) of such goods added to the contractor's bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) for comparison and ranking; goods subject to preferences with a domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more must have an additional amount equal to 5% of the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) of such goods added to the contractor's bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus any discount value (if any) for comparison and ranking.

b) In case of applying the evaluated price method, for goods not entitled to preferences, the contractors shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 15% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) for comparison and ranking. For goods with the domestic production cost ratio of less than 50% but entitled to preferences, the contractors shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 5% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) for comparison and ranking. For goods with the domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more entitled to preferences, the contractors shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 5% of the bid prices after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) for comparison and ranking;

c) In case the combined technique-and-price method is applied, a contractor offering innovative products of Vietnamese origin, products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall be granted preference score added to the general score according to the following formula:

Preferential score = 15% x (the price of goods entitled to preferences/the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any)) x the general score

In which: the price of goods entitled to preferences, which are innovative products of Vietnamese origin, is the bid price for such goods after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any);

For goods that are not innovative products of Vietnamese origin, or products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law, in case the contractor offers goods of Vietnamese origin with a domestic production cost ratio of under 50%, the coefficient of 15% shall be replaced by 7.5% when calculating preferences; in case the goods of Vietnamese origin have a domestic production cost ratio of 50% or more, the coefficient of 15% shall be replaced by 10% when calculating preferences.

d) In case the technique-based method is applied, a contractor offering innovative products of Vietnamese origin, products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall be granted an additional 7.5% of the contractor’s technical score added to its technical score for comparison and ranking.

4. Innovative products of Vietnamese origin are entitled to preferences in accordance with Clause 3 of this Article when they meet one of the following conditions:

a) Products on the list of high-tech products of which the investment in development is prioritized or the list of high-tech products of which the development is encouraged under the Prime Minister's decision;

b) Products or goods resulting from special science, technology and innovation tasks, or resulting from domestic science, technology and innovation tasks in accordance with the law on science, technology and innovation;

c) Products created based on the contractors’ inventions, semiconductor integrated circuit layouts, plant varieties that are granted protection titles for a term of no more than 05 years from the date of such grant, or the contractors’ computer programs protected for a term of no more 05 years from the date they are granted registered copyright certificates;

d) Semiconductor chip products;

dd) Products awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize, or the State Prize for science and technology in accordance with the law on emulation and commendation awards and the law on science, technology and innovation;

e) Products newly created from research and development results at one of the establishments of the National Innovation Center, a national-level innovation center, or a provincial-level innovation center;

g) Products newly created from scientific research and technology development results recognized in accordance with the law on technology transfer.

Innovative products prescribed in this Clause shall be entitled to preferences for a period of 06 years from the first time of their production and qualification for market entry.

5. Goods of Vietnamese origin marketed domestically (goods manufactured in Vietnam) shall be entitled to the following preferences:

a) For drugs:

The determination of domestically manufactured drugs eligible for preferences shall be carried out in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Health;

b) For other goods not specified at Point a of this Clause and not being products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law:

The determination of domestically- manufactured goods manufactured may be conducted using either the direct formula or the indirect formula as follows:

Direct formula: D (%) = G*/G x 100%

Indirect formula: D (%) = (G - C)/G x 100%

In which:

G*: is the domestic production cost;

G: is the offered price of goods stated in the bid dossier or the dossier of proposals minus tax value. For contractors that are manufacturers, G is the ex-works price (EXW price) of the goods;

C: is the value of import costs, excluding taxes and charges related to import;

D: is the percentage (%) of domestic production costs of the goods. If D ≥ 30%, such goods shall be entitled to preferences under this Article and Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of this Decree.

For products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law, the determination of goods eligible for preferences shall be carried out in accordance with specialized laws.

Article 7. Preferences in international bidding

1. For consultancy service bidding packages:

a) In case of applying the lowest bid method, contractors not entitled to preferences will have their bid price, after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus the value of discounts (if any), added with an amount of money equal to 7.5% of such bid price for comparison and ranking;

b) In case of applying the technique-based method, contractors entitled to preferences shall have their technical score added with 7.5% of such score for comparison and ranking;

c) In case of applying the combined technique-and-price method, contractors entitled to preferences will have their general score added with 7.5% of such score for comparison and ranking.

2. For bidding packages to provide non-consultancy services or for construction and installation or mixed bidding packages:

a) In case of applying the lowest bid method, contractors not entitled to preferences will have their bid price, after error correction and deviation adjustment, minus the value of discounts (if any), added with an amount of money equal to 7.5% of such bid price for comparison and ranking;

b) In case of applying the evaluated price method, contractors not entitled to preferences shall have their evaluated prices added with an amount of money equal to 7.5% of their bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) for comparison and ranking;

c) In case of applying the combined technique-and-price method, contractors entitled to preferences will have their general score added with 7.5% of such score for comparison and ranking;

d) In case of applying the technique-based method, contractors entitled to preferences shall have their technical score added with 7.5% of such score for comparison and ranking.

3. For bidding packages for goods procurement, the application of preferences for goods of Vietnamese origin shall comply with Article 6 of this Decree. The application of preferences for products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall comply with Clause 3 Article 6 of this Decree.

4. Preferences for domestic enterprises specified at Point g Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall comply with Article 9 of this Decree.

5. Preferences for domestic contractors producing goods of Vietnamese origin shall comply with Article 10 of this Decree.

6. Preferences for digital technology services specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall comply with Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Article 8. Preferences in domestic bidding

1. For bidding packages for goods procurement, the application of preferences for goods of Vietnamese origin shall comply with Article 6 of this Decree. The application of preferences for products specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall comply with Clause 3 Article 6 of this Decree.

The project owner may decide whether or not to allow contractors with 50% or more of their employees who are disabled, war invalids, or ethnic minorities signing labor contracts with the term of 03 months or more, which are still valid at the time of bid closing, to participate in the bidding for bidding packages with procurement estimates valued at less than VND 500 million. In case the project owner decides to allow but no contractor participating in the bidding or no contractor meeting the requirements, the bidding shall be re-organized and other types of contractors are allowed to participate in the bidding.

2. For construction and installation bidding packages with the bidding package's price of no more than VND 05 billion, preferences for micro-enterprises and small-sized enterprises shall comply with Point dd Clause 2 Article 10 of the Bidding Law.

3. Preferences for individuals, domestic innovative start-up businesses and domestic contractors shall comply with Article 9 of this Decree.

4. Preferences for domestic contractors producing goods of Vietnamese origin shall comply with Article 10 of this Decree.

5. Preferences for digital technology services specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law shall comply with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 7 of this Decree.

Article 9. Preferences for domestic contractors in the case specified at Point d Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law

1. Domestic innovative start-up businesses, when bidding for their innovative products as prescribed in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree, shall not be required to meet the conditions on revenue or number of years of operation in the same business line within a period of 06 years from the first time such products are manufactured and eligible to be marketed.

2. Domestic contractors specified at Point g Clause 1 Article 10 of the Bidding Law, when bidding for products or services manufactured or provided by such contractors, shall not be required to meet the condition on ensuring competition in the content of eligibility assessment and the requirements on capacity and experience within a period of 05 years from the date they are recognized by competent agencies.

3. Innovative products prescribed in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree, being goods of individuals, groups of individuals, or domestic innovative start-up businesses, when participating in bidding, shall be entitled to preferences in accordance with Clause 3 Article 6 of this Decree.

4. Innovative products specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree that are services of domestic creative start-up businesses participating in domestic or international bidding shall be entitled to preferences specified in Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 7 of this Decree.

Article 10. Preferences for domestic contractors producing goods of Vietnamese origin

1. For domestic contractors to whom technology is transferred to produce goods of Vietnamese origin in conformity with bidding dossiers:

a) They are not required to meet the requirements on revenues and years of operating in the same business line within a period of 05 years from the first time they are produced and eligible for marketing;

b) For transferred technologies falling within the list of investment-incentive sectors and trades or the list of technologies encouraged for transfer as prescribed by law, in addition to the preference specified at Point a of this Clause, they shall not be required to meet the conditions on successful operation confirmation or the period of product use ensuring quality requirements as confirmed by users. In cases where the technology transferor commits to the project owner to take responsibility for the quality of products manufactured by the contractor in accordance with the project owner’s requirements, the technology transferee-contractor may use the documents and test results of the technology transferor concerning the transferred technology object to demonstrate the verifiability and conformity of the type of goods manufactured with respect to the transferred contents under the technology transfer contract or the technology transfer certificate prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article, granted by a competent agency;

c) Requirements on capacity, experience, product quality, technical requirements, and other requirements of the bidding package, except for the cases specified at Points a and b of this Clause, shall be stipulated on the same evaluation basis applicable to all participating contractors. Where necessary, the project owner may request additional requirements applicable to contractors entitled to preferences, including extending the warranty period, enhancing quality control during production and factory acceptance testing, providing operation, maintenance, and other services to ensure the reliability of goods during operation.

2. For domestic contractors producing goods of Vietnamese origin in conformity with bidding dossiers:

a) They shall not be required to meet the conditions on revenue or number of years of operation in the same business line as that of the bidding package under consideration when the contractor offers goods of which the type of such goods has been first manufactured by the contractor and eligible to be marketed within 05 years prior to the bid closing date. The contractor shall be entitled to this preference from the time of its establishment but for no more than 07 years up to the bid closing date;

b) They shall be entitled to the preference specified at Point b Clause 1 of this Article with respect to the portion of technology transferred from another entity (if any).

3. When offering their innovative products for bidding, individuals or groups of individuals specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree are not required to meet the requirements on financial capacity and years of operating in the same business line within 06 years from the first time the products are produced and eligible for marketing.

4. The grounds for determining that a domestic contractor has been transferred technology or has been transferred technology encouraged for transfer to produce goods of Vietnamese origin shall be the certificate of technology transfer registration, the certificate of encouraged technology transfer as prescribed by the law on technology and the law on investment.

Article 11. Preferences for products and services certified with eco-labels, energy labels and equivalent

1. Products and services certified with eco-labels, energy labels and equivalent in accordance with law shall be entitled to preferences as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 10 of the Bidding Law.

2. Depending on the nature of the bidding package and demand for usage, the project owner may specify the technical requirements for procurement of products and services certified with eco-labels, energy labels and equivalent in the dossier of requirements and the bidding dossier, provided that such requirements are compliant with Clause 3 Article 44 of the Bidding Law; give priority to products and services certified with eco-labels, energy labels and equivalent in the formula for determining the evaluated price.

Article 12. Sustainable bidding

Depending on the characteristics of the bidding package, the project owner may specify sustainable bidding requirements in the bidding dossier and the dossier of requirements in one or more of the following ways:

1. Specifying technical requirements in bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements according to scoring method or pass or fail method. Contractors offering solutions, goods and services that meet sustainable bidding requirements shall continue to be considered and evaluated.

2. Prescribing in the formula for determining the evaluated price, in which sustainable bidding factors shall be quantified in the formula for determining the evaluated price for the comparison and ranking of contractors.

Article 13. Principles of applying contractor selection forms

1. Contractors may select to apply contractor selection forms under Article 29b of the Bidding Law.

2. For bidding packages satisfying the conditions for applying online price offering under corresponding fast-track procedures and online procurement under Clause 3 Article 99, Article 103 of this Decree, if the project owner decides not to apply such forms, he/she/it may apply open bidding or competitive offer as prescribed in Articles 21 and 24 of the Bidding Law.

Article 14. Costs of contractor selection

1. For international bidding, depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package, the project owner may decide according to international bidding practices the amount of money the contractor must pay to purchase electronic copies of the bidding dossier and the dossier of requirements when they submit their bid dossiers and dossiers of proposals.

For bidding packages using state budget capital, proceeds from the sale of electronic copies of bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements shall be submitted by the project owner to the state budget in accordance with the Law on the State Budget. For bidding packages not funded with state budget funds, the proceeds from the sale of electronic versions of bidding dossiers and dossier of requirements shall constitute revenues of the project owner and shall be managed and used in accordance with the project owner's financial regime.

2. Costs for preparation and appraisal in the process of contractor selection:

a) In case of hiring a bidding consultant to perform one or several tasks during the contractor selection process, the costs for hiring such consultant shall not be based on the costs specified in Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article;

b) In case the competent person assigns an attached agency or unit to prepare the general contractor selection plan, the costs for such tasks shall be included in the estimated expenses of contractor selection activities as prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article;

c) In case an expert group or an appraisal group is decided to be established by the project owner to prepare and appraise dossiers of invitation to prequalification, dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements; to evaluate dossiers of participation in prequalification, dossiers of expression of interest, bid dossiers, dossiers of proposals; to appraise contractor selection results, the costs for such tasks shall be included in the estimated expenses of contractor selection activities as prescribed in Clauses 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article;

d) The costs prescribed in Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article shall be determined in the total investment amount, procurement estimate or estimate of tasks for investment preparation, or current expenditure estimates of the unit;

dd) The management and use of the costs prescribed in Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article shall comply with the financial regime of the project owner.

3. The cost of preparing the general contractor selection plan shall be calculated as 0.5% of the cost of preparing the feasibility study report, but must be between VND 5,000,000 and VND 40,000,000.

4. Costs for making and appraisal of dossiers:

a) The cost for making a dossier of invitation for expression of interest or dossier of invitation to prequalification equals 0.1% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 2,000,000 and VND 30,000,000;

b) The cost for appraising a dossier of invitation for expression of interest or dossier of invitation to prequalification equals 0.06% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 2,000,000 and VND 30,000,000;

c) The cost for making a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements equals 0.2% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 3,000,000 and VND 60,000,000;

d) The cost for appraising a bidding dossier or dossier of requirements equals 0.1% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 2,000,000 and VND 60,000,000.

5. Expenses for evaluation of dossiers:

a) The expense for evaluating a dossier of expression of interest or dossier of participation in prequalification equals 0.1% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 2,000,000 and VND 30,000,000;

b) The expense for evaluating a bid dossier or dossier of proposals equals 0.2% of the price of the bidding package but must be between VND 3,000,000 and VND 60,000,000.

6. The cost of appraising contractor selection results, including in cases where no contractor is selected, shall be calculated as 0.1% of the bidding package price, but at least VND 3,000,000 and at most VND 60,000,000.

7. For similar bidding packages of the same project, procurement estimates of the same project owner or bidding packages that must be re-organized for contractor selection, the costs of preparation and appraisal of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest and dossiers of invitation to prequalification; preparation and appraisal of bidding dossiers and dossiers of requirements shall be calculated at a maximum of 50% of the costs prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article; in case of re-organizing bidding for a part of a bidding package (for split bidding packages), the costs shall be calculated at a maximum of 50% of the costs based on the estimated value of the part subject to re-bidding.

In case of re-organizing contractor selection, the contractor selection costs must be calculated and additionally included in the project or procurement estimate in accordance with the actual situation of the bidding package. In case of international bidding, the costs of document translation shall be calculated in accordance with market prices, ensuring the efficiency of the bidding package.

8. The costs for the petition settlement council regarding a contractor’s petition on the contractor selection results shall be calculated as a percentage of the bid price of the petitioning contractor as follows:

a) For bid prices below VND 50,000,000,000, the percentage shall be 0.03% but not less than VND 5,000,000;

b) For bid prices from VND 50,000,000,000 to below VND 100,000,000,000, the percentage shall be 0.025% but not less than VND 15,000,000;

c) For bid prices from VND 100,000,000,000 to below VND 200,000,000,000, the percentage shall be 0.02% but not less than VND 25,000,000;

d) For bid prices of VND 200,000,000,000 or more, the percentage shall be 0.015% but not less than VND 40,000,000 and not more than VND 60,000,000.

For bidding packages applying the single-stage two-envelope method or the two-stage two-envelope method, in case a contractor files a petition for not being permitted to open its dossiers of financial proposals, the determination of costs for the petition settlement council shall be based on the bidding package price.

9. Costs for contractor selection on Vietnam National E-Procurement System include:

a) The cost for maintaining the name and capacity profile of the contractor on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System shall be VND 330,000 for 01 year (inclusive of value-added tax). Contractors shall pay such cost from the second year onwards after the year of registering to participate in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

b) The cost of submitting a bid dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System shall be VND 330,000 per bidding package (inclusive of value-added tax) for open bidding, restricted bidding, or online price offering under normal procedures; VND 220,000 per bidding package (inclusive of value-added tax) for competitive offers;

c) The cost payable by the bid-winning contractor of bidding packages subject to open bidding, restricted bidding, online competitive offer, or online price offering under normal procedures:

For an unsplit bidding package: calculated at 0.022% of the winning bid but not exceeding VND 2,200,000 (inclusive of value-added tax);

For a bidding package consisting of many separate parts, the total bid-winning expense to be paid by all bid-winning contractors must not exceed VND 2,200,000 (inclusive of value-added tax). In case where 0.022% multiplied by the total winning bid of the bidding package is lower or equal to VND 2,200,000, the bid-winning expense to be paid by each contractor equals 0.022% of the total winning bid for the parts for which such contractor wins the bidding. In case where 0.022% multiplied by the total winning bid price of the bidding package exceeds VND 2,200,000, the bid-winning expense for each contractor shall be calculated using the following formula:

The bid-winning expense (inclusive of value-added tax) = VND 2,200,000 x (total winning bid value for the parts won by the contractor/total winning bid for the bidding package);

d) The expense for connecting the electronic bid guarantee function between the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and domestic credit institutions, foreign bank branches established under Vietnamese laws, domestic non-life insurance enterprises, branches of foreign non-life insurance enterprises established under Vietnamese laws shall be calculated under agreements between the unit operating and supervising the Vietnam National E-Procurement System and relevant organizations or enterprises.

10. The contractor shall pay expenses specified in Clause 9 of this Article. Past the payment deadline, if the contractor fails to make the payment, its/his/her account shall be temporarily suspended, preventing the contractor from carrying out any related transactions on Vietnam National E-Procurement System until fulfillment of the payment obligations as required.

Article 15. Expenses for the council settling contractors’ petition regarding contractor selection results

1. The expenses include: direct payment of remuneration to members of the council for performing their duties, payment of travel expenses, office supplies, translation, printing, meetings, and other expenses serving the settlement of contractors’ petitions.

 Funds for payment to the petition settlement council shall be disbursed on a fixed expenditure allowance basis. The total expenditure must not exceed the amount paid by the petitioning contractor in accordance with Clause 8 Article 14 of this Decree.

2. The petitioning contractor shall be refunded an amount equal to the amount already paid where the petition is concluded to be justified.

3. The contractor shall not be refunded the amount already paid in the following cases:

a) One or more issues raised in the petition are concluded to be unfounded;

b) The petition is withdrawn by the contractor during the settlement process.

Article 16. Formulation, submission, and approval of general contractor selection plans for projects

1. Based on the scale and characteristics of the project’s bidding activities, the project owner, if already determined, may submit to the competent person for consideration the policy on formulating the general contractor selection plan for the project. If the project owner has not yet been determined, the agency assigned to prepare the project may submit to the competent person for consideration the policy on formulating the general contractor selection plan for the project.

2. Upon approval by the competent person of the policy on formulating the general contractor selection plan, the project owner or, if the project owner has not yet been determined, the agency assigned to prepare the project (hereinafter collectively referred to as the project owner) shall formulate the general contractor selection plan on the basis of the following documents:

a) Decision on investment policy of the program or project;

b) Decision on project approval (if any);

c) Treaty or loan agreement for projects using ODA or concessional loans from foreign donors (if any);

d) Capital allocation plan for project implementation or capital sources for project implementation (if any);

dd) Relevant legal documents (if any).

The general contractor selection plan shall include the contents provided in Article 17 of this Decree. If the project owner’s personnel are not sufficiently qualified to carry out the task, the project owner may hire consultants to formulate the general contractor selection plan for the project.

3. The project owner shall submit the general contractor selection plan to the competent person for review and approval.

4. Based on the request for approval of the general contractor selection plan, the competent person shall approve such general plan after deciding on approving the project, serving as the basis for the project owner to formulate and approve the contractor selection plan. The contents of the contractor selection plan must conform to the general contractor selection plan. Where the contents of the contractor selection plan differ from the general contractor selection plan, the project owner shall report to the competent person for consideration and decision without having to resubmit and reapprove the general contractor selection plan.

5. The project owner shall upload the general contractor selection plan on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System no later than 05 working days from the date the document is issued.

Article 17. General contractor selection plan for a project

1. Analysis of the project implementation context:

Identification of the specific requirements and objectives of the project, analysis of factors in the implementation context that may affect bidding activities, and the readiness of contractors to participate in bidding. Such factors include law regulations, economic, social, and technological factors, sustainable bidding and other factors.

2. Evaluation of the project owner's capacity, resources and experience:

The capacity, resources and experience for the bidding to be evaluated include:

a) Capacity to conduct the contractor selection process from the general contractor selection planning step (if any) to contract management step;

b) Project owner's bidding results, evaluated through the following indicators: average cost savings; average number of contractors participating in open bidding, restricted bidding, competitive offer, and online price offering according to normal procedures, the ratio of bidding packages subject to open bidding, restricted bidding, competitive offer and online price offering according to the normal process with only one participating contractor over the total number of bidding packages; the ratio of bidding packages with petitions regarding the bidding dossiers; the ratio of bidding packages with petitions regarding other issues during the contractor selection process or regarding the contractor selection result; number of times the project owner failed to respond to requests for clarification of the bidding dossier, failed to respond to petitions regarding the bidding dossier, or other contents during the contractor selection process and contractor selection results; other indicators (if any);

c) Experience in performing similar projects and in settling petitions in contractor selection, complaints and denunciations;

d) Other factors.

