Vietnam: What to do when more than one bidder is considered equal after evaluation?
What to do when more than one bidder is considered equal after evaluation?
According to the provisions of Clause 14, Article 117 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP, that more than one bidder is considered equal after evaluation shall be handled by:
- Awarding the contract to the bidder that has the highest technical score if the contract is awarded according to the lowest bid;
- Awarding the contract to the bidder that has the lowest bid if the contract is awarded according to the evaluation or application of combined technical and price-based method.
Vietnam: What to do when more than one bidder is considered equal after evaluation?
What are the regulations on ensuring competitiveness in bidding in Vietnam?
Ensuring competitiveness in bidding in Vietnam is specified in Article 2 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP guiding the Law on Bidding regarding the selection of contractors, specifically as follows:
- The contractors submit their EOI (expression of interest) responses or applications for the prequalification held by the procuring entity must adhere to Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 6 of the Bidding Law.
- Contractors who bid for mixed contracts must be legally and financially independent from those who conduct feasibility study reports, technical design proposals and construction drawings for the purpose of the contract award, except for these accepted as a part of mixed contracts.
- Consulting service suppliers participating in the bidding can provide one or a lot of consulting service(s) for the same project or contract, including the formation of pre-feasibility study reports, feasibility study reports, technical design documents, construction drawing records as well as the provision of consultancy and supervision services.
- Contractors shall be considered legally and financially independent from other contractors, consulting service providers, investors or procuring entities as regulated in Clause 1, 2 and 3 of Article 6 of the Bidding Law when they meet the following requirements:
+ They must come from different agencies or are not directly managed by the same organization if they are public service providers;
+ Contractors, investors and procuring entities do not hold more than 30% of shares or contributed capital of each other;
+ Contractors do not hold more than 20% shares or contributed capital of each other when all of bidders participate in selective bidding for a contract;
+ Bidders and contractors who provide consulting services for that contract are not allowed to hold mutual shares and contributed capital; shares and contributed capital of either bidder or consulting contractor held by other organizations and individuals account for above 20%.
- In respect of state-owned economic corporations, if products and services specified in the contract are defined as their main production and trading sectors which are considered the outflow of this company and the inflow of the other company affiliated with these corporations, their subsidiaries have the right to participate in the selection of contractors held by each of these subsidiaries. In case products and services are the outflow of this company and concurrently the inflow of the other company as well as are seen as the exclusive ones on the market, the bidding must comply with the Prime Minister’s regulations.
What is the content of plan on bidder selection for each package?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 35 of the 2013 Law on Procurement in Vietnam, the content of the plan on bidder selection for each package includes:
- Name of package:
Name of procurement presents nature, content and work scope of package, in line with contents stated in project, estimate of procurement. If package includes many separate parts, plan on bidder selection should state the name describing basic content of each part.
- Price of package:
+ Price of package is determined on the basis of total investment or estimated budget (if any) for project; estimate of procurement for recurrent procurement. Price of package is included exactly and fully entire expenses associated with performance of package, including reserve expenses, charges, fees and taxes. Price of package may be updated in time limit of 28 days before day of bid opening if necessary;
+ For packages of consulting service provision for formulation of pre-feasible study report, feasible study report, price of package shall be defined on the basis of information on average price according to statistics of projects which have been made in a defined duration; the estimated total investment based on investment ratio norms of projects; preliminary total investment;
+ If package includes many separate parts, to clearly indicate the estimated price for each part in price of package.
- Capital sources:
For each package, it must clearly state capital sources or methods of capital arrangement, time of capital allocation to pay for bidder; case of using official development assistance capital, concessional loans, it must clearly state name of donors and structure of capital sources, including the financed capital, domestic reciprocal capital.
- Forms and methods of selection of bidders:
For each package, it must clearly state forms and methods of selection of bidders; selection of domestic or international contractor.
- Beginning time of contractor selection:
Beginning time of contractor selection is calculated as from issuing Bid, Request for Proposals, and clearly indicated under month or quarter in year. In case of competitive bidding with application of short-list selection procedures, beginning time of contractor selection is calculated as from issuing EOI requests, Prequalification Documents.
- Contract type:
Plan on selection of bidder must clarify contract type as prescribed in Article 62 of this Law as the basis for formulation of EOI requests, Prequalification Documents, Bidding Documents, Request for Proposals; and signing contract.
- Time for contract performance:
Time for contract performance is number of days calculated from the effective date of contract until parties fulfill obligations as prescribed in contract, exclusive of duration of warranty obligation performance (if any).
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