From April 27, 2023, do drug bidding packages for public health facilities to select offline bidding not allow to use form of bid security by letter of guarantee of foreign bank branches in Vietnam?
Can I not use the guarantee for bidding for drugs in public medical facilities by the guarantee letter of foreign bank branches for the selection of offline bidding in Vietnam? - Question from Van Bao.
From April 27, 2023, do drug bidding packages for public health facilities to select offline bidding not allow to use form of bid security by letter of guarantee of foreign bank branches in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 30 of Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT as amended by Clause 20, Article 1 of Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT stipulating the form of bid security as follows:
3. Forms of bid security:
Bidders shall furnish bid security by the bid closing date (except the case in Point c of this Clause) in one of the following forms:
a) In case of online bidding, bidders shall furnish bid security in the form of letters of guarantee issued banks or credit institution lawfully operating in Vietnam.
b) In case of offline bidding, bid security may be furnished in one of the following forms:
- Deposit;
- Collateral; or
- Letter of guarantee issued by a bank or credit institution lawfully operating in Vietnam.
c) For a contract package requiring a bid security of less than VND 10 million, bidders must not furnish the bid security before the bid closing date. In this case, the bidder is required to undertake that it will pay an amount of money as prescribed in the bidding documents or request for proposals if it refuses or fails to enter into contract negotiation as requested or it commits violations against regulations of law on bidding resulting in forfeiture of bid security. The violating bidder shall have its name published on the System and have its user account locked for 06 months from the day on which the Public Procurement Agency or Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam receives the written request from the procuring entity.
4. The procuring entity shall specify the validity period of request for proposals or bids which shall not exceed 180 days from the bid closing time.
Where necessary, the validity period of bids/proposals may be extended as long as the drug supply schedule is met. Each contractor shall submit 02 sets of the bid/proposal (01 original and 01 copy) to the procuring entity before the bid closing time.
As such, from April 27, 2023, for bidding packages applying offline bidding selection, bidders are not allowed to use the form of bid security by guarantee letter of foreign bank branch in Vietnam. Bidders may only choose one of the following forms of bid security:
- Deposit;
- Collateral;
- Letter of guarantee issued by a bank or credit institution lawfully operating in Vietnam.
What is basis for making contractor selection plan of drug suppliers at public health facilities in Vietnam?
According to Article 13 of Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT as amended by Clause 12, Article 1 of Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT stipulates as follows:
1. The contractor selection plan is made annually or whenever necessary on the following bases:
a) State budget:
Funding of drug procurement from state budget shall be annually provided by a competent authority. If funding has not been provided, the plan shall be made according to the procurement and use of drugs funded by state budget in the preceding year and the anticipated demand for drugs in the current year;
b) Funding from health insurance fund and revenues from provision of medical examination and treatment services:
Procurement and use of drugs covered by funding from the health insurance fund and revenues from provision of medical examination and treatment services in the preceding year and anticipated demand for drugs in the current year of the relevant health facility.
c) For drugs covered by other sources of income of the health facility: the plan shall be made according to the procurement and use of drugs covered by other sources of income in the preceding year and anticipated demand for drugs in the planning year of the health facility.
2. If the health facility has selected a contractor and signed a contract but the demand for a drug exceeds the contractual quantity by 20%, such health facility shall make a plan for selection of additional contractor to satisfy its demand.
Pursuant to the above provisions, basis for making contractor selection plan of drug suppliers at public health facilities in Vietnam includes:
+) State budget source
+) Funding from health insurance fund and revenues from provision of medical examination and treatment services
+) For drugs covered by other sources of income of the health facility
If there is no bidder that meets the requirements stated in the bidding documents for drugs at public health facilities, what is bid solicitor's handling for such drugs in Vietnam?
In Clause 5, Article 35 of Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT, as amended by Clause 23, Article 1 of Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT, there are regulations on approving and notifying contractor selection result as follows:
1. Within 10 working days (up to 05 working days for small contract packages) from the receipt of the sufficient application for approval for contractor selection result of the appraising unit specified in Clause 3 Article 34 of this Circular, the head of the health facility shall consider approving the result.
2. When the contractor selection result is approved, the procuring entity shall send a written notification of the contractor selection result to contractors in accordance with regulations of law on bidding.
3. The notifications sent to unsuccessful contractors shall provide explanation for their failure.
4. If the contract package is divided into smaller parts and the time for bid evaluation might affect the drug supply schedule of the health facility, the head of the health facility may consider approving the contractor selection result of one or some parts in several stages to keep the drug supply schedule unchanged.
5. If one or several parts of a contract package does not receive any bids or there is no bidder satisfying the requirements laid down in the bidding documents or request for proposals or none of the options specified in Clause 3 Article 32 of this Circular is viable, the procuring entity shall separate such part(s) into separate contract package(s) and request the competent officer or authorized entity to consider approving the adjusted drug supplier selection plan. The drug supplier selection for the remaining parts of the contract package shall continue to be carried out in accordance with regulations.
According to this Article, in case there is no contractor that meets the requirements stated in the bidding documents for drugs at public health facilities, the bid solicitor shall separate such drugs into separate bidding packages for submission to the competent person or authorized unit to approve and adjust the contractor selection plan in Vietnam.
The selection of contractors for the sections with the participation of contractors and evaluation of technical requirements are still carried out according to regulations in Vietnam.
Best Regards!