3. Market analysis and consultation:

a) Market analysis and consultation shall include the evaluation of market risks and opportunities with respect to the form of contractor selection under consideration; contractors’ participation capability; the market for goods and services that may be provided for the project; the market trends during project performance. Depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package, market analysis and consultation may include information on the availability of goods and services under the bidding package in the market; possible costs that may arise in the event of applying innovative solutions; warranty terms and contract types commonly applied to procurement packages of similar goods and services from other project owners; law regulations (if any) applicable to goods and services under the bidding package; the ability to apply sustainable bidding, procurement of environmentally friendly services, information about goods and services that use recycled and energy-saving materials; participation capability of potential contractors being small- and micro-sized enterprises, innovation start-up enterprises, enterprises employing a large number of female workers, war invalids, persons with disabilities, or ethnic minority persons; supply chain analysis (capacity to provide supplies, materials, goods, and services for contract performance); feasibility of organizing contractor selection in which only goods of Vietnamese origin are permitted to be offered under Point e Clause 3 Article 10 and Clause 1 Article 56 of the Bidding Law; and other necessary information.

b) Market consultation may be conducted through one or more of the following methods: referring to the most recent market consultation results for similar goods and services; uploading market consultation questionnaires on appropriate media platforms; researching catalogs and product brochures from manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and agents; referring to the experiences of other project owners who have conducted market consultations or consultations on the results of contractor selection for similar goods and service bidding packages; organizing market consultation conferences with potential contractors on a public and transparent basis; conducting surveys to collect information from manufacturing and business entities; seeking opinions from experts in the relevant sector, specialized printed newspapers, magazines, market analysis publications, online information sources; and other appropriate methods;

c) The project owner may hire consultants to conduct market research and analysis, or make use of the opinions of experts, independent competent authorities, or enterprises in the market in the preparation of the general contractor selection plan, contractor selection plan, bidding dossier, and dossier of requirements, provided that the principles of competition, fairness, and transparency are ensured.

d) In case a general contractor selection plan is not prepared, the project owner may carry out market analysis and consultation to prepare the contractor selection plan, bidding dossier, and dossier of requirements.

4. Identification and management of risks in bidding:

a) Analyzing principal risks related to the operating environment, the market conditions, the capacity of the organization conducting contractor selection, and the complexity of bidding activities;

b) Evaluating the likelihood and impact of each risk on the bidding for the project;

c) Developing a risk management and mitigation plan for the project's bidding activities by applying appropriate contractor selection forms and methods, technical requirements, evaluation criteria and methods, and contractual conditions.

5. Specific objectives of bidding activities:

Identifying specific objectives of bidding activities (including specific objectives on sustainable bidding, if applicable) to ensure the overall objectives of the project.

6. Schedule for implementation of main tasks and bidding packages:

Developing a general schedule for main tasks and bidding packages in line with the project’s investment schedule.

7. Contractor selection management:

a) Division of the bidding packages: The division of bidding packages shall be based on the scale and nature of the tasks of the project, the project implementation schedule, and the results of market analysis and consultation; determination of the number of bidding packages and the scope of work of each package; determination of bidding packages divided into multiple parts;

b) Form and method of contractor selection: Determining the appropriate form and method of contractor selection for each bidding package of the project, clearly stating whether the bidding package applies centralized procurement, shortlist, domestic or international bidding;

c) Contract type: Determining the appropriate contract type for each bidding package;

d) Noteworthy issues during the process of formulating the bidding dossier and the dossier of requirements, and managing contract performance (if any).

Article 18. Bidding package price and time for organizing contractor selection

1. The bidding package price shall fully and accurately include all costs for the performance of the bidding package, including contingency costs (contingencies for price escalation, contingencies for arising volumes), charges, fees, and taxes. For construction and installation bidding packages applying fixed unit price contracts or adjustable unit price contracts, contingency costs shall include provisional sums (if any) and may only be used in case of arising circumstances. For bidding packages with a short bidding package execution duration and little possibility of risks or price slippage, the contingency cost for the price slippage factor shall be calculated as zero. Contingency costs shall be determined by the project owner based on the characteristics of each bidding package but shall not exceed the maximum level prescribed by law (if any). In cases where goods are exempted from taxes or charges under law, the bidding package price shall not include the exempted taxes and charges. The bidding package price shall be updated within 28 days prior to the bid opening date, if necessary. In cases where a bidding package consists of multiple separate parts, the estimated value of each part shall be clearly stated.

2. Bases for determination of the bidding package price:

The package price shall be determined based on one of the following sources of information:

a) Approved bidding package estimate (if any) in case where the specialized laws provide for the preparation of such estimates or issue guidance on norms and unit prices. In case where the conditions for making an estimate are not met, the bidding package price shall be based on one or several of the following: the average price based on statistics of projects and bidding packages performed in a specified period of time; total investment or estimated total investment based on investment rate, expected value of procurement estimate; salary norms and workdays of experts; and other relevant information;

b) Tasks and scope of work, quantity of experts, time for performance, capacity and experience of consultants, expert salaries as specified by law (if any) and other factors.

Line ministry in charge of labor shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies in, issuing regulations on salary levels for domestic consultants, which will serve as a basis for determining the bidding package price as stipulated at this Point;

c) Results of contractor selection for similar goods or services within a maximum of 12 months before the date of submission of the contractor selection plan, which may be adjusted according to changes in procurement volumes or market prices of the goods or services to be procured, for the purpose of determining the bidding package price. The market price at the time of procurement may be determined through market consultation as specified at Point b Clause 3 Article 17 of this Decree. In cases where no contractor selection results for similar goods or services are available within 12 months prior to the submission date of the contractor selection plan, such results from earlier years may be used, subject to adjustment for changes in procurement volumes or market prices of the goods or services to be procured. The dossier for preparation of the contractor selection plan shall be attached with a list of results of contractor selection for similar goods or services extracted from the Vietnam National E-Procurement System (if any);

d) At least one quotation for goods or services; the collection of more than one quotation is encouraged; in cases where multiple quotations are collected, the average of the quotations shall be used.

For bidding packages to purchase medicines; chemicals, testing supplies, and medical equipment; spare parts, accessories, and replacement materials for medical equipment: Based on professional requirements, the project owner shall decide on technical criteria and organize the collection of quotations. The project owner must publish the request for quotations on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System; it is encouraged to also publish it on the project owner’s e-portal or website, or on the e-portal of the Ministry of Health, or on the online public service portal on medical equipment management. Interested contractors shall submit quotations within a minimum period of 10 days from the date of posting the request for quotations on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Where two or more quotations are submitted, the project owner may select the highest quotation, provided that it is consistent with financial capacity and professional requirements.

For other goods and services, the project owner may post the request for quotations on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or organize quotation collection by other means; interested contractors shall submit quotations within a minimum period of 05 days from the date of posting the request for quotations on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

The project owner shall collect quotations in an open and transparent manner. Entities providing quotations shall be responsible for providing pricing information of goods and services consistent with their supply capacity and must ensure that the provision of quotations does not violate the law on competition, dumping, or price gouging;

dd) Valuation results of the valuation council or of an organization with the function of providing valuation services as prescribed by law (if any);

e) Listed prices of manufacturers, importers, agents, distributors, suppliers, enterprises;

g) Declared prices announced or provided by functional or competent authorities and units.

3. For split bidding packages, the bidding package price shall be determined based on one or several pieces of information specified in Clause 2 of this Article, in which each part of the bidding package may be based on different information provided in Clause 2 of this Article.

4. The project owner may consider sustainable bidding factors as specified in Article 12 of this Decree and environmentally friendly products and services when determining the bidding package price. In this case, the bidding package price shall include the costs necessary to implement sustainable bidding requirements.

5. For contractor selection under procurement estimates, the dossier of contractor selection plan proposal shall specify the following contents:

a) The state budget estimate approved by the competent authority according to the budget year, or the expected state budget estimate to be allocated in the budget year or subsequent years in cases of procurement for the following year or multi-year procurement; the expected lawful financial sources in the fiscal year; or the expected lawful financial sources for subsequent years in cases of procurement for the following year or multi-year procurement;

b) Value of procurement performed in the fiscal year or budget year;

c) Part of the budget not used for procurement;

d) Procurement estimate, determined by the budget specified at Point a of this Clause minus the budget specified at Points b and c of this Clause. The project owner is not required to appraise or approve the procurement estimate.

In case where the project owner has available funds for procurement in the budget year or fiscal year and does not use the expected revenue in the year, the procurement estimate as specified in this Clause may not be made. In this case, the procurement estimate is the available funding for procurement in the budget year or fiscal year.

Where a bidding package has a contract performance period longer than one year, or where the effective date of the contract and the completion date of contractual obligations fall in different fiscal years, the procurement estimate of the budget year or fiscal year and the expected procurement estimates of the subsequent years shall be clearly stated. The project owner shall allocate sufficient funds for annual contract payment. Annual payments shall be made after the expenditure estimates for that year have been approved.

6. For procurement estimates, the project owner may organize contractor selection in the current year for procurement in subsequent years in order to ensure uninterrupted supply of goods, services, and construction and installation. The document submitting the contractor selection plan must include the procurement estimate for subsequent years as the basis for determining the bidding package price.

7. Based on the scale, nature, and progress of the project or bidding package, the project owner shall decide the period for organizing contractor selection for each bidding package, which is the number of days counted from the date of issuance of the bidding dossier or dossier of requirements until the result of contractor selection is available, inclusive of the appraisal period. In case where procedures for shortlist selection are applied to the bidding package, the period for organizing contractor selection shall be counted from the date of issuance of the dossier of invitation to prequalification, dossier of invitation for expression of interest until the contractor selection results are available. In case of necessity, the periods for evaluation of the bid dossiers and dossiers of proposals and the appraisal period may be specified.

8. For cost estimates approved under Point c Clause 8 Article 39 of the Bidding Law and Clause 2 Article 140 of this Decree, if the specialized law prescribes the preparation of, and competence to approve, cost estimates, then the preparation and approval of cost estimates shall comply with such laws. If the specialized law does not provide specific regulations, the project owner or the agency or unit authorized by the competent person to approve the cost estimate shall approve the cost estimate.

Article 19. National database on contractors and quality of goods already used

1. The national database on contractors covers:

a) Information about the contractors’ legal status;

b) Information about the contractors’ violations;

c) Information about the contractors’ capacity and experience, including: financial statements or documents on revenue and net assets; performance of tax declaration and tax payment obligations; financial resources; key personnel; essential machinery and equipment; contracts that have been and are being performed, production capacity, in which the principal contents of contracts falling within the scope of regulation of the Bidding Law shall be made public;

d) Information about the contractors’ prestige in participating in bidding, including information about violations committed during the bidding process specified in Clause 1 Article 20 of this Decree;

dd) Information about the contractors’ contract performance results, including information specified in Clause 3 Article 20 of this Decree and information about the contract performance process;

e) Other information about contractors.

2. The national database on quality of goods already used covers the following information:

a) Name of goods;

b) Origin, manufacturer, code, label;

c) Main technical characteristics;

d) The project owner and units using the goods;

dd) Quality of goods as specified in Clauses 5, 6 and 7 Article 20 of this Decree;

e) Other information.

3. The national database on contractors and quality of goods already used shall be regularly updated to ensure objective and truthful information for contractor selection.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall detail this Article.

Article 20. Information about the contractor's contract performance results and quality of goods already used

1. Unless the contractor is simultaneously ranked first in multiple bidding packages or due to force majeure, he/she/it shall have prestige in participating in bidding evaluated upon committing the following acts:

a) Failing or refusing to conduct document verification, or conducting document verification but refusing or failing to sign the minutes of document verification during the validity period of the bid dossier or dossier of proposals when invited for document verification;

b) Failing or refusing to conduct contract negotiations (if any), or conducting negotiations but refusing or failing to sign the minutes of contract negotiations during the validity period of the bid dossier or dossier of proposals when invited to contract negotiations, except in the case specified in Clause 7 Article 45 of this Decree;

c) Being selected as the bid-winning contractor, but failing or refusing to finalize the contract or framework agreement, or failing to sign the contract or framework agreement, except in the case specified in Clause 4 Article 34 of this Decree;

d) Having signed a framework agreement, but failing or refusing to finalize the contract or failing to sign the contract;

dd) Withdrawing bid dossiers or dossiers of requirements after the time of bid closing and when the bid dossiers and dossiers of proposals remain valid;

e) Failing to submit the original bid security documents as required by the project owner, or failing to submit cash, certified check, bid guarantee letter, or a guarantee insurance certificate in accordance with the bidding law;

g) Failing to take contract performance security;

h) Refusing or failing to confirm acceptance of the contract award within a maximum of 3 working days from the date the project owner invites the contractor to confirm the contract award acceptance on Vietnam National E-Procurement System, or having been selected as bid-winning contractor, but failing to perform as committed in the bid application form in case of fast-track online price offering;

i) Failing to arrange key personnel and principal construction equipment for implementation of a construction and installation bidding package, PC bidding package, or construction and installation component of an EC bidding package, as committed in the bid application form in domestic bidding.

2. Within 07 working days from the date the contractor commits any act specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the project owner shall upload the list of contractors and relevant documents on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, stating the date he/she/it commits such act. For consultancy service bidding packages, information on the contractor’s prestige in bidding participation shall be used for technical evaluation (if any). For other bidding packages, the contractor whose name is included in this list, when participating in bidding, shall be required to provide bid security valued at three times the value required of other contractors, for a period of 02 years from the last time of committing the acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article, and shall not be subject to technical evaluation or consideration in the process of contractor selection.

3. Information on the contractor’s contract performance results includes:

a) Contract performance progress;

b) Quality of goods, services, works, including incidents that occur during contract performance (if any) and other relevant factors;

c) Breach of contract, termination of contract and reasons;

d) Other information (if necessary).

4. The project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand shall publicize the contractor’s contract performance results on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The publication of information about contract performance result shall be apply to each contract and based on the scope of work under the contract performed by the contractor. The information shall be publicized during or after the bidding package performance period, but no later than 06 months from the end date of the bidding package performance period. In case where the warranty period is longer than 06 months, the project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand must also update the contractor's contract performance results after the warranty obligation (if any) is fulfilled.

Within a maximum period of 20 days from the date the project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand publicizes information about the contractor’s contract performance results, the contractor shall provide a response on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Where the contractor’s response is accurate, the project owner or the unit with centralized procurement demand shall be responsible for updating the information accordingly.

5. Information about the quality of goods already used under contracts includes:

a) Actual quality of goods compared to that required in the contract;

b) Severity of defects arising and the rectification of such defects or replacement with new goods (if any);

c) Frequency of breakdowns or incidents of the goods and the quality of warranty, repair, and rectification services (if any);

d) Reliability, durability, efficiency, capacity (if necessary);

dd) Other information (if necessary).

6. Information on the quality of used goods being medicines, testing supplies, medical equipment and spare parts and components for repairing medical equipment shall comply with the law on pharmacy and medical equipment.

7. The project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand shall disclose the quality of used goods specified in Clause 5 of this Article on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The disclosure period shall be after the contract performance period but shall not be later than 06 months from the date of completion of the contract performance period. In case where the warranty period is longer than 06 months, the project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand must also update information about the used goods’ quality after the warranty obligation (if any) is fulfilled.

Within a maximum period of 20 days from the date the project owner or unit with centralized procurement demand publicizes information about the quality of goods used, the contractor shall provide a response on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. Where the contractor’s response is accurate, the project owner or the unit with centralized procurement demand shall be responsible for updating the information accordingly.

8. The project owner or the unit with centralized procurement demand shall take accountability before the law for the truthfulness and objectivity of the publicized information on contract performance results and quality of goods used.

9. The database on contract performance results and quality of goods used as specified in Clauses 3, 5 and 6 of this Article shall be used as a basis for developing technical evaluation criteria and integrated in the formula for determining the evaluated price (if any). If necessary, the project owner may publicize other information in addition to those specified in Clauses 3, 5 and 6 of this Article to serve as a basis for developing technical evaluation criteria and be integrated in the formula for determining the evaluated price (if any). The development of technical evaluation criteria must not limit the participation of contractors, or create advantages for one or more than one contractor, leading to unfair competition under Clause 3 Article 44 of the Bidding Law.

Article 21. Capacity and experience conditions for expert groups and appraisal groups

1. A member of an expert group or appraisal group must satisfy the following requirements:

a) Possessing a professional certificate in bidding, except as provided in Clause 2 of this Article;

b) Possessing a university or higher-level degree; for bidding packages in the fields of security, defense, and education, the project owner shall decide on the selection of members to participate in the expert group or appraisal group, ensuring their capacity to perform the assigned tasks;

c) Having full civil act capacity as prescribed by law; not being prosecuted for criminal liability;

d) Having at least 03 years of experience working in one of the fields related to the legal, technical, and financial aspects of the bidding package: having experience or carrying out matters relating to the technical contents stated in the dossiers of invitation for expression of interest, dossiers of invitation to prequalification, bidding dossiers, dossiers of requirements, or financial matters or legal matters.

2. For bidding packages under science, technology, and innovation projects as prescribed by the law on science, technology, and innovation; high-tech application projects as prescribed by the law on high technology; or new technology application projects as prescribed by the law on technology transfer, the project owner shall decide on the selection of members to participate in the expert group or appraisal group, ensuring their capacity to perform the assigned tasks, without being required to satisfy the conditions provided at Point a and Point d Clause 1 of this Article, except in cases where members of the expert group or appraisal group are individual consultants or individuals belonging to bidding consultancy organizations.

Where the opinion of specialized experts is needed, such experts shall not be required to hold a professional certificate in bidding.

3. In the health sector, where the project owner does not have personnel satisfying the conditions prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the project owner may mobilize or assign tasks to personnel under its management, or invite officials of the provincial-level Department of Health, the Ministry of Health, and experts in the health sector to participate in the expert group or appraisal group without having to meet the requirements at Point a and Point b Clause 1 of this Article, or may hire a consultancy unit. The organization of contractor selection must meet the bidding objectives which are competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency and accountability.

Article 22. Disclosure of information on contractor selection

1. Information on contractor selection shall be publicly posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Articles 7 and 8 of the Bidding Law. Project owners shall post the following information on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System:

a) Information about contractors that fail to ensure prestige when participating in bidding;

b) Information about contractors whose contracts are terminated due to their fault;

c) Information about contractors prohibited from participating in bidding under the bidding law, and organizations or individuals committing other violations.

In cases where such information requires modifications, project owners shall make modifications, attach the modification decision, clearly state the reason for modification, and bear full responsibility for the modified information.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall detail the uploading, management and use of information specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 23. Registration and management of accounts on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System

1. Registration for participation in the Vietnam National E-Procurement System shall be carried out as follows:

a) An organization or individual fills its/his/her information in the registration form generated by the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or the National Public Service Portal (if any);

b) An organization submits a registration dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or the National Public Service Portal (if any), comprising the following documents: the registration form specified at Point a of this Clause, duly signed or electronically authenticated, and affixed with the seal (if any) of the organization’s lawful representative; the power of attorney (if any); the establishment decision or enterprise registration certificate or business household registration certificate or cooperative registration certificate, cooperative union registration certificate, cooperative group registration certificate or another equivalent document in case such organization is not listed on the National Business Registration Portal;

c) An individual submits a registration dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System or the National Public Service Portal (if any), comprising the following documents: the registration form specified at Point a of this Clause, duly signed or electronically authenticated by the registrant; a copy of his/her passport or equivalent document if the registrant has foreign nationality.

2. The account information of organizations and individuals on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System shall be updated as follows:

a) Information to be updated includes: Supplementation or modification of registered information; addition of roles in bidding activities; termination, suspension, restoration of participation status;

b) An organization or individual updates the account information and perform digital signature authentication on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

3. Dossiers of organizations and individuals specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall be processed within 02 working days from receipt of the request on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The results of processing dossiers of organizations and individuals shall be announced on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, the National Public Service Portal (if any) and e-mail.

4. Organizations and individuals who intentionally upload account information specified in Clause 2 of this Article, or upload information specified in Articles 7 and 8 of the Bidding Law, that is untrue, shall have their accounts suspended for a period of 12 months from the date the act is detected.

5. In cases where a bidding consultant is hired to serve as an expert group or an appraisal group, such consultant shall not, on behalf of the project owner, post information which falls under the posting responsibility of the project owner under Articles 7 and 8 of the Bidding Law. Where the bidding consultant, organization, or individual uses its/his/her account to post information on behalf of the project owner, such consultant, organization, or individual shall have its/his/her account locked for a period of 06 months from the date the act is detected.

Chapter II

PROCESSES OF OPEN AND RESTRICTED OFFLINE BIDDING FOR BIDDING PACKAGES TO PROVIDE NON-CONSULTANCY SERVICES OR PROCURE GOODS, BIDDING PACKAGES FOR CONSTRUCTION AND INSTALLATION OR MIXED BIDDING PACKAGES APPLYING THE SINGLE-STAGE METHOD

Section 1

SINGLE-STAGE SINGLE-ENVELOPE METHOD

Article 24. Detailed process

1. Preparation for contractor selection, covering:

a) Selecting shortlists (when necessary);

b) Making bidding dossiers;

c) Appraising (if any) and approving bidding dossiers.

2. Organization of contractor selection, covering:

a) Inviting bids;

b) Issuing, modifying and clarifying the bidding dossier;

c) Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing bid dossiers;

d) Opening bids.

3. Evaluation of bid dossiers, and submission of bid dossier evaluation results, including:

a) Examining and assessing the validity of bid dossiers;

b) Evaluating details of bid dossiers and ranking contractors (if there is more than 01 contractor);

c) Submitting bid dossier evaluation results.

4. Contract negotiation (if any) shall follow Article 45 of this Decree, for bidding packages for goods procurement, construction and installation, non-consultancy services for which international bidding is organized; mixed bidding packages and bidding packages subject to restricted bidding specified in Clause 1 Article 22 of the Bidding Law.

5. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result and explanation of the reason(s) for not winning the bid at contractors’ request (if any).

6. Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance.

7. Activities of bidding in advance specified in Article 42 of the Bidding Law shall comply with the order and procedures prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of this Article. The finalization, conclusion and management the performance of contracts specified in Clause 6 of this Article shall only be performed after the projects are approved for investment.

For goods procurement bidding packages, in addition to institutional contractors, individual contractors or groups of individual contractors offering their own innovative products, that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree, are allowed to participate in the bidding.

Article 25. Selection of short lists

Depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package, the project owner shall decide to apply the procedures for selection of a shortlist. The application of shortlist selection procedures shall be stated in the contractor selection plan.

1. For open bidding:

a) Making a dossier of invitation to prequalification:

A dossier of invitation to prequalification must comprise brief information on the project, procurement estimate or bidding package; instructions on preparation and submission of a dossier for participation in prequalification; criteria for evaluating the validity of a dossier of participation in prequalification; and capacity and experience criteria for contractors.

