What is online bidding? What are the regulations on online contractor and investor selection in Vietnam?

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is online bidding?

According to the provisions of Clause 9 of Article 4 of the Law on Bidding 2023, online bidding means the bidding process in which all bidding activities are carried out on Vietnam E-Procurement System (VNEPS).

Clause 18, Article 4 of the Law on Bidding 2023 stipulates that the Vietnam E-Procurement System (VNEPS) means an information technology system which is developed and managed by regulatory authorities in charge of bidding activities (hereinafter referred to as “bidding authorities”) for consistently managing bidding information and carrying out online bidding activities.

Thus, the Vietnam E-Procurement System is an information technology platform used to conduct online bidding, ensuring uniform information management and bidding processes.

2. What are the regulations on online contractor and investor selection in Vietnam?

Online contractor and investor selection is regulated in Article 50 of the Law on Bidding 2023 specifically:

- Domestic competitive bidding, limited bidding and shopping must be conducted on VNEPS according to the following roadmap:

+ From the effective date of the Law on Bidding 2023 to December 31, 2024 inclusively, the Government shall decide whether to adopt online bidding method or not;

+ From January 01, 2025, the online bidding method shall apply to all packages, except cases where the bidding is not conducted on VNEPS as prescribed in Clause 5 of Article 50 of the Law on Bidding 2023.

- Contractor/investor selection contents to be conducted on VNEPS:

+ Publishing of information on contractor/investor selection;

+ Preparation, appraisal and approval of prequalification document, EOI request, bidding documents or RFP;

+ Preparation and submission of prequalification applications, EOIs, applications for project execution, bids or proposals;

+ Bid opening;

+ Evaluation of prequalification applications, EOIs, bids or proposals, invitation for contract negotiation, appraisal and approval of contractor selection result;

+ Consortium agreement, electronic bid security, electronic contract performance;

+ Clarification of bidding-related contents;

+ Submission and receipt of petitions;

+ Electronic contract;

+ Electronic payment.

- Electronic documents on VNEPS shall be valid in accordance with regulations of the Law on electronic transactions and used as the basis for comparing, verifying and authenticating information serving performance of evaluation, appraisal, inspection, supervision, auditing and disbursement tasks.

- Costs incurred in online bidding include: costs of registration for participation in VNEPS; costs of publishing of bidding information as prescribed in Point c Clause 1 and Point c Clause 2 Article 15 of the Law on Bidding 2023, participation in bidding, signing of contract, and other costs associated with the bidding process on VNEPS.

- The Government shall stipulate the connection and information sharing as prescribed in Clause 6 Article 51 of the Law on Bidding 2023; online bidding techniques which should be suitable for features and development of VNEPS; online bidding procedures and costs; online investor selection roadmap; cases where the bidding is not conducted on VNEPS.

Thus, online investor selection is carried out on the VNEPS according to a specific roadmap including all bidding packages (except for non-bidding cases), investor selection content, costs during the online bidding process...

3. What are the requirements for Vietnam E-Procurement System?

According to the provisions of Article 51 of the Law on Bidding 2023, the Vietnam E-Procurement System needs to ensure the following requirements during the bidding process:

(1) Information published on VNEPS must be made publicly available and accessed without limitation.

(2) Time source of VNEPS shall comply with regulations of law on national standard time source.

(3) VNEPS must be operated in a continuous, uniform, stable and safe manner and is capable of user authentication, and data confidentiality and integrity.

(4) Information on transactions conducted on VNEPS must be sufficiently recorded and can be easily tracked.

(5) VNEPS must be operated in a manner ensuring that bidders/investors cannot send their EOIs, prequalification applications, bids or proposals to procuring entities after deadlines for submission of bids.

(6) Information on contractors/investors may be obtained from the national enterprise registration information system, tax administration information system, budget and treasury management information system and other systems. VNEPS shall be connected with web portals and other information systems for the purposes of sharing data and information used in online bidding and serving state management of bidding activities.

Thus, meeting the above requirements will help the Vietnam E-Procurement System operate effectively, contributing to improving data security, information security for investors, and transparency for bidding activities through the network.

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