What are the requirements for a consultant that is an individual to be considered successful and awarded the contract for the provision of consulting services in Vietnam?
- What are the requirements for a consultant that is an individual to be considered successful and awarded the contract for the provision of consulting services in Vietnam?
- How many bid evaluation methods applied to consulting service packages are there in Vietnam?
- May a supervision consultant act as the inspection consultant for the same package in Vietnam?
What are the requirements for a consultant that is an individual to be considered successful and awarded the contract for the provision of consulting services in Vietnam?
The requirements for a consultant that is an individual to be considered successful and awarded the contract for the provision of consulting services in Vietnam are specified in Clause 2, Article 60 of the Law on Bidding 2023 as follows:
Contract award for consulting service packages
1. A consultant that is an organization shall be considered successful and awarded the contract if the consultant:
a) has a substantially responsive bid or proposal;
b) has a technical proposal meeting the requirements of the bidding documents or RFP;
c) has the lowest bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, and deducting the value of discounts (if any), if the least-cost method applies; or has the lowest bid price after deducting discounts (if any), in case of a lump sum contract; or has the highest technical score, if either the fixed-price method or technique-base method applies; or has the highest combined score, if the combined technique and price-based method applies; and
d) has a proposed successful bid price not exceeding the approved package price.
2. A consultant that is an individual shall be considered successful and awarded the contract if the consultant:
a) has a scientific CV and technical proposal (if any) which are considered the most advantageous one conforming to the requirements laid down in terms of reference; and
b) has a proposed successful bid price not exceeding the approved package price.
3. The notice of contractor selection result sent to an unsuccessful bidder must provide the reason(s) their bid was unsuccessful.
Thus, according to regulations, a consultant that is an individual is considered successful and awarded the contract for the provision of consulting services in Vietnam if the consultant:
(1) has a scientific CV and technical proposal (if any) which are considered the most advantageous one conforming to the requirements laid down in terms of reference; and
(2) has a proposed successful bid price not exceeding the approved package price;
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How many bid evaluation methods applied to consulting service packages are there in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 59 of the Law on Bidding 2023, there are 4 bid evaluation methods applied to consulting service packages, including:
(1) Least-cost method:
- The least-cost method applies to simple consulting service packages or consulting service packages where consulting process has been well defined according to existing standards;
- The bidder that has a bid meeting technical requirements and the lowest bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment (if any), and deducting the value of discounts (if any), shall be ranked first.
(2) Fixed-price method:
- The fixed-price method applies to simple consulting service packages where the exact scope of tasks is defined and the rational, specific and fixed costs for executing the package are specified in the bidding documents;
- The bidder that has a bid meeting technical requirements, the bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment (if any), and deducting the value of discounts (if any), not exceeding the package price, and the highest technical score shall be ranked first.
(3) Combined technique and price-based method:
- The combined technique and price-based method applies to consulting service packages where both quality and costs for executing the package are critical;
- The combined score shall be calculated on the basis of the technical score and the price score. The scoring system must follow the rule that the technical score accounts for 70% - 80% of total score and the price score accounts for 20% - 30% of total score; the sum of technical score and price score shall be 100%. The bidder that has the highest combined score shall be ranked first.
(4) Technique-based method:
- The technique-based method applies to consulting service packages with specific or high technical requirements;
- The bidder that has a bid meeting technical requirements and the highest technical score shall be ranked first, and invited to the opening of financial proposal as the basis for contract negotiation.
May a supervision consultant act as the inspection consultant for the same package in Vietnam?
The inspection of a package supervised by a supervision consultant is specified at Point g, Clause 6, Article 16 of the Law on Bidding 2023 as follows:
Prohibited acts in bidding
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6. Inequality and non-transparency, including:
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dd) A bidder submits a bid for a procurement, construction or non-consulting service package for which the bidder is also acting as a consultant on preparation, verification and appraisal of cost estimate, technical design, building drawings and designs, front-end engineering design (FEED); preparation and appraisal of prequalification document or bidding documents; evaluation of prequalification applications or bids; inspection of goods; appraisal of contractor selection result; supervision of contract execution;
e) A person acts as a bidder for a package of a project or investment project of the procuring entity or employer for which he/she worked and held the executive or managerial position within 12 months from the date of his/her resignation therefrom;
g) A supervision consultant also acts as the inspection consultant of the same package;
h) Failure to meet relevant requirements laid down in this Law when adopting a method other than the competitive bidding to the contractor/investor selection;
i) Inclusion of specific brand and/or origin requirements in the bidding documents for a procurement or construction or mixed package under the competitive bidding, limited bidding or shopping method, except the provisions of Point e Clause 3 Article 10, Clause 2 Article 44 and Clause 1 Article 56 of this Law;
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Thus, according to regulations, in order to ensure fairness and transparency in bidding activities, a supervision consultant may not act as the inspection consultant for the same package in Vietnam.
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