The criteria for evaluating dossiers for participation in prequalification shall be determined using the “pass” and “fail” criteria; in which the minimum level for every content on capacity and experience of contractors to be evaluated as pass must be specified;

b) Appraising and approving the dossier of invitation to prequalification:

The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the dossier of invitation to prequalification; in case where appraisal is required, such appraisal shall be conducted in accordance with Article 135 of this Decree prior to approval. A dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be approved in writing on the basis of the submission for approval and report on appraisal of the dossier (if any);

c) Notices of invitation to prequalification must comply with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

d) Issuing the dossier of invitation to prequalification:

The dossier of invitation to prequalification shall be issued free of charge on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The minimum preparation period for the dossier for participation in prequalification is 09 days for domestic bidding and 18 days for international bidding. Where amendments are made to the dossier of invitation to prequalification, such amendments must be carried out at least 03 working days prior to the bid closing time.

dd) Receiving and managing the dossier for participation in prequalification:

The project owner shall receive and manage the submitted dossiers for participation in prequalification under regulations on management of secret dossiers until the prequalification results are publicized;

e) Opening and evaluating the dossier for participation in prequalification:

The dossier for participation in prequalification shall be submitted within the time limit and at place specified in the dossier of invitation to prequalification and opened right after the time of bid closing. The opening of dossiers of participation in prequalification shall be recorded in writing, sent to the contractors that have submitted dossiers of participation in prequalification and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening. Dossiers for participation in prequalification submitted after the bid closing time shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected. Dossiers for participation in prequalification shall be evaluated according to the evaluation standards stated in the dossier of invitation to prequalification. Contractors with dossiers for participation in prequalification evaluated as passing all contents on capacity and experience shall be included in a short list.

Contractors being individuals or groups of individuals offering their own innovative products in compliance with Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree are not required to meet certain criteria stipulated in Clause 3 Article 10 of this Decree.

g) Submitting, appraising and approving prequalification results:

The expert group shall prepare a report on the evaluation of dossiers for participation in prequalification and submit it to the project owner for consideration without appraising prequalification results. Where requested by the project owner, the prequalification results shall be appraised in accordance with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 136 of this Decree. Based on the evaluation report of the dossier for participation in prequalification and the appraisal report of prequalification results (if any), the project owner shall approve the prequalification results in writing. In case a short list can be selected, the written approval of prequalification results must include names of contractors that have passed the prequalification and matters of concern (if any). In case a short list cannot be selected, the written approval of prequalification results must clearly state the reason.

h) Publicizing shortlists: A shortlist shall be published under Point b Clause 1 and Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law, and notified to contractors that have submitted dossiers for participation in prequalification.

2. For restricted bidding:

a) Determining and approving the shortlist, which must include at least 3 fully capable and experienced contractors that meet the requirements of the bidding package and wish to participate in bidding. If fewer than 03 contractors meet the requirements, the situation shall be handled in accordance with Clause 3 Article 140 of this Decree;

b) After being approved, a shortlist shall be published under Point b Clause 1 and Clause 4 Article 8, of the Bidding Law.

3. Shortlisted contractors may not join a consortium among themselves in order to participate in bidding. In case of forming a consortium with a contractor outside the shortlist, the prior approval of the project owner must be obtained before the bid closing time

Article 26. Making of bidding dossiers

1. Bases for making a bidding dossier:

a) The approved general plan on contractor selection (if any);

b) The approved contractor selection plan.

The draft bidding dossier shall be prepared after the contractor selection plan is approved, or may be prepared in the course of making the contractor selection plan, provided that it is approved after the approval of the contractor selection plan;

c) Documents on design, drawings, and explanations of the bidding package (if any);

d) Technical requirements of the bidding package, including: characteristics, technical specifications, technology requirements, service quality, inspection, testing, acceptance requirements and other technical requirements (if any);

dd) Provisions of the bidding law and other relevant laws; treaties and loan agreements (if any) for projects funded with official development assistance or concessional loans;

e) Provisions of the law on taxes, fees, preferences in contractor selection;

g) Other relevant bases.

2. A bidding dossier must contain all necessary details for contractors to prepare their bid dossiers and may not state any conditions to limit the participation of contractors, or to create advantage for one or more than one contractor, leading to unfair competition as specified in Clause 3 Article 44 of the Bidding Law. A bidding dossier must comprise:

a) Instructions for contractors (IFC), additional procurement options (if any);

b) Bid Data Sheet (BDS);

c) Criteria for evaluation of validity of bid dossiers; capacity and experience of contractors (if any); technical, financial and commercial qualifications; performance of similar previous contracts and quality of similar goods already used.

In case of employing a special subcontractor, the bidding dossier must clearly state the scope of work and requirements on capacity and experience of such special subcontractor;

d) Bidding and bid forms;

dd) Scope of supply, technical requirements;

e) Contractual terms and forms;

g) Dossiers, drawing designs and other contents (if any).

3. The bidding dossier shall specify the criteria for evaluating the validity of a bid dossier, including:

a) The original bid dossier is available;

b) It includes a bid application form signed and stamped (if any) by the contractor's lawful representative at request of the bidding dossier; the bid application form must be signed after the bidding dossier is issued. Different bid prices or those which create disadvantageous conditions for the project owner must not be offered. For a consortium contractor, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every consortium member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the consortium if so agreed in the consortium agreement;

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

d) There is a bid security of which the value, validity duration and beneficiary satisfy requirements in the bidding dossier. Where the bid security is provided in the form of a letter of guarantee or a certificate of guarantee insurance, such letter or certificate must not fall into any of the following cases: having a lower value or a shorter validity period than required in the bidding dossier, incorrect beneficiary name, lacking a valid signature, signed before the issuance of the bidding dossier, or containing conditions disadvantageous to the project owner. The letter of guarantee or certificate of guarantee insurance must be signed and sealed (if any) by the lawful representative of a domestic credit institution or a foreign bank branch established under Vietnam’s law, or a domestic non-life insurance enterprise or foreign non-life insurance enterprise’s branch established under Vietnam’s law. For an insurance bidding package, the contractors are not allowed to submit certificates of guarantee insurance issued by themselves. For a bidding package subject to advance bidding as specified in Article 42 of the Bidding Law, the contractor is not required to implement a bid security measure but shall commit the bidding participation responsibility in the bid application form;

dd) A contractor must not be named in two or more bid dossiers in the capacity as independent contractor or consortium member;

e) There is a consortium agreement (for consortium) bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all consortium members; in which detailed tasks and estimated value performed by each member shall be clearly specified. The assignment of tasks within a consortium shall be based on the items listed in the bid price schedule or specific tasks involved in producing such listed items. The tasks outside the scope of such items or irrelevant to production of such items shall not be assigned;

g) The contractor is eligible in accordance with Article 5 of the Bidding Law. For international bidding, where it is impossible to determine that domestic contractors cannot participate in any part of the bidding package, the project owner may conduct a survey of interest of contractors on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as follows: posting a notice requesting domestic contractors to participate together with the bidding dossier so that domestic contractors may register for one or more items of the bidding package which they are able to undertake, for a minimum period of 05 working days; upon the expiration of the registration period, if no domestic contractor registers, foreign contractors shall not be required to form a consortium with or use domestic contractors as subcontractors, and in such case, the bidding dossier shall not stipulate that foreign contractors must form a consortium with domestic contractors or use domestic subcontractors;

h) Within 03 years prior to the bid closing time, the contractor must not have personnel (who entered into a labor contract with the contractor at the time the personnel committed the violation) convicted by a Court of violations of bidding regulations causing serious consequences under criminal law with the purpose of enabling that contractor to win the bid.

4. For bidding packages to procure goods, criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers include:

a) Criteria for capacity and experience evaluation:

To use the pass-fail system to develop criteria for capacity and experience evaluation, clearly specifying the minimum requirements for being evaluated as passing each content on contractors’ capacity and experience, including experience in performing similar goods supply contracts (if any); goods production capacity (if any); financial capacity, including net asset value and turnover; performance of tax declaration and payment obligations, and other indicators necessary to assess the contractor's financial capacity; technical infrastructure and qualifications of specialized personnel who perform relevant services (if required).

Specific requirements for each item specified at this Point shall be determined based on the requirements of each bidding package. Contractors that are evaluated as passing all the items prescribed at this Point shall be regarded as satisfying requirements on capacity and experience.

For goods procurement bidding packages, individual contractors or groups of individual contractors offering their own innovative products that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree shall not be required to meet certain criteria specified in Clause 3 Article 10 of this Decree.

Contractors that are business households may neither submit financial statements nor meet net asset value requirements.

b) Technical evaluation criteria:

To use the “pass” and “fail” norms or scoring method to develop the criteria for technical evaluation.

In case of using the “pass” and “fail” norms, with regard to the general criteria for evaluation, only “pass” and “fail” norms are applied. With regard to the fundamentally detailed criteria in general criteria, only “pass” and “fail” norms are applied; with regard to the non-fundamentally detailed criteria in general criteria, apart from the “pass” and “fail” norms, the accepted norm may be applied, provided that it does not account more than 30% of detailed criteria in such general criteria. The general criteria shall be considered passed when all fundamentally detailed criteria are considered passed and all non-fundamentally detailed criteria are considered passed or accepted.

In case of using the scoring method, the minimum score and maximum score for each general criterion must be specified. The minimum score for fundamentally detailed criteria in a general criterion may be prescribed. It is not allowed to regulate the minimum score for non-fundamentally detailed criteria. The minimum required technical score shall not be lower than 70% of the maximum total technical score. For bidding packages subject to hi-tech requirements, the minimum technical score accounts for between 80% and 90% of the total maximum technical score. For bidding packages that need to be considered on the basis of attaching importance to technical factors, the project owner may specify the minimum required technical score, which shall not be lower than 80% of the total maximum technical score. Technical evaluation criteria shall be developed based on factors on the ability to meet the requirements of quantity, quality, delivery time, transportation, installation, warranty, and after-sales service (if any), information on the contractor's contract performance results as specified in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree and other requirements stated in the bidding dossier. Based on each specific bidding package, when making a bidding dossier, the following items which serve as bases for technical evaluation must be concretized: characteristics, technical specifications of goods, production standards, manufacturing standards and technology; rationality and economic efficiency of technical solutions, measures for organization of supply and installation of goods; extent of satisfaction of requirements on warranty and maintenance; extent of satisfaction of requirements on supply of spare parts, equipment and other related services (if any) throughout the entire life cycle of the goods; adaptability in terms of geography and environment; impacts on the environment and remedial measures; factors concerning commercial conditions, delivery time, technology transfer training, provision of after-sales services; schedule for supply of goods; environmentally friendly factors; information on contract performance results of the contractor as prescribed in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree; quality of similar goods made public as prescribed in Article 20 of this Decree (if any); and other necessary factors.

c) Determination of the lowest price (in case of applying the lowest bid method): determining bid price; correcting errors; adjusting deviations; deducting the value of discounts (if any); converting the bid price into a common currency (if any); determining value of preferences (if any); comparing bid dossiers to determine the lowest bid price;

d) Criteria for determining evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price method):

Formula for determining evaluated price:

G_DG = G ± Δ_G + Δ_UD

In which:

G = (bid price ± value of error correction ± value of deviation correction) - value of discounts (if any).

Δ_G means value of factors considered in the same condition for a life cycle of the goods, including: delivery time; payment schedule; costs of materials and spare parts in the early stages; ability to provide materials, spare parts and after-sales services for the goods offered in the bid dossier at the project site; life cycle costs; equipment performance and capacity; sustainable bidding factors (if any); information about the contractor's contract performance as specified in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree; quality of used goods publicized in accordance with Article 20 of this Decree, including consideration of origin; other factors (if any).

∆_UD is the to-be-added value under Points b and d Clause 1, Points b and d Clause 2 and Point b Clause 3 Article 6 of this Decree, for subjects ineligible for any preferences.

5. Criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers for construction and installation bidding packages include:

a) Criteria for capacity and experience evaluation:

To use the pass-fail system to develop criteria for capacity and experience evaluation, clearly specifying the minimum requirements for being evaluated as passing each content on contractors’ capacity and experience, including experience in implementing similar bidding packages (if any); technical capacity: quantity and professional qualifications of key personnel, quantity and types of principal construction equipment capable of being mobilized to perform the bidding package (if required); financial capacity: net asset value, revenue; fulfillment of obligations of tax declaration and payment; and other necessary indicators to assess the contractor’s financial capacity.

Specific requirements for each item specified at this Point shall be determined based on the requirements of each bidding package. Contractors that are evaluated as passing all the items prescribed at this Point shall be regarded as satisfying requirements on capacity and experience;

b) Technical evaluation criteria:

To use the “pass” and “fail” norms or scoring method to develop the criteria for technical evaluation.

In case of using the “pass” and “fail” norms, with regard to the general criteria for evaluation, only “pass” and “fail” norms are applied. With regard to the fundamentally detailed criteria in general criteria, only “pass” and “fail” norms are applied; with regard to the non-fundamentally detailed criteria in general criteria, apart from the “pass” and “fail” norms, the accepted norm may be applied, provided that it does not account more than 30% of detailed criteria in such general criteria. The general criteria shall be considered passed when all fundamentally detailed criteria are considered passed and all non-fundamentally detailed criteria are considered passed or accepted.

In case of using the scoring method, the minimum score and maximum score for each general criterion must be specified. The minimum score for fundamentally detailed criteria in a general criterion may be prescribed. It is not allowed to regulate the minimum score for non-fundamentally detailed criteria.

Technical evaluation criteria shall be developed based on such items as satisfaction of requirements on design dossiers, scope of work, information on the contractor’s contract performance as specified in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree and other requirements stated in the bidding dossier. Based on each specific bidding package, when making a bidding dossier, the following items which serve as bases for technical evaluation must be concretized: reasonability and feasibility of technical solutions and construction measures in compatibility with the proposed construction schedule; construction schedule; project management methods, including: project management organization and site management organization; quality assurance measures; assurance of environmental and hygienic conditions and other conditions such as fire prevention and fighting and occupational safety; extent of satisfaction of requirements on warranty and maintenance; environmentally friendly factors (if any), including use of materials and equipment, construction organization measures, lines, construction technologies and other factors (if any); information about the contractor's contract performance under Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree; other necessary factors. It is not allowed to include requirements on the capacity to mobilize key personnel or principal construction equipment in the technical requirements.

Except cases in which, due to characteristics of bidding packages, bidding dossiers require contractors to apply the construction methods stated therein, bidding dossiers must state that contractors may suggest construction methods other than those stated in bidding dossiers.

For construction work contents within construction and installation bidding packages or EC bidding packages, the technical evaluation criteria may set requirements on brands by groups of brands for raw materials, supplies, and other input factors (inputs for construction in accordance with the construction law for the work items specified in the bidding dossier but not constituting a work item of the bidding package). Contractors may propose raw materials, supplies, and other input factors of the brands specified in the bidding dossier or other brands of equivalent or better quality.

c) The determination of the lowest price (for cases applying the lowest price method) shall be conducted in accordance with Point c Clause 4 of this Article;

d) Criteria for determining evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price method):

Formula for determining evaluated price:

G_DG = G ± Δ_G + Δ_UD

In which:

G = (bid price ± value of error correction ± value of deviation correction) - value of discounts (if any).

Δ_G means value of factors considered in the same condition for a life cycle of the work, including: construction completion schedule; life cycle costs for the entire period of use of the construction work; loan interest costs (if any); sustainable bidding factors (if any); information on the contractor's contract performance results as provided in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree; and other factors (if any).

- ∆_UD is the to-be-added value under Point b Clause 2 Article 7 of this Decree, for subjects ineligible for any preferences.

6. For bidding packages to provide non-consultancy services and mixed bidding packages:

Criteria for capacity and experience evaluation; criteria for technical evaluation; determination of the lowest price (in case of applying the lowest price method) or criteria for technical evaluation; determination of evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price methods) shall be developed based on the size and characteristics of bidding packages and pursuant to Clauses 2, 4 and 5 of this Article as appropriate.

7. The combined technique-and-price method and technique-based method must not apply to bidding packages for which contractors shall be selected by the method of single-stage single-envelope. For bidding packages that need to be considered on the basis of attaching importance to technical factors, the project owner may specify the minimum required technical score, which shall not be lower than 80% of the total maximum technical score.

8. For a split bidding package, the bidding dossier shall clearly specify the bid offer conditions, measures and value of bid security for each part or several parts and the method of evaluation applicable to each part or several parts so that contractors can calculate their bid offers suitable to their capacity.

9. Provisions on brands and origin of goods:

a) Unless otherwise specified at Point e Clause 3 Article 10, Clause 2 Article 44 and Clause 1 Article 56 of the Bidding Law and Point b Clause 5 of this Article, bidding dossiers may not impose requirements on specific brands and origins of goods;

b) Regarding provisions under Clause 2 Article 44 of the Bidding Law, if the bidding dossier specifies origins by groups of countries or territories without including Vietnamese origin, goods of Vietnamese origin shall still be considered and evaluated;

c) The brand and catalog of a specific product may be stated in the bidding dossier as reference and illustration for technical requirements for goods but shall be followed by the words “or equivalent.” At the same time, the meaning of words equivalent to such goods in terms of technical characteristics, utilities, technological designs, technological standards and other items (if any) shall be clearly defined.

10. Provisions on employment of laborers:

For international bidding, bidding dossiers must state the employment of local laborers, especially manual laborers, for jobs which local laborers can do. Foreign laborers shall only be employed to perform jobs local employees cannot do. Bid dossiers of contractors that do not satisfy bidding dossiers’ requirements on labor employment shall be eliminated.

11. Provisions on additional procurement options (if any):

Where the contractor selection plan provides for additional procurement options, the bidding dossier must specify the maximum volume and quantity of goods or services subject to additional procurement options in conformity with the approved contractor selection plan.

12. The bidding dossier must not set forth requirements on the submission of sales licenses, letters of authorization for sale from manufacturers or distributors, certificates of partnership, commitments on technical support or warranty from manufacturers or distributors, or other documents of equivalent validity (hereinafter collectively referred to as sales licenses). Where the goods of the bidding package are of a specific and complex nature requiring the manufacturer’s responsibility in the provision of after-sales services such as warranty, maintenance, repair, supply of spare parts, replacement materials, technical support services, and other related services, the bidding dossier may require the contractor to submit sales licenses.

Where a manufacturer, or its representative office, or its agent, without legitimate reason, undertakes one or more of the following acts: failing to provide sales licenses; providing sales licenses and thereafter withdrawing such licenses; providing sales licenses to only one or a number of contractors, thereby restricting competition; or engaging in other acts that restrict competition, the contractor or the project owner shall publish such information on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. A manufacturer, or its representative office, or its agent that is reported by a contractor or a project owner shall respond via the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Article 27. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

1. The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the bidding dossier; in case where appraisal is required, such appraisal shall be conducted in accordance with Article 135 of this Decree prior to approval.

2. Bidding dossiers shall be approved on the basis of submissions for approval and reports on appraisal of bidding dossiers (if any).

Article 28. Organization of contractor selection

1. Invitation for bids:

a) Bid invitation notice applies to cases in which shortlist selection procedures are not carried out and must comply with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

b) For bidding packages subject to shortlist selection procedures, the letter of invitation for bid shall be sent to the contractors named in the shortlist.

2. Issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers:

a) Bidding dossier shall be issued on Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The minimum period for preparation of bid dossiers shall be 18 days for domestic bidding and 35 days for international bidding; for construction and installation bidding packages, mixed bidding packages with a price not exceeding VND 20 billion, and procurement or non-consultancy service bidding packages with a price not exceeding VND 10 billion, the minimum period for preparation of bid dossiers shall be 09 days for domestic bidding and 18 days for international bidding. In case where a bidding package meets the conditions for application of contractor appointment under Clause 1 Article 78 of this Decree, but the project owner decides to apply open bidding to select the contractor, the minimum period for preparation of bid dossiers shall be 09 days from the first date of issuance of the bidding dossier to the bid closing date.

b) If the bidding dossier is modified after issuance, the project owner must upload the decision on modification together with the modified bidding dossiers and the respective modifications to the bidding dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The modification of the bidding dossier shall be carried out at least 10 days before the date of bid closing; for a construction and installation bidding package or mixed bidding packages with a price not exceeding VND 20 billion, goods procurement or non-consultancy service bidding package with a price not exceeding VND 10 billion, the modification of the bidding dossier shall be carried out at least 3 working days before the date of bid closing. In case of failure to carry out the modification within such time limit, the bid closing date shall be extended;

c) When considering that a bidding dossier needs to be clarified, the organization or individual shall send a written request through the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 03 working days (for domestic bidding), or 05 working days (for international bidding) before the time of bid closing for consideration and handling. The project owner shall upload the document clarifying the bidding dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 02 working days before the time of bid closing. In the document clarifying the bidding dossier, the name of the contractor requesting clarification of the bidding dossier must not be mentioned. When necessary, the project owner may organize a pre-bidding meeting to discuss details of the bidding dossier. The notice of organization of the pre-bidding meeting shall be uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. All interested contractors may attend the pre-bidding meeting without prior notification to the project owner. The project owner must prepare minutes recording the contents of the pre-bid meeting and publish them on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The minutes of the pre-bidding meeting shall be considered a document clarifying the bidding dossier.

Clarified contents must not contravene approved contents of the bidding dossier. After making clarifications, if the bidding dossier needs to be modified, the modification of the bidding dossier must comply with Point b of this Clause;

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

3. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers:

a) Contractors shall prepare and submit bid dossiers as required in the bidding dossier.

The project owner shall receive and manage the submitted bid dossiers under regulations on management of secret dossiers until the contractor selection results are publicized; the bid dossiers or any documents modifying the submitted bid dossiers sent by the contractor to the project owner after the bid closing time shall be considered invalid and shall not be reviewed, except for documents clarifying the bid dossiers at the project owner’s request or written clarifications and additional documents to prove the eligibility, financial statements, tax declaration and payment obligations, documents on specific personnel and equipment proposed in the bid dossiers, similar contracts, the contractor's production capacity;

b) The project owner, or the expert group may not disclose information in one contractor's bid dossier to another contractor, except for information disclosed at the bid dossier opening;

c) Any contractor that wishes to modify, or withdraw the submitted bid dossier, shall send a written request to the project owner. The project owner shall only accept the modification or withdrawal of bid dossiers if receiving such written requests before the time of bid closing.

