What is the definition of construction project maintenance? What are procedures for construction project maintenance in Vietnam?

What is the definition of construction project maintenance?

Pursuant to Clause 13, Article 2 of the Decree 06/2021/ND-CP stipulating definition of the above term as follows: 

Construction project maintenance means a combination of activities aimed at assuring and maintaining the normal and safe operation of a construction project in compliance with design requirements during the process of using and operating that construction project. Construction project maintenance may include one, some or all of the following activities: examination, observation, quality inspection, maintenance and repair of the construction project; addition and replacement of a construction work and equipment to ensure safety for the operation and use of the construction project, but does not include activities that alter the function or scale of the construction project.

What are procedures for construction project maintenance in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 31 of the Decree 06/2021/ND-CP stipulating procedures for construction project maintenance in Vietnam as follows: 

- Subject matters of maintenance of construction works, including:

+ Technical specifications, technology of the construction project, constituent and construction equipment;

+ Regulations on the object, method and frequency of construction inspection;

+ Regulations on contents of and instructions on maintenance of the work in accordance with each construction constituent, type of work and equipment installed in the work;

+ Regulations on the time of and directions for the periodic replacement of equipment installed in the construction work;

+ Directions for the method of repair of the damaged construction works, handling of the degraded construction works;

+ Regulations on the useful life of the construction work, project constituents, construction items and equipment installed in the construction work;

+ Regulations on the contents, method and time of the initial assessment and frequency rate of assessment of construction works subject to the safety assessment in the course of use and operation in accordance with applicable technical regulations and standards and provisions of relevant laws;

+ Determining the time, subject matters and contents of the periodic inspection;

+ Regulations on the time, method and cycle of observation of the construction works subject to the observation requirements;

+ Regulations on construction maintenance records and information updating for construction maintenance records and documents;

+ Other instructions related to the maintenance of construction works and regulations on the conditions to ensure conformance occupational safety and environmental hygiene requirements during the maintenance of construction works.

- Responsibilities for establishment and approval of construction maintenance procedures: 

+ The construction design contractor formulates and hands over to the investor the construction maintenance process, construction constituents together with design documents deployed after the initial design stage; updates the maintenance process to suit the design changes in the construction process (if any) before the construction item or construction work is tested before being put to use;

+ The contractor supplying equipment to be installed in the construction project prepares and hands over to the investor the maintenance process for the equipment that they supply before installation thereof at the construction project;

+ In case where the construction design contractor or the equipment supply contractor cannot establish the maintenance process, the investor may hire another qualified consultant to develop the maintenance procedures for the project for those specified at Points a and b of this Clause and shall be responsible for paying consulting costs;

+ The investor undertakes the preparation and approval of the maintenance procedures according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 1, Article 126 of the Law No. 50/2014/QH13 amended and supplemented at Point a, Clause 47, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14. The investor, the owner or the manager or the user of the construction work may hire a qualified consultant to assess a part or the whole of the construction maintenance procedures designed by the design contractor as a basis to seek approval.

- For construction works which have been put into operation or in use, if there is no maintenance procedures, the owners or the managers or the users of such works shall formulate and approve the construction maintenance procedures, possibly undertaking construction inspection as a basis for establishing maintenance procedures for them if necessary. In the maintenance procedures, the remaining useful life of each construction work, project constituent, item and equipment installed at the construction work must be clearly identified.

+ It shall not be mandatory to establish the separate maintenance procedures for each grade-III or lower-grade construction work, detached house and temporary construction work, unless otherwise prescribed by law. The owners or the managers or the users of these construction works shall be responsible for maintaining them in accordance with regulations on maintenance of construction works laid down herein.

+ In case there are standards for maintenance or the similar maintenance procedures for construction works, the owners or the managers or the users of such works can apply them to the works without needing to set up the separate maintenance procedures.

- Adjustment in the procedures for maintenance of construction works:

+ The owner or the manager or the user of a construction work is entitled to adjust the maintenance procedures when detecting unreasonable factors that may affect the quality of the work, causing impacts on the operation and use of the work, and shall be responsible for their decision;

+ The contractor formulating the maintenance procedures is obliged to modify, supplement or change irrational contents of the maintenance procedures if such irrationality is caused through his fault, and has the right to refuse any unreasonable request for adjustment of the maintenance procedures from the owner or the managers or the user of the construction work;

+ The owner or the manager or the user of the construction work has the right to hire another qualified contractor who is capable of modifying or supplementing the maintenance procedures in case the contractor formulating the initial maintenance procedures fail to do so. The contractor modifying or supplementing the construction maintenance procedures must be responsible for the quality of the work that they perform;

+ As for construction works where maintenance technical standards are used for performing maintenance work, if these standards are modified or replaced, the owner or the manager or the user of the construction work shall be responsible for performing the maintenance work according to the updated maintenance procedures;

+ The owner or the manager or the user of the construction work shall be responsible for approving the adjustments of the maintenance procedures, unless otherwise prescribed by law.

Best regards!