4. Bid opening:

a) Bid opening shall be publicly carried out within 2 hours after the time of bid closing. The project owner shall only open bid dossiers received before the time of bid closing as required in the bidding dossier to the witness of representatives of contractors participating in the bid-opening ceremony, regardless of whether contractors are present or absent. The bid opening shall be conducted to every bid dossier according to the alphabet order of the contractors’ names and the following procedures: checking the seal; opening the dossier and reading out the information about the name of the contractor; whether participation is independent or in a consortium; number of originals and copies in the dossier; bid price stated in the bid application form; value of discounts (if any); validity duration of the bid dossier; bidding package performance duration; value and validity of bid security; and other relevant information;

b) Bid opening record: The information specified at Point a of this Clause shall be written in a bid opening record. A bid opening record must be signed by representatives of the project owner and contractors participating in the bid-opening ceremony. This record shall be sent to the contractors participating in bidding and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening;

c) The project owner’s representative shall sign the original bid application form and discount letter (if any), power of attorney of the contractor’s at-law representative (if any); consortium agreement (if any); bid security; financial proposals and other important documents of each bid dossier.

Article 29. Principles of evaluating bid dossiers

1. The evaluation of bid dossiers shall be based on the criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers and other requirements set forth in the bidding dossier, on the submitted bid dossiers, and on the documents explaining and clarifying the bid dossiers of the contractors, so as to ensure the selection of a contractor with sufficient capacity and experience, and with feasible solutions for implementation of the bidding package; in case where the bidding dossier contains contents restricting competition as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 26 of this Decree, such contents shall not serve as grounds for consideration and evaluation of bid dossiers.

2. In case the key personnel (except for key engineering (E) personnel in EPC, EP, EC, turnkey bidding packages), or essential equipment proposed by the contractor in the bid dossier do not meet requirements, or the ability to mobilize key personnel cannot be demonstrated (including cases where personnel have already been mobilized for another contract with a working schedule overlapping with that of this bidding package), the project owner shall allow the contractor to make supplement or replacement. Contractors may supplement or replace each key personnel and essential equipment only once within an appropriate time limit.

For bidding packages organized for domestic bidding, the expert group shall evaluate the contents on key personnel and essential construction equipment of construction and installation, PC bidding packages, and the construction portion of EC bidding packages on the basis of the contractor’s commitment in the bid application form, without evaluating according to the declarations and documents attached in the bid dossier. Upon completion of financial evaluation, the contractor ranked first shall be subject to detailed evaluation of key personnel and essential construction equipment based on the declarations and attached documents of the contractor in the bid dossier. Where the contractor’s declarations and attached documents fail to meet requirements, the project owner shall require the contractor to clarify the bid dossier in order to supplement or change the key personnel and essential construction equipment compared with the declarations and documents already submitted in the bid dossier. The supplementation or change of each key personnel or essential construction equipment not meeting requirements shall be carried out no more than 02 times in order to ensure that the contractor provides key personnel and essential construction equipment meeting the requirements of the bidding dossier as committed in the bid application form. Where the contractor fails to supplement or replace key personnel or essential construction equipment, or after clarification, supplementation, or replacement, the contractor still fails to provide key personnel or essential construction equipment meeting the requirements of the bidding dossier as committed in the bid application form, such contractor shall be disqualified and shall be evaluated for prestige when participating in bidding in accordance with Article 20 of this Decree, and shall have its account blocked for a period of 03 months from the date the project owner publishes the contractor’s name on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

Where a contractor deliberately makes untruthful declarations of key personnel or essential equipment in the bid dossier with the aim of distorting the result of contractor selection, such contractor shall not be permitted to replace personnel or equipment; its bid dossier shall be disqualified; and the contractor shall be deemed fraudulent in accordance with Point b Clause 4 Article 16 of the Bidding Law and shall be dealt with under Clause 1 Article 133 of this Decree.

3. Where the similar contract proposed by the contractor in the bid dossier does not meet the requirements, the project owner shall request the contractor to supplement or replace another similar contract for evaluation within an appropriate period of time.

4. For a split bidding package, the evaluation of bid dossiers and consideration and approval of winning bids shall be conducted to ensure that the total proposed bid-winning price of the bidding package is lowest (for the bidding package subject to the lowest bid method); the total evaluated price of the bidding package is lowest (for the bidding package subject to the evaluated price method) and the proposed bid-winning price of the whole bidding package does not exceed its approved price without comparing with the estimated cost of each part. For a bidding package to purchase medicines, chemicals and testing supplies, medical equipment, and technical services, the Ministry of Health's guidelines (if any) shall be complied with.

5. The evaluation of bid dossiers shall be conducted based on copies of bid dossiers; contractors shall take responsibility for the consistency between the originals and copies. If there are any disparities between the originals and copies of bid dossiers which do not change the rankings of contractors, the originals shall be used for evaluation. If there are any disparities between the originals and copies of bid dossiers, resulting in the difference between the evaluation result based on the originals and that based on the copies, thus changing the rankings of contractors, such bid dossiers shall be eliminated and the contractors shall be regarded as cheating and subject to penalties as specified at Point a Clause 1 Article 133 of this Decree.

6. Disparities, imposition of conditions, omissions in bid dossiers:

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

b) Provided that the bid dossier basically satisfy the requirements stated in the bidding dossier, the project owner may accept errors other than disparities, impositions of conditions or omissions of principal contents in the bid dossier;

c) Provided that a bid dossier is fundamental responsive to requirements of the bidding dossier, the project owner may request the contractor to submit the necessary information or documentation, within a reasonable period of time, to rectify nonmaterial errors or nonconformities in the bid dossier related to documentation requirements. The request for information and documentation provision to rectify such nonconformities shall not be related to any aspect of the bid price. The contractor's bid dossier shall be rejected if it fails to satisfy this request of the project owner.

d) Provided that the bid dossier is fundamental responsive to requirements of the bidding dossier, the project owner, expert group may rectify nonmaterial and quantifiable nonconformities related to the bid price. To this effect, the bid price shall be adjusted, for bid dossier comparison purposes only, to reflect the price of a missing or nonconforming item.

7. Where a bid dossier contains disparities, imposition of conditions, or omissions of principal contents leading to the bid dossier being rejected, no further evaluation of the other criteria shall be conducted. Where a contractor fails to satisfy a specific evaluation criterion under each evaluation content regarding eligibility, capacity, experience, technical aspects, or financial aspects, no further evaluation of the remaining criteria shall be conducted.

8. The project owner shall not permit the contractor to use subcontractors that provide consultancy services for the bidding package won by such contractor, where the consultancy services include: preparation and verification of technical design, construction drawing design, cost estimate, front-end engineering design (FEED); valuation; supervision of contract implementation, inspection; preparation and appraisal of dossiers of invitation to prequalification and bidding dossiers; evaluation of dossiers of participation in prequalification and bid dossiers; appraisal of prequalification results, contractor selection results; project management consultancy, contract management consultancy, and other consultancy services directly related to the bidding package.

Article 30. Clarification of bid dossiers

1. After bid opening, contractors shall clarify bid dossiers at the request of the project owner. Where the contractor’s bid dossier lacks documents regarding eligibility, similar contracts, production capacity, financial statements, tax declaration and payment obligations, personnel, or equipment, the project owner shall request the contractor to clarify and supplement documents to prove its eligibility, capacity and experience; for the construction portion of EC bidding packages, construction and installation, bidding packages and PC bidding packages organized for domestic bidding, with respect to the contents concerning key personnel and essential equipment, the project owner shall request the contractor ranked first only to clarify and supplement documents for proof.

2. Where, after bid closing, the contractor discovers that its bid dossier lacks documents proving eligibility, similar contracts, production capacity, financial statements, tax declaration and payment obligations, or documents on specific personnel and equipment proposed in the bid dossier, the contractor may send such documents to the project owner to clarify its eligibility, capacity and experience. The project owner shall receive these documents for consideration and evaluation; these documents shall be regarded part of the bid dossier.

3. Regarding eligibility, the clarification must ensure the principle of not changing the nature of the contractors participating in the bidding. For contents relating to the validity of the bid dossier (excluding eligibility), technical or financial proposals, the clarification must ensure the principle of not altering the principal contents of the submitted bid dossier and not changing the bid price.

4. The bid dossier clarification shall only be carried out between the project owner and the contractor whose bid dossier needs clarifying. Clarified contents shall be expressed in writing and preserved by the project owner as a part of the bid dossier.

5. In case of doubt about the authenticity of documents provided by the contractor, the project owner shall verify with organizations and individuals related to the content of the documents.

Article 31. Error correction and deviation adjustment

1. Error correction means the correction of mistakes in bid dossiers, including arithmetic errors and other errors, and shall be conducted on the following principles:

a) Arithmetic errors include errors resulting from inaccurate addition, subtraction, multiplication or division in the calculation of a bid price. For fixed unit price contracts, adjustable unit price contracts, time-based contracts, cost-plus-fee contracts, outcome-based contracts, percentage-based contracts, where there is inconsistency between the unit price and sum, the unit price shall serve as the basis for error correction; where the unit price is found to be abnormally inconsistent due to a decimal error (tenfold, hundredfold, thousandfold), the sum shall serve as the basis for error correction;

b) Where the total value of items is incorrect due to errors in the addition or subtraction of the values of items, the item values shall serve as the basis for error correction;

c) Where there is inconsistency between the bid price written in figures and that written in words, the bid price written in words shall serve as the basis for error correction, except where the price written in words is meaningless; where the price written in words contains arithmetic errors, the price written in figures shall serve as the basis for error correction after verification (if any) under Point a and Point b of this Clause;

d) If the “sum” column is fully filled in but there is no corresponding unit price, the unit price shall be determined by dividing the sum by the quantity; when the unit price is available but the “sum” column is blank, the value of this column shall be determined by multiplying the quantity by the unit price; if a certain item has the unit price and the sum but no quantity, such quantity shall be determined by dividing the value in the “sum” column by the unit price. In case the quantity determined on this principle is different from that stated in the bidding dossier, such difference is the deviation in the scope of supply and shall be adjusted under Clause 2 of this Article, except for construction and installation bidding packages applying lump-sum contracts;

dd) Errors in units of calculation: These errors shall be corrected to meet the requirements of the bidding dossier.

2. Deviation adjustment in the scope of supply:

a) Deviations in the scope of supply for construction and installation bidding packages:

For construction and installation bidding packages not under lump-sum contracts, contractors must record the bid unit price, and respective amounts for all tasks listed in the bid price schedule. Where the contractor lists an item of work as required in the bidding dossier but does not record the bid unit price and the sum amount for one or several items of work, such items shall not be regarded as deficiency; the unit prices of such items of work shall be deemed to have been allocated into the unit prices of other items of work in the bid price schedule and shall not be separately paid by the project owner.

Where an item of work specified in the bidding dossier is not listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule, such item shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency in the bid dossier and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause for purposes of comparing and ranking the bid dossiers. Where an item of work specified in the bidding dossier is listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule with a bid unit price, but the quantity is either less or greater than that required by the bidding dossier, such item shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency or redundancy and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause.

Where an item of work listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule falls outside the scope of work specified in the bidding dossier, such item shall be deemed to constitute a redundancy and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause.

For construction and installation bidding packages applying lump-sum contracts, the contractor’s bid price shall be deemed to include all costs necessary to execute the bidding package in conformity with the design and technical requirements specified in the bidding dossier, and no adjustment shall be made in the event that the scope of work proposed in the contractor’s bid dossier differs from that required by the bidding dossier, except where the work proposed falls outside the scope required by the bidding dossier (outside the quantity necessary for completion in accordance with the design). In such case, the work outside the scope required by the bidding dossier shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause.

b) Deviations in the scope of supply for goods procurement and non-consultancy service bidding packages:

Where the contractor lists an item of work as required in the bidding dossier but does not record the bid unit price and the sum amount for one or several items of work, such shall be deemed a deficiency and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause for purposes of comparing and ranking the bid dossiers.

Where an item of work specified in the bidding dossier is not listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule, such item shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency in the bid dossier and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause for purposes of comparing and ranking the bid dossiers. Where an item of work specified in the bidding dossier is listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule, but the quantity is either less or greater than that required by the bidding dossier, such item shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency or redundancy and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause.

Where an item of work listed in the contractor’s bid price schedule falls outside the scope of work specified in the bidding dossier, such item shall be deemed to constitute a deficiency and shall be adjusted as a deviation under Point c of this Clause.

c) Adjustment of deficiency and redundancy in the scope of supply:

Where the contractor’s bid dossier omits one or several items of work as prescribed at Point a and Point b of this Clause and no unit prices are given for such items of work, the highest bid unit price quoted for such item among the other bid dossiers passing the technical evaluation stage shall serve as the basis for adjustment of deviations. Where no unit price for such item is included in the bid dossiers of contractors passing the technical evaluation stage, the unit price in the bidding package estimate shall serve as the basis for adjustment of deviations; where there is no bidding package estimate, the unit price forming the basis of the package price shall serve as the basis for adjustment of deviations, for purposes of comparing and ranking contractors. The adjustment of deficiency is only for the purpose of comparing and ranking bid dossiers.

Where the contractor’s bid dossier offers less quantity than that required in the bidding dossier, the deficient value shall be added at the corresponding unit price in the bid dossier.

Where the contractor’s bid dossier offers greater quantity than that required in the bidding dossier, the redundancy value shall be deducted at the corresponding unit price in the bid dossier.

3. For a contractor with a discount letter, the error correction and deviation adjustment shall be based on the bid price not yet minus the value of discounts. The percentage (%) of deficiency shall be determined based on comparison with the bid price stated in the bid application form.

 4. Applying the unit price for the deficiency of the first ranked contractor:

Where the contractor's bid dossier contains deficiency, and after adjustment under Point c Clause 2 of this Article, such contractor remains ranked first, but its/his/her bid dossier contains no unit price for the deficiency, the proposed bid-winning unit price for such deficiency shall be applied in the following order of priority: the lowest corresponding unit price in the bid dossiers that have passed the technical evaluation stage, unit price in the bidding package estimate, unit price forming the bidding package price (in cases where there is no bidding package estimate).

5. After error correction, deviation adjustment and application of unit price for the deficiency under Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, the project owner shall notify in writing the contractor of the error correction, deviation adjustment and application of unit price for the contractor’s bid dossier. Within 03 working days after receiving the project owner’s notice, the contractor shall give the project owner a written reply on the acceptance of the notified error correction, deviation adjustment and unit price application results. Where the contractor does not agree with the error correction, deviation adjustment or unit price application as notified by the project owner, its/his/her bid dossier shall be rejected, except where the correction of errors, adjustment of deviations, or application of unit prices by the project owner is inappropriate or inaccurate.

Article 32. Examination and evaluation of bid dossiers

1. Examination of the validity of a bid dossier:

a) Checking the composition of the bid dossier, such as bid application form; consortium agreement (if any); power of attorney from the contractor's at-law representative (if any); bid security; quantities of originals and copies of the bid dossier;

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

2. Evaluation of the validity of a bid dossier:

a) A contractor’s bid dossier shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 26 of this Decree;

b) Contractors that have valid bid dossiers may have their capacity and experience evaluated.

3. Evaluation of capacity and experience:

a) The evaluation of capacity and experience of contractors shall be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in bidding dossiers;

b) Contractors that have capacity and experience meeting the prescribed requirements may be considered for technical evaluation.

For goods procurement bidding packages, individual contractors or groups of individual contractors offering their own innovative products that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree shall not be required to meet certain criteria specified in Clause 3 Article 10 of this Decree.

4. Technical and financial evaluation:

a) Technical evaluation shall be conducted using the evaluation criteria and methods prescribed in bidding dossiers;

b) Contractors that meet technical requirements shall be evaluated financially using either the lowest price method or the evaluated price method. The contractor who has the lowest bid price after error correction or deviation adjustment (if any) minus the value of discounts (if any) and determination of preferences (if any) (in case of application of the lowest price method) or who has the lowest evaluated price (in case of application of the evaluated price method) shall be ranked first. The discount letter that is not disclosed in the bid opening record shall not be considered for evaluation.

If only one contractor meets the technical requirements, ranking of contractors is not required. The project owner is not required to approve the contractor ranking list.

5. The expert group shall make a report on bid dossier evaluation and send it to the project owner for review. Such a report must include the following contents:

a) Result of evaluation of each bid dossier;

b) List of ranked contractors and their rankings;

c) List of disqualified and eliminated contractors; reasons for elimination;

d) Remarks of the competitiveness, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency during the contractor selection. In case competitiveness, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency are not ensured, reasons shall be specified and handling measures shall be proposed;

dd) The bidding dossier’s contents incompliant with the bidding law, or they might cause misunderstanding or different ways of understanding during implementation or might distort the contractor selection result (if any); and handling measures;

e) Proposal that the project owner conduct contract negotiations (if any) with the first-ranked contractor;

g) Matters of concern (if any).

6. For bidding packages for goods procurement, construction and installation, non-consultancy service for which international bidding is organized, mixed bidding packages and bidding packages subject to restricted bidding specified in Clause 1 Article 22 of the Bidding Law, in case of contract negotiation, the project owner shall invite the first-ranked contractor to negotiate the contract in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree.

Article 33. Appraisal, approval and publicization the contractor selection result

1. Based on the bid dossier evaluation report of the expert group, and the contract negotiation results (if any), the appraisal group shall carry out the appraisal of the contractor selection results as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 4 Article 136 of this Decree before approval by the project owner.

2. Based on the bid dossier evaluation report and the appraisal report on contractor selection results, the project owner shall approve the contractor selection results.

3. In case a winning contractor can be selected, the written approval of the contractor selection result must comprise:

a) Name of the winning contractor;

b) Winning bid;

c) Type of contract;

d) Bidding package performance duration as specified in Clause 7 Article 39 of the Bidding Law and contract performance duration as specified in civil law regulations (if any);

dd) Matters of concern (if any).

4. In case of bidding cancellation under Clause 1 Article 17 of the Bidding Law, the written approval of the contractor selection result or the bidding cancellation decision must clearly state the reason for bidding cancellation and responsibilities of related parties upon bidding cancellation. The bidding cancellation decision shall be posted on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 05 working days from the date of its signing.

5. After the decision approving the contractor selection result is issued, the project owner shall publish information on the contractor selection result under Point a Clause 1 and Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law; and send a notice of the contractor selection result to contractors participating in bidding within 05 working days from the date the contractor selection result is approved. This notice must comprise:

a) The contents specified in Clause 3 of this Article;

b) List of unselected contractors and reason for not selecting each contractor;

c) Plan on contract finalization and signing with the selected contractor.

In case of a request for explanation of the specific reasons for a contractor’s non-selection, the contractor shall send a request to the project owner or directly meet with the project owner. The project owner shall be responsible for responding to the contractor’s request within 02 working days from the date of receipt of the contractor’s request.

Article 34. Finalization and conclusion of contracts

1. The project owner shall invite the bid-winning contractor to finalize the contract. During contract finalization, related parties shall finalize a draft contract and its specific terms and annexes, including a detailed list of the scope of work, prices, and implementation schedule (if any). The contract shall be finalized on the basis of:

a) The contract form filled out with specific information of the bidding package;

b) The approved contractor selection result;

c) Requirements stated in the bidding dossier;

d) Details stated in the bid dossier and clarifications of the bid-winning contractor's bid dossier (if any);

dd) Details of the contract that should be finalized.

2. The contract finalization result shall serve as the basis for the project owner and the contractor to conclude the contract. In case the contractor voluntarily reduces the price, the contract price shall be the reduced value.

3. Where the bid-winning contractor fails to attend, or refuses to finalize the contract, or refuses to sign the contract, the value of the bid security shall not be refunded.

4. The contractor shall have the right to refuse to finalize the contract, shall not be subject to reputation evaluation under Clause 1 Article 20 of this Decree, and shall be refunded the value of the bid security (if any) in cases where the project owner introduces requirements during contract finalization that are inconsistent with the contents of the bidding dossier, the bid dossier, the results of contract negotiations (if any), or the decision approving the contractor selection results.

Article 35. Management of contract performance

1. Contract performance management includes: performance schedule, quality, costs and other contents of the contract. The project owner shall manage the contract performance.

2. The project owner must update on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System the actual progress of contract performance upon completion of the milestones specified in the contract.

3. The project owner shall disclose the contractor's contract performance result on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Clauses 3 and 4 Article 20 of this Decree. For bidding packages involving the supply of goods, the project owner shall also be responsible for disclosing on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System the quality of goods supplied by the contractor in accordance with Clauses 5, 6, and 7 Article 20 of this Decree.

Section 2

SINGLE-STAGE TWO-ENVELOPE BIDDING

Article 36. Detailed process

1. Preparation for contractor selection, covering:

a) Selecting shortlists (when necessary);

b) Making bidding dossiers;

c) Appraising (if any) and approving bidding dossiers.

2. Organization of contractor selection, covering:

a) Inviting bids;

b) Issuing, modifying and clarifying the bidding dossier;

c) Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing bid dossiers;

d) Opening dossiers of technical proposals.

3. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, including:

a) Checking and evaluating the validity of dossiers of technical proposals;

b) Evaluating in detail dossiers of technical proposals;

c) Submitting, appraising and approving a list of contractors that meet technical requirements.

4. Opening and evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals, and submission of bid dossier evaluation results, including:

a) Opening dossiers of financial proposals of contractors meeting technical requirements; in case of the technique-based method, opening dossiers of financial proposals of the first-ranked contractor;

b) Examining and evaluating the validity of the dossiers of financial proposals;

c) Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals and ranking of contractors (if there is more than 01 contractor);

d) Submitting bid dossier evaluation results.

5. Contract negotiation (if any) shall be carried out in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree for bidding packages prescribed at Point b, Point c Clause 1, Clause 1a Article 31, and Clause 3a Article 58 of the Bidding Law.

6. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result and explanation of the reason(s) for not winning the bid at contractors’ request (if any).

7. Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance.

8. Activities of bidding in advance specified in Article 42 of the Bidding Law shall comply with the order and procedures prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Article. The finalization, conclusion and management the performance of contracts specified in Clause 7 of this Article shall only be performed after the projects are approved for investment.

For goods procurement bidding packages, in addition to institutional contractors, individual contractors or groups of individual contractors offering their own innovative products, that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree, are allowed to participate in the bidding.

Article 37. Making of bidding dossiers

1. Where a bidding package applies the shortlist selection, the provisions of Article 25 of this Decree shall govern.

2. The preparation of the bidding dossier shall be based on Clause 1 Article 26 of this Decree.

3. A bidding dossier must contain all necessary details for contractors to prepare their bid dossiers under Clause 2 Article 26 of this Decree, and may not state any conditions to limit the participation of contractors, or to create advantage for one or more than one contractor, leading to unfair competition as specified in Clause 3 Article 44 of the Bidding Law.

4. The bidding dossier shall prescribe the criteria for evaluation of validity of dossiers of technical proposals and dossiers of financial proposals of contractors, including:

a) Criteria for evaluation of validity of a dossier of technical proposals:

An original copy of such dossier of technical proposals is available;

Having a bid application form in the dossier of technical proposals, signed and stamped (if any) by the contractor's lawful representative at request of the bidding dossier; the bid application form must be signed after the bidding dossier is issued; not accompanying disadvantaged conditions to the project owner. For a consortium contractor, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every consortium member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the consortium if so agreed in the consortium agreement;

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

Having a bid security of which the value, validity duration and beneficiary satisfy requirements in the bidding dossier. Where the bid security is provided in the form of a letter of guarantee or a certificate of guarantee insurance, such letter or certificate must not fall into any of the following cases: having a lower value or a shorter validity period than required in the bidding dossier, incorrect beneficiary name, lacking a valid signature, signed before the issuance of the bidding dossier, or containing conditions disadvantageous to the project owner. The letter of guarantee or certificate of guarantee insurance must be signed and sealed (if any) by the lawful representative of a domestic credit institution or a foreign bank branch established under Vietnam’s law, or a domestic non-life insurance enterprise or foreign non-life insurance enterprise’s branch established under Vietnam’s law. For an insurance bidding package, the contractors are not allowed to submit certificates of guarantee insurance issued by themselves;

For a bidding package subject to advance bidding as specified in Article 42 of the Bidding Law, the contractor is not required to implement a bid security measure but shall commit the bidding participation responsibility in the bid application form;

The contractor’s name is not present in more than one dossier of technical proposals as an independent contractor or consortium member;

Having a consortium agreement (for consortium) bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all consortium members; in which detailed tasks and estimated value performed by each member shall be clearly specified. The assignment of tasks within a consortium shall be based on the items listed in the bid price schedule or specific tasks involved in producing such listed items. The tasks outside the scope of such items or irrelevant to production of such items shall not be assigned;

The contractor is eligible in accordance with Article 5 of the Bidding Law. For international bidding, where it is impossible to determine that domestic contractors cannot participate in any part of the bidding package, the project owner may conduct a survey of interest of contractors on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as follows: posting a notice requesting domestic contractors to participate together with the bidding dossier so that domestic contractors may register for one or more items of the bidding package which they are able to undertake, for a minimum period of 05 working days; upon the expiration of the registration period, if no domestic contractor registers, foreign contractors shall not be required to form a consortium with or use domestic contractors as subcontractors, and in such case, the bidding dossier shall not stipulate that foreign contractors must form a consortium with domestic contractors or use domestic subcontractors;

Within 03 years prior to the bid closing time, the contractor must not have personnel (who entered into a labor contract with the contractor at the time the personnel committed the violation) convicted by a Court of violations of bidding regulations causing serious consequences under criminal law with the purpose of enabling that contractor to win the bid;

b) Criteria for evaluation of the validity of the dossier of financial proposals:

The original of the dossier of financial proposal is available;

It includes a bid application form signed and stamped (if any) by the contractor's lawful representative at request of the bidding dossier; the bid application form must be signed after the bidding dossier is issued. Different bid prices or those which create disadvantageous conditions for the project owner must not be offered. For a consortium contractor, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every consortium member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the consortium if so agreed in the consortium agreement;

Its validity satisfies the requirements stated in the bidding dossier.

5. Criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers include:

a) Criteria for capacity and experience evaluation;

b) Technical evaluation criteria;

c) Determination of the lowest price (in case of applying the lowest bid method);

d) Criteria for determining evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price method);

dd) Criteria for general evaluation (in case of applying the combined technique-and-price method).

For bidding packages for which the prequalification has been held, the bidding dossier does not need to state the capacity and experience criteria for contractors, but should require contractors to update information on their capacity.

6. The criteria for evaluating capacity and experience of contractors and criteria for technical evaluation must comply with Points a and b Clause 4 and Points a and b Clause 5 Article 26 of this Decree.

7. The determination of the lowest price (in case of applying the lowest price method) must comply with Point c Clause 4 and Point c Clause 5 Article 26 of this Decree.

8. The criteria for determining the evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price method) must comply with Point d Clause 4 and Point d Clause 5 Article 26 of this Decree.

9. The criteria for general evaluation (in case of applying the combined technique-and-price method) must comply with Article 38 of this Decree.

10. The technique-based method shall comply with Clause 3a Article 58 of the Bidding Law. Where the technique-based method is applied, if necessary, the project owner shall conduct contract negotiation with the contractor in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree as the basis for approving the bid-winning contractor under Article 61 of the Bidding Law.

11. Requirements on trademarks and origin of goods must comply with Clause 9 Article 26 of this Decree.

12. Requirements on employment must comply with Clause 10 Article 26 of this Decree.

13. Requirements on additional procurement options must comply with Clause 11 Article 26 of this Decree.

14. For bidding packages to provide non-consultancy services and mixed bidding packages, depending on the size and characteristics of a bidding package and pursuant to this Article, to set criteria for evaluating capacity and experience of contractors; criteria for technical evaluation; determination of the lowest price (in case of applying the lowest price method); criteria for determining the evaluated price (in case of applying the evaluated price method); and criteria for general evaluation (in case of applying the combined technique-and-price method) as appropriate.

15. Licenses for sale of goods shall comply with Clause 12 Article 26 of this Decree.

Article 38. Criteria for general evaluation

1. The criteria for general evaluation apply to the combined technique-and-price method based on the determination of the general score.

The general score shall be determined as follows:

In which:

Technical score_{under consideration}: is the score determined at the stage of technical evaluation of the bid dossier under consideration;

Technical score_maximum: is the highest technical score among those of bid dossiers meeting the technical requirements;

G_minimum: is the bid price after error correction or deviation adjustment minus the minimum value of discounts (if any), which is the lowest bid price, in the bid dossiers meeting technical requirements;

G_{under consideration}: is the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any), stated in the bid dossier under consideration;

K: is the ratio of the technical score in the general score scale;

T: is the ratio of the price score in the general score scale;

K + T = 100%. The ratio of the technical score (K) and the ratio of the price score (T) shall be specified in the bidding dossier.

2. The criteria for general evaluation shall be established based on the combination of techniques and prices. Depending on the size and characteristics of each bidding package, to determine appropriate ratios of technical score and price score, ensuring that the total of the technical score and price score is 100%, specifically as follows:

a) For construction and installation, goods procurement, non-consultancy service, or mixed bidding packages: The ratio of the technical score (K) ranges between 10% and 30% and the ratio of the price score (T) ranges between 70% and 90%;

b) For medicine purchase bidding packages: The ratio of the technical score (K) ranges between 30% and 40% and the ratio of the price score (T) ranges between 60% and 70%.

c) For bidding packages specified in Clause 1a Article 31 of the Bidding Law: The ratio of the technical score (K) ranges between 40% and 60% and the ratio of the price score (T) ranges between 40% and 60%.

3. In cases where priority must be given to technical factors over price factors, the project owner shall consider and decide on the ratio of the technical score (K) and the ratio of the price score (T), provided that the technical score ratio shall not exceed 50% for bidding packages specified at Point a and Point b Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 39. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

1. The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the bidding dossier; in case where appraisal is required, such appraisal shall be conducted in accordance with Article 135 of this Decree prior to approval.

2. A bidding dossier shall be approved in writing on the basis of the submission for approval and report on appraisal of the bidding dossier (if any).

Article 40. Organization of contractor selection

1. Invitation for bids:

a) Bid invitation notice applies to cases in which shortlist selection procedures are not carried out and must comply with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

b) Bid invitation letters shall be sent to shortlisted contractors.

2. Issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers:

The distribution, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree.

3. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers:

The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree.

4. Opening of dossiers of technical proposals:

a) A dossier of technical proposals shall be publicly opened within 2 hours from the bid closing time. The project owner shall only open dossiers of technical proposals received before the time of bid closing as required in the bidding dossier to the witness of representatives of contractors participating in the bid-opening ceremony, regardless of whether contractors are present or absent;

b) Each dossier of technical proposals shall be opened in the alphabetical order of the names of contractors and in the following order: Checking the seal; opening the dossier and reading out the name of contractor; quantities of originals and copies of the dossier; bidding application form in the dossier; validity duration of the dossier; bidding package performance duration; value and validity of bid security; and other relevant information;

c) Information specified at Point b of this Clause shall be written in the record of the opening of dossiers of technical proposals. This record shall be signed by the project owner’s and contractors’ representatives participating in the dossier-opening ceremony, sent to the contractors participating in bidding, and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening;

d) The project owner’s representative shall sign the original bid application form and power of attorney (if any) of the contractor’s at-law representative; consortium agreement (if any); bid security; and important contents of each dossier of technical proposals;

dd) Dossiers of financial proposals of all contractors shall be put in a separate envelope and sealed by the project owner and signed by the project owner’s and contractors’ representatives participating in the dossier-opening ceremony.

Article 41. Principles of evaluation, and clarification of, bid dossiers, error correction and deviation adjustment

1. The evaluation of bid dossiers must follow the principles specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Article 29 of this Decree.

For a split bidding package, the evaluation of bid dossiers and consideration and approval of winning bids shall be conducted to ensure that the total proposed bid-winning price of the bidding package is lowest (for the bidding package subject to the lowest bid method); the total evaluated price of the bidding package is lowest (for the bidding package subject to the evaluated price method); the total general score is highest (for the bidding package subject to the combined technique-and-price method) and the proposed bid-winning price of the whole bidding package does not exceed its approved price without comparing with the estimated cost of each part. For a bidding package to purchase medicines, chemicals and testing supplies, medical equipment, and technical services, the Ministry of Health's guidelines (if any) shall be complied with.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

3. Error correction and deviation adjustment must comply with Article 31 of this Decree.

Article 42. Examination and evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals

1. Criteria for examination of a dossier of technical proposals:

a) Composition of the dossier of technical proposals, including: bid application form in the dossier of technical proposals; consortium agreement (if any); power of attorney from the contractor's at-law representative (if any); bid security; quantities of originals and copies of the bid dossier;

b) The consistency between originals and copies of the dossier to serve the detailed evaluation of the dossier.

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

A contractor’s dossier of technical proposals shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the conditions specified at Point a Clause 4 Article 37 of this Decree.

Contractors that have valid dossiers of technical proposals may be considered for capacity and experience evaluation. For a bidding package for which the prequalification round has been organized, contractors’ capacity and experience shall not be evaluated.

3. Evaluation of capacity and experience:

a) The evaluation of capacity and experience of contractors shall be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in bidding dossiers;

b) Contractors that have capacity and experience meeting the prescribed requirements may be considered for technical evaluation.

c) For bidding packages subject to prequalification, contractors that have passed the prequalification, have valid dossiers of technical proposals and have updated information on their capacity meeting the requirements of the bidding package may have their dossiers of technical proposals evaluated.

For goods procurement bidding packages, individual contractors or groups of individual contractors offering their own innovative products that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4 Article 6 of this Decree shall not be required to meet certain criteria specified in Clause 3 Article 10 of this Decree.

4. Technical evaluation:

a) Technical evaluation shall be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in bidding dossiers;

b) Contractors that meet technical requirements or gain the highest technical score (in case of applying the technique-based method) may have their dossiers of financial proposals opened and evaluated.

5. The expert group shall make a report on evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals and send it to the project owner for review. The list of contractors meeting the technical requirements shall be appraised under Clauses 1 and 3 Article 136 of this Decree. Based on the report on evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, report on appraisal of the list of technically eligible contractors, the project owner shall approve the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements. The project owner shall notify, in writing, the list of contractors meeting and not meeting the technical requirements, stating the reasons why a contractor fails to meet the requirements, while simultaneously inviting all participating contractors to the opening of the dossiers of financial proposals. The report on evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, the appraisal report on the list of contractors meeting technical requirements, and the decision approving the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements must include the ranking order of contractors meeting the technical requirements. The project owner shall publish the list of contractors meeting technical requirements on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 05 working days from the date of approval of such list.

Article 43. Opening of dossiers of financial proposals

1. The project owner shall check the seals of envelopes of dossiers of financial proposals.

2. Dossiers of financial proposals shall be opened as follows:

a) Only the dossiers of financial proposals of the contractors named on the list of contractors that meet technical requirements shall be opened to the witness of the contractors’ representatives participating in the dossier-opening ceremony, regardless of whether or not the contractors are present.

For bidding packages applying the technique-based method, only the dossier of financial proposals of the contractor having obtained the highest technical score and ranked first shall be opened to serve as a basis for contract negotiation (if any) as prescribed in Article 45 of this Decree. In case the negotiation fails, the project owner shall invite the next-ranked contractor to open its dossier of financial proposals as a basis for contract negotiation.

b) Each dossier of financial proposals shall be opened in the alphabetical order of the names of contractors on the list of contractors that meet technical requirements and in the following order: checking the seal; reading the technical score of bid dossiers meeting technical requirements (in case of using the scoring method); opening the dossier and reading out the name of contractor; quantities of originals and copies of the dossier; bid application form in the dossier; validity duration of the dossier; bid price written in the bid application form; value of discounts (if any); and other relevant information.

3. Record of opening of dossiers of financial proposals:

a) Information specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall be written in the record of the opening of dossiers of financial proposals. This record shall be signed by the project owner’s and the contractors’ representatives participating in the dossier-opening ceremony, and shall be sent to the contractors meeting technical requirements and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening;

b) The project owner’s representative shall sign all pages of the original dossier of financial proposals.

Article 44. Examination and evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals

1. The validity of a dossier of financial proposals shall be examined in terms of:

a) The quantities of originals and photocopies of the dossier of financial proposals;

b) The composition of the dossier of financial proposals, such as bid application form in the dossier; bid price schedule; and other components of the dossier of financial proposals;

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

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

A contractor’s dossier of financial proposals shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the conditions specified at Point b Clause 4 Article 37 of this Decree.

Contractors that have valid dossiers of financial proposals may have their dossiers eligible for detailed evaluation.

3. Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals and ranking of contractors:

a) Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals and ranking of contractors must be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in bidding dossiers. The discount letter that is not disclosed in the bid opening record shall not be considered for evaluation;

b) The expert group shall make a report on bid dossier evaluation and send it to the project owner for consideration in accordance with Clause 5 Article 32 of this Decree. The project owner is not required to approve the contractor ranking list. In case of contract negotiation, the project owner shall invite the first-ranked contractor to negotiate the contract in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree.

Article 45. Negotiation of contracts

1. In case where the bidding package is subject to contract negotiation, the project owner shall invite the contractor ranked first to negotiate the contract.

2. Bases for contract negotiation:

a) The evaluation report of the bid dossier;

b) The bid dossier and the contractor’s documents clarifying the bid dossier (if any);

c) The bidding dossier shall include general and specific conditions of the contract and documents amending and clarifying the bidding dossier (if any).

3. Contract negotiation principles:

a) The contents already proposed by contractors and meeting the requirements of bidding dossiers shall not be negotiated;

b) The unit prices already determined at the financial evaluation stage shall not be changed, except in cases where the bidding package applies the technique-based method.

4. Contract negotiation contents:

a) The contents which remain unspecific, unclear or inconsistent between the bidding dossier and bid dossier or different contents in the bid dossier, which might cause problems or disputes or affect the responsibilities of related parties during contract performance;

b) Deviation (if any) already detected and proposed by the contractor in the bid dossier, including changes or alternative technical plans proposed by the contractor if the bidding dossier allows the contractor to offer alternative technical plans;

c) Key personnel:

Contractors are not allowed to change key personnel who have been proposed or replaced in accordance with Clause 2 Article 29 of this Decree, unless the bid dossier evaluation lasts longer than expected in the contractor selection plan or the key personnel proposed by the contractor cannot engage in performing the contract due to force majeure reasons. In these cases, contractors may substitute other persons but shall ensure that to-be-substituted persons have qualifications, capacity and experience equivalent to or higher than those of the proposed persons, and contractors may not change their bid price;

d) Problems (if any) arising in the process of contractor selection in order to improve the detailed contents of the bidding package;

dd) Price negotiation in cases where the proposed bid-winning price exceeds the approved bidding package price under the technique-based method, as the basis for awarding the contract in accordance with Article 61 of the Bidding Law;

e) Other necessary contents.

5. During contract negotiation, related parties shall finalize a draft contract and its specific terms and annexes, including a detailed list of the scope of work, prices, and implementation schedule (if any).

6. In cases where the contractor attends the negotiation but fails to negotiate in accordance with the principles and contents prescribed in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article, or attends but refuses to sign the minutes of contract negotiation for the purpose of withdrawing from bid winning or causing disadvantage to the project owner, the contractor shall be disqualified and shall not be refunded the bid security value.

7. The contractor may refuse to negotiate and receive a refund of the bid security value in case the bid solicitor or project owner does not conduct the negotiation on the principles and contents specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

8. In case the negotiation is unsuccessful, the project owner shall consider inviting the next ranked contractor to negotiate.

Article 46. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result; finalization, conclusion and performance management of contracts

1. The appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result must comply with Article 33 of this Decree.

2. The finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Chapter III

PROCESS OF OPEN AND RESTRICTED OFFLINE BIDDING FOR GOODS PROCUREMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND INSTALLATION OR MIXED BIDDING PACKAGES BY THE TWO-STAGE BIDDING METHOD

Section 1

TWO-STAGE SINGLE-ENVELOPE BIDDING METHOD

Article 47. Preparation for first-stage bidding

1. Shortlist selection procedures for open and restricted bidding shall comply Article 25 of this Decree.

2. Making a first-stage bidding dossier:

a) The bidding dossier shall be made in accordance with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 26 of this Decree;

b) A first-stage bidding dossier must comprise brief information on the project or bidding package; instructions on preparation and submission of a first-stage bid dossier; technical requirements of the bidding package based on the approved basic design or technical specifications; criteria for technical evaluation of the bidding package.

A bidding dossier must allow the contractors to propose an alternative plan to the technical plan proposed in their bid dossiers, and not require the contractors to propose bid price and bid security.

3. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers:

a) Bidding dossiers shall be appraised under Article 135 of this Decree before being approved;

b) Bidding dossiers shall be approved on the basis of reports for approval and reports on appraisal of bidding dossiers.

Article 48. Organization of first-stage bidding

1. First-stage bid invitation must comply with Clause 1 Article 28 of this Decree.

2. Issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers:

The issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree.

3. Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers:

The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree.

4. Bid opening:

Bid opening must comply with Clause 4 Article 28 of this Decree.

The first-stage bid opening record shall not include information about bid security, bid price and discount value (if any) of contractors.

Article 49. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, submission, approval, and publicization of the list of contractors meeting requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier

1. Principles of evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 29 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

3. The submission, approval, and publicization of the list of contractors meeting the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier shall comply with Article 33 of this Decree. The list of contractors meeting the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier shall be uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System no later than 05 working days from the date of approval.

Article 50. Preparation for, and organization of second-stage bidding

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

The project owner shall invite each contractor who is on the list of contractors meeting the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier to clarify the dossiers of technical proposals. The clarification of the dossiers of technical proposals includes the technical adjustments required compared to the contractor's proposals in the first stage and the contributive comments on the bidding dossier and the contractor's alternative technical plans. The clarified details shall be recorded in writing by the project owner and each contractor. The project owner and the expert group shall ensure that information in first-stage bid dossiers of contractors be kept secret.

Based on the clarification of technical proposals with each contractor, the expert group shall consolidate and report to the project owner the contents to be modified or supplemented regarding contractor instructions, evaluation criteria, technical requirements, contractual conditions, and other details of the first-stage bidding dossier. The project owner shall review and decide on the details to be modified and supplemented at the proposal of the expert group.

2. Making a second-stage bidding dossier:

a) Bases for dossier making:

In addition to the bases prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 26 of this Decree, the second-stage bidding dossier shall be based on the contents decided by the project owner regarding modifications and supplements to the instructions for contractors, evaluation criteria, technical requirements, contractual conditions, and other contents of the first-stage bidding dossier.

b) Contents of a bidding dossier:

A bidding dossier must comprise: instructions for contractors, additional procurement options (if any); bid data sheet; criteria for evaluation of validity of bid dossiers; capacity and experience of contractors; technical, financial and commercial qualifications; information about the contractors’ contract performance and the quality of similar goods used; bidding and bid forms; scope of supply, technical requirements; contractual conditions and forms; dossiers, drawings and others (if any).

3. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers:

a) Bidding dossiers shall be appraised under Article 135 of this Decree before being approved;

b) Bidding dossiers shall be approved in writing on the basis of submissions for approval and reports on appraisal of bidding dossiers.

4. Organization of bidding:

a) Second-stage bidding dossiers shall be issued to the contractors that meet the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossiers.

The modification and clarification of second-stage bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree;

b) Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers:

The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree.

5. Bid opening:

Bid opening must comply with Clause 4 Article 28 of this Decree.

Article 51. Evaluation of second-stage bid dossiers

1. Principles of evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 29 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

3. Error correction and deviation adjustment must comply with Article 31 of this Decree.

4. The evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 32 of this Decree.

Article 52. Contract negotiation, appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result, finalization, conclusion and performance management of contracts

1. The project owner shall invite the contractor ranked first to negotiate a contract.

2. The negotiation of contracts must comply with Article 45 of this Decree.

3. The appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result must comply with Article 33 of this Decree.

4. The finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Section 2

TWO-STAGE TWO-ENVELOPE BIDDING METHOD

Article 53. Preparation for first-stage bidding

1. Shortlist selection procedures for open and restricted bidding shall comply Article 25 of this Decree.

2. Making a first-stage bidding dossier:

a) The bidding dossier shall be made in accordance with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 26 of this Decree;

b) A first-stage bidding dossier must comprise brief information on the project or bidding package; instructions on preparation and submission of a first-stage bid dossier; technical requirements of the bidding package based on the approved basic design or technical specifications; criteria for technical evaluation of the bidding package. A bidding dossier must allow the contractors to propose an alternative plan to the technical plan proposed in their bid dossiers, and not require the contractors to propose bid price and bid security.

3. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers:

a) Bidding dossiers shall be appraised under Article 135 of this Decree before being approved;

b) Bidding dossiers shall be approved on the basis of reports for approval and reports on appraisal of bidding dossiers.

Article 54. Organization of first-stage bidding

1. First-stage bid invitation must comply with Clause 1 Article 28 of this Decree.

2. The issuance, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree.

3. The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree.

4. Bid opening:

a) Bid opening must comply with Clause 4 Article 28 of this Decree;

b) The first-stage bid opening record shall not include information about bid security, bid price and discount value of contractors.

Article 55. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, appraisal, approval, and publicization of the list of contractors meeting requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier

1. Principles of evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 29 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

3. The appraisal, approval, and publicization of the list of contractors meeting the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier shall comply with Article 33 of this Decree. The list of contractors meeting the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier shall be uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System no later than 05 working days from the date of approval.

Article 56. Preparation for, and organization of second-stage bidding

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

The project owner shall invite each contractor who has his/her/its dossier of technical proposals approved meets the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossier to clarify such dossiers of technical proposals. The clarification of the dossiers of technical proposals includes the technical adjustments required compared to the contractor's proposals in the first stage and the contributive comments on the bidding dossier and the contractor's alternative technical plans. The clarified details shall be recorded in writing by the project owner and each contractor. The project owner and the expert group shall ensure that information in first-stage bid dossiers of contractors be kept secret.

Based on the clarification of technical proposals with each contractor, the expert group shall consolidate and report to the project owner the contents to be modified or supplemented regarding contractor instructions, evaluation criteria, technical requirements, contractual conditions, and other details of the first-stage bidding dossier. The project owner shall review and decide on the details to be modified and supplemented at the proposal of the expert group.

2. Making a second-stage bidding dossier:

a) Bases for dossier making:

In addition to the bases prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 26 of this Decree, the second-stage bidding dossier shall be based on the contents decided by the project owner regarding modifications and supplements to the instructions for contractors, evaluation criteria, technical requirements, contractual conditions, and other contents of the first-stage bidding dossier.

b) Contents of a bidding dossier:

A bidding dossier must comprise: instructions for contractors, additional procurement options (if any); bid data sheet; criteria for evaluation of validity of bid dossiers; capacity and experience of contractors; technical, financial and commercial qualifications; information about the contractors’ contract performance and the quality of similar goods used; bidding and bid forms; scope of supply, technical requirements; contractual conditions and forms; dossiers, drawings and others (if any).

3. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers:

a) Bidding dossiers shall be appraised under Article 135 of this Decree before being approved;

b) Bidding dossiers shall be approved in writing on the basis of submissions for approval and reports on appraisal of bidding dossiers.

4. Organization of bidding:

a) Second-stage bidding dossiers shall be issued to the contractors that meet the requirements of the first-stage bidding dossiers.

The modification and clarification of second-stage bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree;

b) Preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers:

The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree. The contractor shall submit the bid dossier, consisting of separate technical proposals and financial proposals according to requirements of the second-stage bidding dossier, including the bid price and bid security. Dossiers of financial proposals must conform to the contractors’ main technical plans. In case where a contractor offers an alternative technical plan, he/she/it shall enclose financial proposals for this alternative plan.

5. Opening of dossiers of technical proposals:

The opening of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Clause 4 Article 40 of this Decree.

Article 57. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals in the second stage

1. Principles of evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 29 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

Article 58. Appraisal and approval of the list of contractors that meet technical requirements in the second stage

1. The appraisal, and approval of the list meeting the technical requirements of the second stage shall comply with Clause 1 and Clause 3 Article 136 of this Decree.

2. The project owner shall notify and upload a list of contractors that meet technical requirements on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System no later than 05 working days from the date such list is approved and then open dossiers of financial proposals of the contractors that meet technical requirements.

Article 59. Evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals in the second stage

1. Principles of evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 29 of this Decree.

2. The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree.

3. Error correction and deviation adjustment must comply with Article 31 of this Decree.

4. The evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals must comply with Article 44 of this Decree.

Article 60. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result; finalization, conclusion and performance management of contracts

1. The project owner shall invite the contractor ranked first to negotiate a contract.

2. The negotiation of contracts must comply with Article 45 of this Decree.

3. The appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result must comply with Article 33 of this Decree.

4. The finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Chapter IV

PROCESS OF OPEN AND RESTRICTED OFFLINE BIDDING FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICE BIDDING PACKAGES

Section 1

REGARDING INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACTORS

Article 61. Detailed process

1. Preparation for contractor selection, covering:

a) Selecting shortlists (when necessary);

b) Making bidding dossiers;

c) Appraising (if any) and approving bidding dossiers.

2. Organization of contractor selection, covering:

a) Inviting bids;

b) Issuing, modifying and clarifying the bidding dossier;

c) Preparing, submitting, receiving, managing, modifying and withdrawing bid dossiers;

d) Opening dossiers of technical proposals.

3. Evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, including:

a) Checking and evaluating the validity of dossiers of technical proposals;

b) Evaluating in detail dossiers of technical proposals;

c) Submitting, appraising and approving a list of contractors that meet technical requirements.

4. Opening and evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals, and submission of bid dossier evaluation results, including:

a) Opening dossiers of financial proposals of contractors meeting technical requirements; in case of the technique-based method, opening dossiers of financial proposals of the first-ranked contractor;

b) Examining and evaluating the validity of the dossiers of financial proposals;

c) Detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals and ranking of contractors (if there is more than 01 contractor);

d) Submitting bid dossier evaluation results.

5. Negotiation of contracts.

6. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result and explanation of the reason(s) for not winning the bid at contractors’ request (if any).

7. Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance.

8. Activities of bidding in advance specified in Article 42 of the Bidding Law shall comply with the order and procedures prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Article. The finalization, conclusion and management the performance of contracts specified in Clause 7 of this Article shall only be performed after the projects are approved for investment.

Article 62. Selection of short lists

1. Depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package, the project owner shall decide to apply the procedures for selection of a shortlist. The application of shortlist selection procedures shall be stated in the contractor selection plan.

2. For open bidding:

a) Making a dossier of invitation for expression of interest:

A dossier of invitation for expression of interest comprises brief information on the project, procurement estimate, or bidding package; instructions on preparation and submission of a dossier of expression of interest; criteria for evaluating the validity of a dossiers of expression of interest; and capacity and experience criteria for contractors; personnel criteria (if any). The scoring method shall be used to develop criteria for evaluating dossiers of expression of interest, in which the minimum required score must not be lower than 60% of the total score;

b) Appraisal of dossiers of invitation for expression of interest:

The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest; in case where appraisal is required, such appraisal shall be conducted in accordance with Article 135 of this Decree prior to approval;

c) A dossier of invitation for expression of interest shall be approved in writing on the basis of the submission for approval and report on appraisal of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest (if any);

d) Notices of invitation for expression of interest must comply with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

dd) The dossier of invitation for expression of interest shall be issued on Vietnam National E-Procurement System. The minimum preparation period for the dossier of expression of interest is 09 days for domestic bidding and 18 days for international bidding. The modification of the dossier of invitation for expression of interest or dossier of invitation for expression of interest shall be carried out at least 3 working days before the date of bid closing;

e) The project owner shall receive and manage the submitted dossiers under regulations on management of secret dossiers till the results of invitation for expression of interest are publicized;

g) Opening and evaluation of dossiers of expression of interest:

Dossiers of expression of interest submitted within the time limits and at places specified in dossiers of invitation for expression of interest shall be opened right after the time of bid closing. The opening of dossiers of expression of interest shall be recorded in writing sent to the contractors that have submitted dossiers of expression of interest, and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening. Dossiers of expression of interest submitted after the bid closing time shall not be opened and shall be considered invalid and rejected.

The evaluation of dossiers of expression of interest must be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in dossiers of invitation for expression of interest. A contractor with a dossier of expression of interest gaining a score not lower than the required minimum score shall be included in a shortlist; a dossier of expression of interest of a contractor that gains the highest score shall be ranked first; in case more than 6 contractors have satisfied the set requirements, only the 6 highest ranked contractors shall be short-listed;

h) Submission, appraisal and approval of results of invitation for expression of interest:

The expert group shall make a report on evaluation of dossier of expression of interest and send it to the project owner for review. The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the result of invitation for expression of interest; in case where appraisal is required, the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2 Article 136 of this Decree shall be complied with; Based on the evaluation report of the dossier of expression of interest and the appraisal report of evaluation result of the dossier of expression of interest (if any), the project owner shall approve the result of invitation for expression of interest in writing. In case a shortlist can be selected, the written approval of the results of invitation for expression of interest must state the names of the short-listed contractors and matters of concern (if any). In case a shortlist cannot be selected, the written approval of the results of invitation for expression of interest must clearly state the reason;

i) A shortlist shall be published in accordance with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law and notified to contractors that have submitted dossiers of expression of interest.

3. For restricted bidding:

a) Determining and approving the shortlist, which must include at least 3 fully capable and experienced contractors that meet the requirements of the bidding package and wish to participate in bidding. If fewer than 03 contractors meet the requirements, the situation shall be handled in accordance with Clause 3 Article 140 of this Decree;

b) After being approved, a shortlist shall be published under Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

4. Shortlisted contractors may not join a consortium among themselves in order to participate in bidding. In case of forming a consortium with a contractor outside the shortlist, the prior approval of the project owner must be obtained before the bid closing time

Article 63. Making of bidding dossiers

1. Bases for making a bidding dossier:

a) The approved general plan on contractor selection (if any);

b) The approved contractor selection plan.

The draft bidding dossier shall be prepared after the contractor selection plan is approved, or may be prepared in the course of making the contractor selection plan, provided that it is approved after the approval of the contractor selection plan;

c) The scope and requirements of work; requirements for the consultant’s experience and personnel, and other necessary requirements (if any);

d) Provisions of the bidding law and other relevant laws; treaties and loan agreements (if any) for projects funded with official development assistance or concessional loans;

dd) Provisions of the law on taxes, fees, preferences in contractor selection;

e) Other relevant bases.

2. A bidding dossier must contain all necessary details for contractors to prepare their bid dossiers and may not state any conditions to limit the participation of contractors, or to create advantage for one or more than one contractor, leading to unfair competition as specified in Clause 3 Article 44 of the Bidding Law.

3. The bidding dossier shall prescribe the criteria for evaluation of validity of dossiers of technical proposals and dossiers of financial proposals of contractors, including:

a) A dossier of technical proposals shall be evaluated as valid when the following conditions are satisfied:

An original copy of such dossier of technical proposals is available.

Having a bid application form in the dossier of technical proposals, signed and stamped (if any) by the contractor's lawful representative at request of the bidding dossier; the bid application form must be signed after the bidding dossier is issued; not accompanying disadvantaged conditions to the project owner. For a consortium contractor, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every consortium member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the consortium if so agreed in the consortium agreement.

Tax declaration and tax payment obligations are fulfilled.

The validity of the dossier of technical proposals satisfies requirements in the bidding dossier.

The contractor’s name is not present in more than one dossier of technical proposals as an independent contractor or consortium member.

Having a consortium agreement (for consortium) bearing signatures and seals (if any) of lawful representatives of all consortium members; in which detailed tasks and estimated value performed by each member shall be clearly specified. The assignment of tasks within a consortium shall be based on the items listed in the terms of reference and technical proposals. Those outside the scope of such items shall not be assigned.

The contractor is eligible in accordance with Article 5 of the Bidding Law. For international bidding, where it is impossible to determine that domestic contractors cannot participate in any part of the bidding package, the project owner may conduct a survey of interest of contractors on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System as follows: posting a notice requesting domestic contractors to participate together with the bidding dossier so that domestic contractors may register for one or more items of the bidding package which they are able to undertake, for a minimum period of 05 working days; upon the expiration of the registration period, if no domestic contractor registers, foreign contractors shall not be required to form a consortium with or use domestic contractors as subcontractors, and in such case, the bidding dossier shall not stipulate that foreign contractors must form a consortium with domestic contractors or use domestic subcontractors.

Within 03 years prior to the bid closing time, the contractor must not have personnel (who entered into a labor contract with the contractor at the time the personnel committed the violation) convicted by a Court of violations of bidding regulations causing serious consequences under criminal law with the purpose of enabling that contractor to win the bid;

b) A dossier of financial proposals shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the following conditions:

The original of the dossier of financial proposal is available.

It includes a bid application form signed and stamped (if any) by the contractor's lawful representative at request of the bidding dossier; the bid application form must be signed after the bidding dossier is issued. Different bid prices or those which create disadvantageous conditions for the project owner must not be offered. For a consortium contractor, the bid application form must bear the signatures and seals (if any) of the lawful representative of every consortium member. An assigned member may sign the bid application form on behalf of the consortium if so agreed in the consortium agreement.

Its validity satisfies the requirements stated in the bidding dossier.

4. Criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers include: criteria for technical evaluation; determination of the lowest bid price (in case of applying the lowest price method); criteria for general evaluation (in case of applying the combined technique-and-price method).

5. Standard for technical evaluation: The scoring method shall be used, including:

a) Experience and capacity of contractors: From 0% to 15% of the total score;

b) Contractor's reputation through their participation in bidding and their contract performance as specified in Articles 19 and 20 of this Decree: 5% of the total score;

c) Solutions and methodologies for performing a bidding package: From 30% to 40% of the total score;

d) Personnel for performing the bidding package: From 50% to 60% of the total score;

dd) Depending on the characteristics of the bidding package, the bidding dossier may require technology transfer which may account for between 0% and 10% of the total score;

e) The total of the ratios of score specified at Points a, b, c, d and dd of this Clause must be 100%.

The dossier of technical proposals shall be considered meeting technical requirements when its technical score is not ower than 70% of the total score (80% for consultancy service bidding packages with high and specific technical requirements) and the score of each content requiring solutions and methodologies, personnel, and technology transfer (if any) is not lower than 60% of the maximum score of that content (not lower than 70% for consultancy service bidding packages with high and specific technical requirements). For the criteria on the experience and capacity of the contractor, the characteristics of the bidding package shall be based on to determine the necessity of stipulating the minimum score for this general criterion.

6. Depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package, the bidding dossier may include the financial evaluation method which may be one of the following methods:

a) Lowest price method;

b) Combined technique-and-price method;

c) Technique-based method.

7. The determination of the lowest bid (in case of applying the lowest price method) must comply with Point c Clause 4 Article 26 of this Decree.

8. Criteria for general evaluation (in case of applying the combined technique-and-price method):

a) Determining the price score:

A score scale shall be used in conformity with the technical score scale to determine the price score. The price score shall be determined as follows:

In which:    

Price score_{under consideration}: is the price score stated in the dossier of financial proposals under consideration;

G_minimum: is the bid price after error correction or deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) which is the lowest among those offered by contractors whose financial proposals have been subject to detailed evaluation;

G_{under consideration}: is the bid price after error correction or deviation adjustment minus the value of discounts (if any) stated in the dossier of financial proposals under consideration.

b) Criteria for general evaluation:

The general score shall be determined according to the following formula:

General score_{under consideration} = K x Technical score_{under consideration} + G x Price score_{under consideration}

In which:    

Technical score_{under consideration}: is the score determined at the stage of technical evaluation;

Price score_{under consideration}: is the score determined at the stage of bid evaluation;

K: is the ratio of the technical score to the general score, which ranges between 70% and 80%;

G: is the ratio of price score to the general score, which ranges between 20% and 30%;

K + G = 100%.

Article 64. Appraisal and approval of bidding dossiers

1. The project owner is not required to conduct appraisal of the bidding dossier; in case where appraisal is required, such appraisal shall be conducted in accordance with Article 135 of this Decree prior to approval.

2. A bidding dossier shall be approved in writing on the basis of the submission for approval and report on appraisal of the bidding dossier (if any).

Article 65. Organization of contractor selection

1. Invitation for bids:

a) In case where shortlist selection procedures are not applied to the bidding package, notices of invitation for bids as specified at Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law shall apply;

b) For bidding packages subject to shortlist selection procedures, the letter of invitation for bid shall be sent to the contractors named in the shortlist.

2. The distribution, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree. For simple consultancy service bidding packages or urgent consultancy service bidding packages that must be implemented immediately due to schedule requirements and are organized through domestic bidding, the minimum period for preparation of bid dossiers shall be 07 days, and the time limit for modifying the bidding dossier shall be 03 working days prior to the bid closing date.

3. The preparation, submission, receipt, management, modification and withdrawal of bid dossiers must comply with Clause 3 Article 28 of this Decree.

4. The opening of dossiers of technical proposals must comply with Clause 4 Article 40 of this Decree, not covering the content on bid security. The bid opening record shall be sent to the contractors participating in bidding and uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening.

Article 66. Principles of evaluating bid dossiers

1. The evaluation of bid dossiers shall be based on the criteria for evaluation of bid dossiers and other requirements set forth in the bidding dossier, on the submitted bid dossiers, and on the documents explaining and clarifying the bid dossiers of the contractors, so as to ensure the selection of a contractor with sufficient capacity and experience, and with feasible solutions for implementation of the bidding package; in case where the bidding dossier contains contents restricting competition as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 63 of this Decree, such contents shall not serve as grounds for consideration and evaluation of bid dossiers.

2. Where the contract of similar nature that is performed by the contractor as stated in the bid dossier does not meet the requirements of the bidding dossier, the project owner shall request the contractor to supplement or replace another similar contract for evaluation within an appropriate period of time.

3. The evaluation of bid dossiers shall be conducted based on copies of bid dossiers; contractors shall take responsibility for the consistency between the originals and copies. If there are any disparities between the originals and copies of bid dossiers which do not change the rankings of contractors, the originals shall be used for evaluation. If there are any disparities between the originals and copies of bid dossiers, resulting in the difference between the evaluation result based on the originals and that based on the copies, thus changing the rankings of contractors, such bid dossiers shall be eliminated and the contractors shall be regarded as cheating and subject to penalties as specified at Point a Clause 1 Article 133 of this Decree.

Article 67. Clarification of bid dossiers

1. After bid opening, contractors shall clarify bid dossiers at the request of the project owner. In case where the contractors’ bid dossiers lack documents on eligibility, contracts of similar nature, tax declaration and payment obligations, and documents on specific personnel proposed in the contractors’ bid dossiers, the project owner shall request the contractors to make clarifications and send such supplemental documents.

2. Where, after bid closing, the contractor discovers that its bid dossier lacks documents proving eligibility, similar contracts, tax declaration and payment obligations, or documents on specific personnel proposed in the bid dossier, the contractor may send such documents to the project owner. The project owner shall receive these documents for consideration and evaluation; these documents shall be regarded part of the bid dossier.

3. Regarding eligibility, the clarification must ensure the principle of not changing the nature of the contractors participating in the bidding. For contents relating to the validity of the bid dossier (excluding eligibility), technical or financial proposals, the clarification must ensure the principle of not altering the principal contents of the submitted bid dossier and not changing the bid price.

4. The bid dossier clarification shall only be carried out between the project owner and the contractor whose bid dossier needs clarifying. Clarified contents shall be expressed in writing and preserved by the project owner as a part of the bid dossier.

5. In case of doubt about the authenticity of documents provided by the contractor, the project owner shall verify with organizations and individuals related to the content of the documents.

Article 68. Error correction and deviation adjustment

1. For types of contracts specified in Article 64 of the Bidding Law, in case where the contractor, in the dossier of financial proposals, does not quote any bid price for one or more items stated in the dossier of technical proposals as required in the bidding dossier, the contractor shall be deemed to have quoted bid price for such items and the costs shall be allocated to other parts of the bidding package.

2. With regard to time-based contracts:

a) Where the total value of items is incorrect due to errors in the addition or subtraction of the values of items, the item values shall serve as the basis for error correction;

b) Where there are errors in addition or subtraction of the amounts in the “total amount” column for calculation of the bid price, the amounts in the “total amount” column shall constitute the basis for correction of errors;

c) Where there is inconsistency between the unit price and the total amount, the unit price shall constitute the basis for correction of errors. Where there is inconsistency between the bid price written in figures and that written in words, the bid price written in words shall serve as the basis for error correction; where the price written in words contains arithmetic errors, the price written in figures shall serve as the basis for error correction after verification (if any) under Point a and Point b of this Clause;

d) Where there are differences between the technical proposal and the financial proposal regarding the number of personnel participating in performance of the bidding package, the number of man-days, the quantities in each cost item other than salaries, or the quantities of other input factors quoted in the technical proposal and the financial proposal, the quantities stated in the technical proposal shall constitute the basis for correction of errors and adjustment of deviations. In this case, the adjustment of deviations shall be carried out on the basis of the quantities and volumes stated in the technical proposal and the unit prices stated in the financial proposal.

3. With regard to lump-sum contracts:

In cases where a lump-sum contract is applied, the bid price after deduction of any offered discount, as proposed by the contractor in the bid application form under the dossiers of financial proposals, shall be deemed to include all costs necessary for the performance of the bidding package in accordance with the scope of work stated in the bidding dossier, without correction of errors or adjustment of deviations. Where there is inconsistency between the bid price written in figures and that written in words in the bid application form, the bid price written in words shall prevail, except where the bid price written in words has no meaning.

4. For fixed unit price contracts and adjustable unit price contracts:

Error correction and deviation adjustment must comply with Article 31 of this Decree.

5. After error correction and deviation adjustment in accordance with Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, the project owner shall notify in writing the contractor of the error correction and deviation adjustment of such contractor’s bid dossier. Within 03 working days after receiving the project owner’s notice, the contractor shall give the project owner a written reply on the acceptance of the notified error correction and deviation adjustment results. Where the contractor does not agree with the error correction or deviation adjustment result as notified by the project owner, its/his/her bid dossier shall be rejected, except where the correction of errors, or adjustment of deviations by the project owner is inappropriate or inaccurate.

Article 69. Examination and evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals

1. Checking of the validity of a dossier of technical proposals:

The validity of a dossier of technical proposals shall be examined in accordance with Clause 1 Article 42 of this Decree, except the validity of bid security.

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

A contractor’s dossier of technical proposals shall be evaluated as valid when fully meeting the conditions specified at Point a Clause 3 Article 63 of this Decree. Contractors that have valid dossiers of technical proposals may be considered for technical evaluation.

3. Technical evaluation:

a) Technical evaluation shall be conducted using the evaluation criteria stated in bidding dossiers;

b) For a key personnel position, the bid dossier, which offers too much or too little compared to the quantity required in the bidding dossier, fails to meet the technical requirements;

c) Contractors that meet technical requirements or gain the highest technical score (in case of applying the technique-based method) may have their dossiers of financial proposals opened and evaluated.

4. The expert group shall make a report on evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals and send it to the project owner for review. The list of contractors meeting the technical requirements shall be appraised under Clauses 1 and 3 Article 136 of this Decree. Based on the report on evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, report on appraisal of the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements, the project owner shall approve the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements. For the technique-based method, the report on the evaluation of dossiers of technical proposals, appraisal report on the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements, and the decision approving the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements shall specify the ranking order of the contractors meeting the technical requirements. The Project owner shall notify the list of contractors meeting and not meeting the technical requirements, stating the reasons for non-compliance, and invite all contractors to attend the opening of the dossiers of financial proposals. The project owner shall publish the list of contractors meeting technical requirements on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 05 working days from the date of approval of such list.

Article 70. Opening, examination, and evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals

1. The opening of dossiers of financial proposals shall comply with Article 43 of this Decree. For a bidding package applying the technique-based method, only the dossier of proposals of the contractor with the highest technical point shall be opened.

2. The evaluation of the validity of dossiers of financial proposals must comply with Point b Clause 3 Article 63 of this Decree.

Contractors that have valid dossiers of financial proposals may have their dossiers eligible for detailed evaluation.

3. The detailed evaluation of dossiers of financial proposals, the ranking of contractors and submission of bid dossier evaluation results must comply with Clause 3 Article 44 of this Decree. The project owner may not approve the list of ranked contractors.

Article 71. Negotiation of contracts

1. The project owner shall invite the first ranked contractor to negotiate a contract. Bases for contract negotiation and contract negotiation principles shall comply with Clause 2 and Point a Clause 3 Article 45 of this Decree.

2. Issues of a contract to be negotiated:

a) Those which remain unspecific, unclear or inconsistent between the bidding dossier and bid dossier or different details in the bid dossier, which might cause problems or disputes or affect the responsibilities of relevant parties during contract performance;

b) Deviation (if any) already detected and proposed by the contractor in the bid dossier, including changes or alternative plans proposed by the contractor if the bidding dossier allows the contractor to offer alternative plans;

c) Personnel:

During the negotiation process, the contractor is not allowed to change personnel who have been proposed in the bid dossier, unless such personnel shall be replaced because the bid dossier evaluation lasts longer than expected in the contractor selection plan or the key personnel proposed by the contractor cannot engage in performing the contract due to force majeure reasons. In such cases, contractors may substitute other persons but shall ensure that to-be-substituted persons have qualifications, capacity and experience equivalent to or higher than those of the proposed persons, and contractors may not change their bids;

d) Problems (if any) arising in the process of contractor selection in order to finalize the details of a bidding package;

dd) Expenses related to consultancy services to meet the requirements of the bidding package and practical conditions;

e) Other necessary issues.

3. During the contract negotiation process, the negotiating parties shall finalize the draft contract and specific conditions of the contract.

4. In case the negotiation is unsuccessful, the project owner shall consider inviting the next ranked contractor to negotiate.

Article 72. Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result; finalization, conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance

The appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result, finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance must comply with Articles 33, 34, 35 of this Decree.

Section 2

INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS

Article 73. Selection of individuals consultants

1. Individual consultant may be a single consultant or a group of consultants. A group of consultants shall appoint a representative to work with the project owner. For the expert team in case of winning the bid, all of its members must directly sign a contract with the project owner. Individual consultants shall be selected according to the fixed price method depending on their capacity and experience.

2. For bidding packages to provide individual consultancy services with a bidding package's price of VND 300 million or less, the contractor selection shall be conducted according to the simplified procedures specified in Article 76 and Article 77 of this Decree. For bidding packages to provide individual consultancy services with a bidding package's price of more than VND 300 million, the contractor selection shall be conducted according to the normal procedures specified in Article 74 and Article 75 of this Decree.

Article 74. Formulation and approval of terms of reference according to normal procedures

1. Terms of reference include the following contents:

a) Brief description of the project and procurement estimates;

b) Requirements on the scope, volume, quality and time for executing the bidding package;

c) Requirements on capacity and qualifications of consultants;

d) Conditions for and place of contract performance;

dd) The bidding package's price according to the fixed-price method;

e) Other necessary issues (if any).

2. Based on the documents submitted by the expert team, the project owner shall consider and approve the terms of reference.

Article 75. Uploading of notices of invitation for bids and evaluation of individual consultants' scientific resumes; approval of the contractor selection result; conclusion of the contract; uploading of the individual consultant selection result according to normal procedures

1. After the terms of reference are approved, the project owner shall upload a notice of invitation for bids, enclosed with the terms of reference, on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System, clearly stating the deadline for receiving scientific resumes. The minimum time limit for individual consultants to prepare their scientific resumes is 05 working days.

In the case where it is necessary to clarify the terms of reference, organizations and individuals shall make such clarification on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 03 working days before the date of bid closing for consideration and settlement thereof. The project owner shall respond to the request for clarification on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System at least 02 working days before the time of bid closing.

In case of amending the terms of reference that have been issued, the project owner must upload the decision on such amendment, enclosed with the amended terms of reference and the specific amendments on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within a minimum period of 03 working days before the date of bid closing.

2. Submission of scientific resumes:

Individual consultants shall prepare scientific resumes as required in the terms of reference and technical proposals (if any) and submit them through the Vietnam National E-Procurement System.

3. Evaluation of scientific resumes and submission of evaluation results:

The scientific resumes of every individual consultant shall be evaluated based on contents of the terms of reference. An individual consultant who is eligible in accordance with Clause 3 Article 5 of the Bidding Law, has the best scientific resume and technical proposals (if any), and meets the requirements of the terms of reference shall be ranked first. The expert group shall prepare a report on the evaluation of scientific resumes and send it to the project owner for consideration.

4. Negotiation of contracts:

The project owner shall invite the first-ranked individual consultant to negotiate the contract in accordance with the approved terms of reference, including the scope of work, performance schedule, work reporting requirements, consultancy expenses, contract price and other necessary issues. The contract negotiation result shall be recorded in writing and signed by the project owner and the individual consultant.

5. The results of selection of individual consultants shall be based on reports on evaluation of scientific resumes of individual consultants and contract negotiation results. A contract signed between relevant parties must conform to the decision on approval of the results of selection of individual consultants, contract negotiation results, terms of reference, and other relevant documents.

6. The individual consultant selection results shall be uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Point a Clause 1 and Clause 4 Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

Article 76. Formulation and approval of terms of reference, list of individual consultants according to simplified procedures

1. The formulation and approval of the terms of reference must comply with Article 74 of this Decree.

2. The project owner shall identify and approve a list of at least 03 individual consultants to be sent an invitation.

Article 77. Sending invitations and evaluation of individual consultants' scientific resumes; approval of the contractor selection result; conclusion of the contract; uploading of the individual consultant selection result according to simplified procedures

1. After the terms of reference and list of individual consultants are approved, the project owner shall send invitations and terms of reference to individual consultants on such list, clearly stating the time limits and places for receipt of their scientific resumes. The minimum time limit for individual consultants to prepare their scientific resumes is 03 working days.

2. Submission of scientific resumes:

Individual consultants shall prepare scientific resumes as required in the terms of reference and technical proposals (if any) and submit them to the project owner within the time limits and at the places specified in the invitations.

3. Evaluation of individual consultants' scientific resumes; contract negotiation; approval of the contractor selection result; conclusion of the contract; uploading of the individual consultant selection result shall comply with Clauses 3, 4, 5 and 6 Article 75 of this Decree.

CHAPTER V

PROCESSES FOR CONTRACTOR APPOINTMENT, COMPETITIVE OFFER, DIRECT PROCUREMENT AND SELF-EXECUTION, CONTRACTOR SELECTION IN SPECIAL CASES AND SELECTION OF CONTRACTORS FOR BIDDING PACKAGES EXECUTED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Section 1

CONTRACTOR APPOINTMENT

Article 78. Cases subject to contractor appointment

1. Bidding packages serving urgent or emergency needs, including:

a) Bidding packages serving urgent or emergency needs to perform tasks related to national defense, security, foreign affairs, protection of national sovereignty;

b) Bidding packages that need to be executed to immediately prevent or remedy, or promptly provide the relief or support, promptly handle consequences of natural disasters, fires, epidemics, accidents, incidents, calamities or other force majeure events;

c) Bidding packages that need to be immediately executed in order to prevent harms to the life and property of local communities or serious impacts on adjacent works;

d) Emergency bidding packages that need to be immediately executed in order to maintain the operation of medical examination and treatment establishments, including bidding packages for consultancy service and non-consultancy services, or bidding packages for procurement of medicines, chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment, components, spare parts, means and construction, in which the failure to immediately execute such packages may cause interruption to the operation of medical examination and treatment establishments and harms to the people’s life and health;

dd) Bidding packages for giving first aid to patients in emergency situations in accordance with the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (if any), including bidding packages for consultancy service and non-consultancy services, or bidding packages for procurement of medicines, chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment, components, spare parts, means and construction that need to be executed in case of unexpected needs or no replacement items, or in order to prevent harms to the patients’ life and health;

e) Bidding packages for provision of consultancy service and non-consultancy services, pesticides, veterinary drugs, plant seeds, antiseptics, vaccines, supplies and chemicals that need to be immediately used to serve epidemic prevention and control;

g) Bidding packages for consultancy service and non-consultancy services, or bidding packages for procurement of medicines (including vaccines and biological products), chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment (including vaccination supplies), components, spare parts, means, construction and installation that need to be immediately executed to serve epidemic prevention and control under written directives of competent authorities (competent state management agencies in health or administrations at all levels), or under decisions on epidemic declaration for an infectious disease, or at a locality’s requests for epidemic announcement for an group-A infectious disease in accordance with the law regulations;

h) Bidding packages for consultancy service and non-consultancy services, or bidding packages for procurement of medicines, chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment, components, spare parts, means, construction and installation for establishing, renovating, and building treatment areas and field hospitals that need to be executed to serve epidemic prevention and control but medical examination and treatment establishments do not have adequate medicines, chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment, components, spare parts and means;

i) Bidding packages for consultancy service and non-consultancy services, or bidding packages for procurement of medicines, chemicals, supplies for medical tests, medical equipment, components, spare parts, means, construction and installation for serving diplomatic corps and supporting countries in epidemic prevention and control that need to be immediately executed to meet practical requirements and at the request of competent authorities;

k) Bidding packages in urgent public investment projects specified in the law on public investment.

2. Bidding packages requiring acceleration of progress while ensuring quality and efficiency, including

a) Bidding packages under procurement projects or estimates urgently required for immediate implementation as stated in the National Assembly’s Resolutions, the Government’s Resolutions, or decisions, directives or written notifications of Government leaders to satisfy the directed progress requirements;

b) Bidding packages under projects required for immediate implementation to ensure connectivity and synchronization among the works under projects, as stated in the National Assembly’s Resolutions, the Government’s Resolutions, or decisions, directives or written notifications of Government leaders to satisfy the requirements on management efficiency and synchronized and continuous operation of works;

c) Bidding packages in special public investment projects specified in the law on public investment;

d) Bidding packages for provision of services on organization of conferences, seminars, congresses, or training courses (including catering, accommodation and travel services for delegates; equipment, rent of halls or meeting rooms and related services) that require urgent arrangement of centralized accommodation and catering venues for delegates; bidding packages for provision of consultancy on the design, construction, and installation of booths at fairs and exhibitions that needs to be implemented urgently to organize major national events and holidays; bidding packages for purchase and import of national reserve goods, and provision of related services in sudden or urgent situations, and for lease of the storage of national reserve goods for items that require special and specific storage conditions regarding warehouses, expertise, skills, and storage techniques in accordance with the law on national reserve; bidding packages for transportation, loading and unloading, packaging, insurance, and other services related to the delivery of national reserve goods for relief, support, aid, and serving the foreign affairs tasks of the Party and State;

dd) Bidding packages for repair and renovation of working offices and public-service residential houses for provincial-level and commune-level cadres and civil servants, for implementation of tasks and requirements regarding digital transformation and information technology, which has an urgent schedule requirement to serve the reorganization of administrative divisions and the organization of the state apparatus;

e) Bidding packages of construction and installation with a scale and nature similar to a previous bidding package for which an open bidding or restricted bidding was organized, and that was implemented by a contractor, satisfying the requirements for schedule, quality and effectiveness within 05 years from the time the contractor signed the previous contract to the date the contractor selection plan is approved;

g) Other cases subject to application of contractor appointment to select a contractor to implement a bidding package that meets the schedule, quality, and effectiveness of the bidding package, project, or procurement estimates.

3. Bidding packages in strategic sectors or for special science, technology, innovation research projects or tasks, and digital transformation, including:

a) Bidding packages in special science, technology, innovation research projects or tasks, and digital transformation as defined by the law regulations on science, technology and innovation;

b) Bidding packages requiring the use of technology or products listed in the List of strategic technologies in accordance with the law on high technologies; bidding packages requiring the use of goods or services in strategic fields in accordance with the relevant specialized laws;

c) Bidding packages for lease or procurement of digital technology products and services funded by the state budget capital to perform key tasks for national digital transformation or as required by a resolution of the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee or the Government, or a decision of the Prime Minister;

d) Bidding packages for the construction, expansion, or upgrade of the national synthetic database, national databases, and the national reporting information systems; the data sharing and integration platforms, software, and shared databases of ministries, sectors, and localities; operation and document management system, and specialized databases of ministries and provinces; information systems for settlement of ministerial- and provincial-level administrative procedures; intelligent monitoring and operation centers; national, ministerial-level, and local online public service provision system; digital platforms and information systems on a national or regional scale.

4. Bidding packages under procurement estimates without project formation that have a price of up to VND 500 million; consultancy service bidding packages under projects that have a price of up to VND 800 million, or non-consultancy service, good procurement, construction and installation, and mixed bidding packages under projects that have a price of up to VND 2 billion.

5. Bidding packages with specific requirements or conditions regarding expertise, skills, techniques, technology, and the supply market, including:

a) Bidding packages for procurement of goods or services supplied by only one manufacturer or provider; bidding packages for procurement of medicines and medical equipment with one manufacturer available in the market;

b) Bidding packages for provision of printing services, stamps, receipts and seals in accordance with the laws on tax administration and customs; bidding packages for printing of materials and publications for an election;

c) Bidding packages for provision of consultancy services for, and implementation of, relocation of technical infrastructure facilities to serve the ground clearance and resettlement; bidding packages for provision of consultancy for, and implementation of, bomb, land mine and explosive sweeping to prepare construction grounds;

d) Bidding packages for provision of consultancy services that cannot be procured from other contractors but the contractors that have previously provided such services in order to ensure technological compatibility or copyright; bidding packages for procurement of goods or provision of non-consultancy services that cannot be procured from other contractors or manufacturers but the contractors that have previously provided such goods or services or the manufacturers of existing equipment, devices, machinery, software and services or their agents in order to ensure technological compatibility and copyright or due to the warranty or maintenance conditions of such contractors or manufacturers;

dd) Bidding packages for research or testing purposes or for procurement of intellectual property licenses or copyrighted broadcasts; bidding packages for provision of consultancy services, or for procurement of goods and equipment for the deployment of information technology application for management, monitoring, and storage of goods in the national reserve warehouse system; bidding packages for upgrade and maintenance of telecommunications infrastructure for provision of universal telecommunications services in localities or areas where there is only one enterprise providing universal telecommunications services in accordance with the regulations of the public-utility telecommunications service provision programs and the law on telecommunications;

e) Bidding packages for selection of consultancy organizations for the formulation or adjustment of planning tasks and formulation or adjustment of master plans in accordance with the law regulations on planning and other relevant laws on technical or specialized planning;

g) Bidding packages for lease of warehouse facilities for detained goods; bidding packages for hiring the services of transporting and loading detained goods at seaports or concentrated goods inspection places in case there is only one service provider available at these ports; bidding packages for import of sporting weapons to serve training and annual competition activities at sports clubs, schools and training centers;

h) Bidding packages for provision of consultancy services for the formulation of feasibility study reports, surveys or construction designs that are designated to authors of selected architecture designs, provided the authors are fully capable as prescribed by the construction law; bidding packages for construction and restoration of monuments, bas-reliefs, grand murals and artistic works subject to copyright protection from the stage of creation to the stage of construction; bidding packages for provision of consultancy services for the formulation of urban and rural master plans selected through contests; bidding package for provision of consultancy services for archaeological exploration and excavation; bidding packages for provision of consultancy services for construction, renovation and restoration of national relics, special national relics and world cultural heritage sites.

6. Bidding packages with requirements for protection of state secrets in accordance with the law on protection of state secrets.

7. Bidding packages under projects of national importance that are eligible for contractor appointment under the National Assembly’s resolutions when making investment policy decision; bidding packages eligible for contractor appointment in accordance with the relevant specialized laws.

For bidding packages eligible for contractor appointment in accordance with this Clause, the project owners shall, based on the completion schedule of the bidding packages, carry out the process of contractor appointment according to normal procedures or simplified procedures in accordance with the corresponding provisions at Article 79, and Clauses 2 and 3 Article 80 of this Decree. In case there are different provisions on the process and procedures for contractor appointment in a resolution of the National Assembly or the relevant specialized laws, the resolution of the National Assembly or that specialized laws shall apply.

Article 79. Process of contractor appointment according to normal procedures

1. For bidding packages falling in the cases specified at Points c, d, đ, e, g and h Clause 5, and Clause 6 Article 78 of this Decree, the contractor appointment according to normal procedures shall be applied.

2. Contractor appointment for a bidding package specified in Clause 1 of this Article must fully satisfy the following conditions:

a) The contractor selection plan has been approved;

b) The fund allocation plan for the bidding package execution has been formulated, except for the cases of bidding in advance defined in Article 42 of the Bidding Law;

c) The bidding package cost estimate has been approved in case the specialized laws defines the formulation of estimates.

3. The process of contractor appointment according to normal procedures shall be conducted as follows:

a) Formulation, appraisal and approval of dossiers of requirements:

Such a dossier of requirements shall contain the details: brief information on the project, estimate of procurement, or bidding package; instructions on preparation and submission of a dossier of proposals; criteria for evaluation of the capacity and experience of contractors (if any); criteria for technical evaluation; contractor appointment price; contract conditions. The specific degree of requirements for each criterion specified at this Point shall be determined based on requirements of each bidding package.

“Pass” and “fail” criteria shall be used for criteria for evaluation of the capacity and experience of contractors and for technical evaluation for bidding packages for construction and installation, goods procurement, provision of non-consultancy services and mixed bidding packages; scoring criteria shall be used for technical evaluation of consultancy bidding packages. A dossier of requirements may clearly state specific codes, symbols, trademarks and origins of goods, relevant technical and service requirements (if any);

Depending on the size, nature, specific conditions of the bidding packages, the project owners shall define the saving percentage of the proposed bid-winning price in the dossiers of requirements as the basis for the contractors to prepare their dossiers of proposals.

The project owners are not required to appraise the dossiers of requirements; the appraisal (as required) shall comply with Article 135 of this Decree. Dossiers of requirements shall be approved on the basis of written submissions for approval and reports on appraisal of dossiers of requirements (if any).

b) Identification of contractors expected to be invited to receive dossiers of requirements:

Depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package and preliminary information about the contractors capable of implementing the bidding package, the project owner shall identify one contractor expected to be invited to receive the dossier of requirements; and may not evaluate the capacity and experience of the contractor expected to be invited to receive the dossier of requirements when identifying such contractor.

A contractor may be expected to be appointed when meeting the requirements for eligibility as specified at Points a, b, c, d, e, g and i Clause 1 Article 5 of the Bidding Law; or Points a and b Clause 2 and Points d and e Clause 1 Article 5 of the Bidding Law, for a contractor being a business household. For bidding packages for goods procurement, contractors being individuals or groups of individuals offering their own innovative products for bidding shall be expected to be appointed to the bidding package and receive the dossiers of requirements if they meet the requirements for eligibility specified in Clause 3 Article 5 of the Bidding Law. In case other relevant laws have provisions that contractors participating in bidding and performing contracts must be independent from other organizations and individuals, such provisions shall prevail.

Dossiers of requirements shall be distributed to the contractors expected to be appointed.

c) Evaluation of dossiers of proposals and negotiation of contractors’ proposals:

Contractors shall prepare and submit dossiers of proposals on the basis of dossiers of requirements. The evaluation of dossiers of proposals shall be carried out using the evaluation criteria stated in dossiers of requirements. During evaluation, the project owner shall invite the contractors to negotiate on the price to ensure the saving percentage as stated in the dossiers of requirements, and negotiate, clarify or modify and supplement their dossiers of proposals in order to prove their satisfaction of the requirements on capacity and experience, performance schedule, volume, quality, technical solutions and measures to execute the bidding package;

A contractor shall be proposed for appointment when fully meeting the conditions: Having a valid dossier of proposals; having capacity and experience and technical proposals satisfying the dossier of requirements; and offering a proposed bid-winning price not exceeding the approved bidding package's price.

d) Appraisal, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result:

The approval and publicization of the contractor selection result must comply with Article 33 of this Decree. The project owners are not required to appraise the contractor selection result; the appraisal (as required) shall comply with Clause 4 Article 136 of this Decree.

dd) Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance:

A contract concluded between relevant parties must conform to the decision on approval of the contractor appointment result, dossier of proposals, dossier of requirements, and other relevant documents. The finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Article 80. Process of contractor appointment according to simplified procedures

1. For a bidding package falling into the cases defined in Clause 1 Article 78 of this Decree, depending on the size and characteristics of the bidding package and preliminary information about the contractors capable of executing the bidding package, the project owner or the agency directly managing the bidding package shall identify and appoint a capable and experienced contractor to promptly execute the bidding package. Within 15 days from the date of commencement of the execution of a bidding package, involved parties shall complete procedures for contractor appointment specified in Clause 3 of this Article. The implementation of contractor appointment is not required to meet the conditions specified at Clause 2 Article 79 of this Decree.

2. For a bidding package falling into the cases defined in Clauses 2, 3, 4 and Points a, b Clause 5 Article 78 of this Decree, the investor shall apply the process of contractor appointment according to simplified procedures specified in Clause 3 of this Article. The implementation of contractor appointment must fully satisfy the conditions specified at Clause 2 Article 79 of this Decree.

3. The process of contractor appointment according to simplified procedures shall be conducted as follows:

a) Preparing and sending the draft contract to the contractor:

The project owner shall base on the approved objectives and scope of work to prepare and send a draft contract to the contractor expected by the project owner to be capable of executing the bidding package; for a bidding package defined at Point e Clause 2 Article 78 of this Decree, the project owner shall send the draft contract to the contractor who has won at an open bidding or a restricted bidding and has concluded a contract for execution of the previous bidding package. A draft contract must contain the requirements on scope and description of tasks to be performed, time of performance, required task quality and corresponding value and other necessary details.

A contractor shall be proposed for contractor appointment when meeting the requirements for eligibility as specified at Points a, b, c, d, e, g and i Clause 1 Article 5 of the Bidding Law; or Points a and b Clause 2 and Points d and e Clause 1 Article 5 of the Bidding Law, for a contractor being a business household. For bidding packages for goods procurement, contractors being individuals or groups of individuals offering their own innovative products for bidding shall be proposed for contractor appointment when meeting the requirements for eligibility as specified in Clause 3 Article 5 of the Bidding Law. In case other relevant laws have provisions that contractors participating in bidding and performing contracts must be independent from other organizations and individuals, such provisions shall prevail;

b) Finalization of the contract, approval and publicization of the contractor selection result:

Based on the draft contract, the project owner and contractor proposed for appointment shall finalize a contract as a basis for approval of the contractor selection result and conclude the contract. During contract finalization, the project owner and contractor shall negotiate on the price to ensure the proposed bid-winning price is cost-effective and economically efficient. For a bidding package for construction and installation subject to contractor appointment in accordance with Point e Clause 2 Article 78 of this Decree, the project owner and the contractor shall negotiate on the price, ensuring a saving of at least 5% of the bidding package price.

The publicization of contractor selection result must comply with Clause 5 Article 33 of this Decree;

c) Conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance:

A contract concluded between relevant parties must conform to the decision on approval of the contractor selection result and other relevant documents. The management of contract performance shall comply with Article 35 of this Decree.

4. For bidding packages or procurements with a price not exceeding VND 50 million, heads of agencies or units in charge of the procurement shall decide on the procurement, ensuring economic efficiency and take responsibility for their decision, without having to meet the conditions specified at Clause 2 Article 79 of this Decree and to carry out the process specified in Clause 3 of this Article, but must comply with law regulations on invoices and documents or comply with the process of contractor appointment according to simplified procedures defined in Clause 3 of this Article.

5. In case the project owner applies the normal procedures instead of the simplified procedures specified in Clause 3 of this Article, it shall comply with Article 79 of this Decree.

Section 2

COMPETITIVE OFFER, DIRECT PROCUREMENT AND SELF-EXECUTION

Article 81. Competitive offer

Competitive offer shall be applied to bidding packages defined in Clause 1 Article 24 of the Bidding Law with a price not exceeding VND 10 billion. The competitive offer shall be conducted as follows:

1. Preparation for contractor selection:

a) Bidding dossiers shall be made in accordance with Clauses 1 and 2 Article 26 of this Decree. Such a bidding dossier shall contain the details: summary information about the project, procurement estimate, bidding package; instructions for contractors; bidding datasheet; evaluation criteria for the validity of bid dossiers; criteria for evaluation of capacity and experience and technical evaluation criteria using “pass” and “fail” criteria; financial evaluation criteria applying the lowest bid method or evaluation bid method. For bidding packages for goods procurement or bidding packages for construction and installation, depending on the size and characteristics of a bidding package, the bidding dossier may include criteria for evaluation of capacity and experience or may not include such criteria, but the contractors participating in the bidding must commit to having enough capacity and experience to execute the bidding package. For bidding packages for provision of non-consultancy services, evaluation criteria of capacity and experience are not required to be included in bidding dossiers.

For bidding packages for goods procurement, some criteria specified in Clause 3 Article 10 of this Decree shall not be applied to contractors being individuals or groups of individuals offering their own innovative products for bidding that meet the requirements specified in Clause 4, Article 6 of this Decree. In case the contractors are business households, they may neither submit financial statements nor meet net asset value requirements;

b) Approval of bidding dossiers:

The approval of a bidding dossier shall be based on the written proposal for approval; it is not required to appraise the bidding dossier.

2. Organization of contractor selection:

a) The project owner shall upload the notice of invitation for bids and bidding dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System in accordance with Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Bidding Law;

b) The distribution, modification and clarification of bidding dossiers must comply with Clause 2 Article 28 of this Decree, the time period for preparing bid dossiers for competitive offer is at least 7 working days;

c) Contractors shall submit bid dossiers as required by the bidding dossier on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

d) The project owner shall open bids on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 02 hours after the time of bid closing. The bid opening minutes shall contain the following details: name of the contractor; bid price; value of discounts (if any); validity duration of the bid dossier; value and the validity duration of the bid security; implementation duration of the bidding package. The bid opening minutes shall be uploaded on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System within 24 hours after the time of bid opening.

3. Evaluation of bid dossiers:

a) The principles of evaluation of bid dossiers are specified in Article 29 of this Decree;

b) The clarification of bid dossiers must comply with Article 30 of this Decree;

c) Error correction and deviation adjustment must comply with Article 31 of this Decree;

d) The evaluation of bid dossiers must comply with Article 32 of this Decree;

dd) The ranking of contractors must comply with the provisions in the bidding dossier (if there are more than 1 contractor). The contractor having the lowest bid price after error correction or deviation adjustment (if any), minus the value of discounts (if any) and incentives (if any) in case of application of the lowest bid method; or having the lowest evaluated price, in case of application of the evaluation bid method shall be ranked first.

4. Approval and disclosure of contractor selection result:

The approval and disclosure of contractor selection results must comply with Article 33 of this Decree; it is not required to appraise contractor selection results.

5. Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance:

A contract concluded between relevant parties must conform to the decision on approval of the contractor selection result, bid dossier, bidding dossier and other relevant documents. The finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Article 82. Direct procurement process

1. The project owner may apply direct procurement solely once for goods in the bidding package for which direct procurement is expected to be applied during the project performance duration or within a budget year or fiscal year of the procurement estimate. In case of procurement estimate, if the bidding package for which direct procurement is expected to be applied has its execution duration longer than one year, direct procurement may be applied solely once for the goods in such bidding package in all years of the procurement estimates.

2. Preparation for contractor selection:

a) Making of a dossier of requirements:

A dossier of requirements shall contain the details: brief information on the project, procurement estimates, bidding package; requirement for contractors to update information on their eligibility, capacity and experience; requirement on schedule and commitment to supply goods meeting technical specifications and quality requirements of the previous bidding dossier; requirement on unit prices of goods and other necessary details.

In case of direct procurement with other contractors in accordance with Clause 3, Article 25 of the Bidding Law, the dossier of requirements shall include the criteria for evaluating the eligibility, capacity, and experience and the technical evaluation criteria specified in Article 26 of this Decree;

b) Approval of dossiers of requirements:

The approval of a dossier of requirements shall be based on the proposal for approval; it is not required to appraise the dossier of requirements.

3. The dossier of requirements shall be issued to the previously selected contractor. In case such contractor is unable to continue executing or does not agree to execute the bidding package for direct procurement, the project owner shall select in the following order of priority: ranked contractors on the ranking list of the previous bidding package; other contractors if they meet Clause 3, Article 25 of the Bidding Law.

4. Contractors shall prepare and submit dossiers of proposals on the basis of dossiers of requirements.

5. Evaluation of dossiers of proposals and negotiation of contractors’ proposals:

a) Evaluating the dossiers of proposals, including: Examining technical issues and unit prices; updating information on the contractor’s capacity; in case of direct procurement with a contractor other than the previous bid-winning contractor, the expert team must evaluate the eligibility, capacity and experience of such contractor in accordance with Article 32 of this Decree; evaluating the implementation schedule, measures for goods supply, technical solutions and measures for execution of the bidding package; other details (if any);

b) In the course of evaluation, the project owner shall invite the contractor to discuss and clarify necessary information related to the dossier of proposals in order to prove the satisfaction of requirements on capacity, schedule, quality, technical solutions and bidding package execution measures.

In case a change in the law regulations on value-added tax occurs at the time of applying direct procurement, the unit price of goods (inclusive of value-added tax) in the bidding package subject to direct procurement may not exceed the pre-tax value of the goods in the signed contract plus the value-added tax applicable at the time of applying direct procurement;

c) A contractor will be proposed to win the bid if he/she/it meets the requirements specified in Article 61 of the Bidding Law and the goods he/she/it offers are from the same manufacturer, country of origin or have the same code and brand as the previously bid-winning goods. In case the goods have a newer production version or year compared to those specified in the contract, this situation shall be handled in accordance with Clause 27 Article 140 of this Decree.

6. Approval and disclosure of direct procurement results:

The approval and disclosure of direct procurement results must comply with Article 33 of this Decree; it is not required to appraise direct procurement results.

7. Finalization and conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance:

A contract concluded between relevant parties must conform to the decision on approval of the direct procurement result, dossier of requirements, dossier of proposals and other relevant documents. The finalization of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

Article 83. Self-execution process

1. Preparation of a self-execution plan and draft job assignment agreement or job assignment document:

A self-execution plan shall contain requirements on scope of work and tasks; value and performance duration; quality of tasks to be performed; acceptance and payment conditions; task assignment agreement or task assignment document for a unit conducting dependent accounting or an affiliate (hereinafter referred to as the unit assigned to execute the bidding package).

Payment of salaries, allowances, management expenses and other expenses shall be agreed upon by the project owner and the unit assigned to execute the bidding package.

2. Finalization of the self-execution plan:

The project owner and the unit assigned to execute the bidding package shall negotiate and finalize incomplete, unclear, irrelevant or inconsistent details of the self-execution plan, the draft job assignment agreement or job assignment document and other necessary details.

3. Approval and publicization of contractor selection result.

4. Conclusion of job assignment agreements; management of bidding package execution:

a) The organization directly managing and using the bidding package shall sign a task assignment agreement with the unit assigned to execute the bidding package or issue a task assignment document;

b) In case the law regulations require performance of certain tasks of a bidding package to be supervised, upon implementation, the organization directly managing and using the bidding package shall select, in accordance with the regulations of the Bidding Law, a contractor providing supervision consultancy that is legally and financially independent from such organization to supervise the execution of the bidding package;

c) In case the law regulations do not so require or there is no independent supervision consultant expressing interest or an independent supervision consultant cannot be selected because the bidding package is executed in an area with difficult economic and social conditions, if the bidding package's price is less than VND 01 billion, the organization directly managing and using the bidding package must supervise on its own.

Section 3

CONTRACTOR SELECTION IN SPECIAL CASES

Article 84. Bidding packages subject to application of contractor selection in special cases

1. Bidding packages subject to the requirements for performance of national political tasks and national interests as stated in the Resolutions, Conclusions or directing documents of the Party Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Secretariat or key leaders of the Party and the State to which one of the methods of contractor selection specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law cannot be applied, or for which the application of one of the contractor selection methods specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law does not meet the requirements for performance of the project or bidding package.

2. Bidding packages with the performance subject to strict requirements on national defense and security, external affairs and territorial borders to which one of the methods of contractor selection specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law cannot be applied, or for which the application of one of the contractor selection methods specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law does not meet the requirements for performance of the project or bidding package.

3. Bidding packages with special characteristics related to scientific and technological development, innovation and digital transformation to which one of the methods of contractor selection specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law cannot be applied, or for which the application of one of the contractor selection methods specified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29a of the Bidding Law does not meet the requirements for performance of the project or bidding package.

4. Bidding packages subject to one or several of particular conditions regarding the process, procedures and criteria for contractor selection, or contract conclusion and performance conditions, including:

a) Bidding packages for procurement of medicines or vaccines under trials with the manufacturers’ specific requirements on procurement, payment, guarantee, security and other conditions during the contract performance; bidding packages for procurement of medicines, vaccines or medical equipment through international organizations;

b) Bidding packages for procurement of domestically manufactured vaccines serving the Expanded Immunization Program, for which there is only one domestic manufacturer;

c) Selection of lawyers or law-practicing organizations for provision of legal services to protect lawful rights and interests of the Vietnamese State and state agencies at foreign investigation bodies applying trade remedies, and domestic, foreign or international jurisdictional bodies or dispute settlement bodies;

d) Bidding packages for procurement of airfares for domestic and international working delegations;

dd) Bidding packages for provision of services for the development and management of participants and beneficiaries, and for the collection and payment of social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance benefits;

e) Bidding packages for consultancy on verification of prefeasibility study reports or feasibility study reports for projects subject to the National Assembly’s investment policy decision or approval;

g) Bidding packages for asset valuation and asset valuation consultancy related to criminal cases and matters in need of urgent implementation at the request of bodies competent to conduct the proceedings;

h) Bidding packages for procurement of services to organize international legal conferences, seminars, and forums in Vietnam;

i) Bidding packages for provision of intensive training for state agencies and public non-business units that are directly organized by foreign training institutions overseas; bidding packages for provision of professional training and further training in specific areas for cadres, civil servants, public employees and employees which are necessary to invite agencies or units that are competent or have professional training functions and tasks assigned by competent agencies;

k) Bidding packages subject to the requirements for performance of political tasks as assigned by the Party Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Secretariat or key leaders of the Party and the State, ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, other central agencies, (hereinafter referred to as heads of central agencies) and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, including tasks of dissemination of information on printed newspapers, online newspapers, radio and television, and other mass media in case agencies or units allocated with funding sources to carry out the dissemination directly conclude contracts with such media agencies for implementation; and film production cooperation or film production; and bidding packages of non-business units under the Party Central Committee and government-attached agencies for the procurement of information from foreign news agencies and press organizations, or for the printing of press publications to disseminate the guidelines and policies of the Party and the State;

l) Bidding packages for production of programs combined with implementation ideas; and bidding packages for organization of artistic performances programs to serve political tasks;  

m) Bidding packages for procurement of services from international credit rating firms; bidding packages for procurement of international payment services (with accompanying equipment) exclusively provided by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT); bidding packages for procurement of services from companies providing international financial-monetary information services and trading platforms; and bidding packages for procurement of databases on international laws and international investment dispute settlement;

n) Bidding packages for provision of school meals, or bidding packages for procurement of food, ingredients and input fuels serving the provision of school meals for semi-boarding and boarding students at public education institutions; bidding packages for provision of meals for athletes and coaches at sports training and coaching facilities or for provision of meals for domestic and international sports congresses held in Vietnam; bidding packages for purchase of food, ingredients, or input fuels to provide meals for athletes and coaches at sports training and coaching facilities, or for drug addicts at drug rehabilitation facilities, or for temporarily detained persons at detention facilities in the armed forces;

o) Bidding packages for purchasing of insurance for members of Vietnam’s sports delegations participating in international sports meets; bidding packages for doping tests for domestic and international sports meets held in Vietnam;

p) Bidding packages for purchasing of anti-money laundering services and solutions provided exclusively by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; bidding packages for provision of consultancy services for transactions related to formulating, structuring, selecting investors, and mobilizing finance for key projects invested in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) or other methods that require the selection of an organization with suitable expertise and a function to support the public sector, and experience in consulting for similar projects; bidding packages for provision of consultancy services provided exclusively by international development organizations in design or implementation of policies, institutional strengthening, capacity development, and provision of information for development strategies or activities;

q) Bidding packages for lease or procurement of digital technology products and services funded by the state budget capital to perform key tasks for national digital transformation or as required by a resolution of the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee or the Government, or a decision of the Prime Minister;

r) Bidding packages for procurement of goods or services with uniform prices set by the State, including electricity, water, petrol and oil, environmental sanitation charges, fixed-line telephone charges, maintenance of fixed-line telephone switchboard systems, and other similar goods and services;

s) Bidding packages for lease of driving test centers; bidding packages serving external affairs related to welcoming of international delegations visiting and working in Vietnam in accordance with the regulations on diplomatic ceremonies; and bidding packages for procurement of diplomatic gifts serving external affairs for leaders of the Party and the State, heads of central agencies on official overseas missions, or related to welcoming of international delegations visiting and working in Vietnam; bidding packages for procurement and training of police dogs, and procurement of narcotics, explosives, or narcotics or explosive scent pads used for police dog training;

t) Bidding packages for purchasing of services for issuance underwriting, legal consultancy, and other related services and agents to implement the scheme of Government bond issuance to international capital market;

u) Bidding packages under other procurement projects or estimates subject to one or several particular conditions regarding the process, procedures and criteria for contractor selection or conditions for contract conclusion and performance not falling into one of the cases specified at Points a, b, c, d, đ, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s and t of this Clause.

Article 85. Order and procedures for contractor selection in special cases

1. For bidding packages falling into the cases specified at Clauses 1, 2, 3 and Points i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s and u Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree, the project owner shall comply with the following procedure:

a) Formulation and approval of contractor selection plans;

Bidding packages serving external affairs related to welcoming of international delegations visiting and working in Vietnam in accordance with the regulations on diplomatic ceremonies, procurement of diplomatic gifts serving external affairs for leaders of the Party and the State, heads of central agencies on official overseas missions, or related to welcoming of international delegations visiting and working in Vietnam that fall into the cases defined at Point s Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree shall not comply with this Point.

b) Negotiation and finalization of contracts with contractors with sufficient capacity and experience;

c) Approval and publicization of contractor selection result;

d) Conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance.

A contract must contain all requirements on scope and description of tasks to be performed, time of performance, required task quality and contract value. The conclusion of contracts and management of contract performance shall comply with Articles 34 and 35 of this Decree.

dd) The uploading of information about contractor selection plans, contractor selection results and other bidding information shall comply with Article 7 and Article 8 of the Bidding Law.

For the cases specified at Point n Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree, if public education institutions, drug rehabilitation facilities, or detention facilities in the armed forces are located in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions in accordance with the law on investment, and in border or island areas, heads of the units may decide on the provision of school meals, or the purchase of food, ingredients and input fuels to provide school meals in an economical, efficient and accountable manner in accordance with the law regulations on invoices and documents, without having to carry out the procedures specified in this Clause.

For the cases specified at Point r Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree, the project owners shall finalize and enter into contracts with suppliers under Point d of this Clause without having to carry out the procedures specified at Points a, b, c, and dd of this Clause.

For the cases specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and Points m, u Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree, if the application of the process and procedures specified in this Clause does not meet the requirements for implementing the bidding packages or projects, the project owners shall approve a different process of contractor selection to select a contractor with sufficient capacity and experience to implement the bidding packages, guaranteeing the schedule, quality, and effectiveness.

2. For the bidding packages specified at Point a Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree:

a) The project owners shall provide explanations in the written report regarding the basis for applying contractor selection in special cases, the selected contractor (if any), a draft plan on contractor selection in special cases with the following principal contents: process and procedures for contractor selection, and other relevant contents to meet the particular conditions of bidding packages under projects or estimates of procurement, ensuring the selection of capable and experienced contractors to achieve the schedule, quality, and effectiveness.

b) Based on the report, the Minister of Health shall consider and decide whether to approve or disapprove the application of the form of contractor selection in special cases.

If international organizations or manufacturers of drugs, vaccines or medical equipment have their own regulations on conditions for purchase and sale, contract conclusion (if any), advance payment or payment that are mandatory for supply of drugs, vaccines or medical equipment, such regulations shall prevail.

3. For a bidding package specified at Point b Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree:

a) The Minister of Health shall assign a subordinate agency or unit to perform the responsibilities of the project owner for placement of orders of vaccines;

b) Based on the expanded immunization plan, estimated quantity and types of to-be-purchased vaccines, time of vaccine supply (which may include vaccine procurement for more than one year), estimated unit prices, bidding package prices, and other necessary contents, the project owner shall approve the decision on placing the order and sign a contract with the domestic vaccine manufacturer to produce and supply vaccines serving the Expanded Immunization Program. In case of placement of orders for more than one year, the procurement value must be estimated for each year;

c) Before December 31 every year, vaccine manufacturers shall make dossiers of price plans corresponding to the quantity of vaccines supplied in the year for the Expanded Immunization Program, and submit them to the Ministry of Health for sending to the Ministry of Finance for appraisal, approval, and announcement of the maximum vaccine price;

d) Based on the maximum vaccine price announced by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health shall decide on approval of specific prices, which must not exceed the maximum price. The annual contract payment value shall be based on the quantity of supplied vaccines and the specific price approved by the Ministry of Health.

4. For the cases specified at Point c Clause 4 Article 84 of this Decree:

a) An agency or unit in charge of settlement of a lawsuit shall formulate criteria and terms of reference and a mechanism for controlling the law-practicing organizations and lawyers in order to draw up a list of (at least 03) law-practicing organizations and/or lawyers to be hired; these law practice organizations and lawyers must be reputable and highly experienced;

b) An agency in charge of settlement of a lawsuit shall organize the negotiation for a legal service contract with the most advantageous law-practicing organization or lawyer based on terms of criteria, reference as well as the mechanism for controlling the law-practicing organization or lawyer in the lawsuit;

c) The head of the agency or unit in charge of settlement of the lawsuit shall approve and notify results of the law-practicing organization or lawyer selection;

d) The agency or unit in charge of settlement of the lawsuit shall finalize and sign a legal service contract with the selected law-practicing organization or lawyer.