Instructions for handling situations in investor selection in Vietnam according to Decree 23/2024

Instructions for handling situations in investor selection in Vietnam according to Decree 23/2024 (Internet image) 

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Instructions for handling situations in investor selection in Vietnam according to Decree 23/2024

(1) On the bid submission deadline, if no investor has submitted the project registration application or bid, the EOI requester or the procuring entity shall report to the competent person to address the situation in either of two ways below:

- Allow extension of deadline for bid submission for up to 30 days;

- Cancel the EOI invitation, notice of invitation to bid, and concurrently request the EOI request and the procuring party to adjust the EOI request, invitation to bid and reorganize the investor selection.

(2) At the bid submission deadline, if there are less than 3 investors who have submitted the project registration applications or bids, the EOI requester or the procuring entity shall report to the competent person within 4 hours from the deadline to address the situation in either of two ways below:

- Allow extension of the bid submission deadline, and review and modify the invitation for EOIs or the Bidding document (if necessary) to increase the number of investors registering to implement the project and participate to bid. In this case, the new deadline for bid submission and corresponding deadlines must be clearly specified so that investors have enough time to amend the project registration application and submit their bids.  In case of modifying the EOI request or the Bidding document, investors who have submitted project registration application or bids have the right to amend, replace or withdraw their previously submitted bids;

- Allow bid opening immediately to conduct evaluation.

(3) In case the Bidding document are discovered to have content that leads to unclear or different interpretations during the bid evaluation process or may distort the investor selection result, the procuring entity shall report the competent person to consider and handle it according to the following steps:

- Modify and clarify the Bidding document, ensuring that it is not contrary to the investment guideline approval decision (if the project is subject to investment guideline approval according to investment laws), project information approval (if the project is not subject to investment guideline approval), and regulations of Law on bidding and special laws;

- Notify all investors who have submitted bids of the modification of the Bidding document and request the investors to submit additional bids for the amended content or other contents of the Bidding document if there is an impact from the modification of the Bidding document (if necessary);

- Organize re-evaluation of bids.

(4) After selecting a short list for an investment project under the limited bidding procedure, if there are less than 03 investors that meet the project's requirements, the procuring entity shall report the competent person to review and approve the short list with less than 3 investors.

(5) After evaluating the bids, if at least investors have the highest and equal aggregate score, then the investor will have the higher score in terms of investment efficiency in developing the industry, field, or locality is considered and recommended to win the bid.

(6) At the time of signing the contract, if the successful investor does not meet the technical and financial capacity requirements to implement the investment project as required by the Bidding document, then invite the next ranked investor to enter into contract negotiation and finalization. If the bid of the investor invited to negotiate and finalize the contract expires and their bid security has been returned or released, they must extend their bid validity period and bid security.

(7) If a joint venture wins a bid but has not signed the project contract yet, or if the contract is signed but not yet in effect, any changes to the equity contribution ratio within the joint venture require the procuring entity to re-evaluate and update investor capacity according to Article 45 of this Decree. This verification, in accordance with Article 45 of this Decree, will ensure each joint venture party meets the minimum equity requirements. After updating capacity information, the procuring entity shall report the competent person to consider carrying out further procedures specified in this Decree.

(8) If the VNEPS system experiences a prolonged downtime requiring extensive troubleshooting, the Ministry of Planning and Investment will issue guidelines on the System itself. These guidelines will outline how to select investors during system downtime, including procedures for offline selection.

(9) If the EOI requester or procuring entity discovers they have posted incorrect information on VNEPS before the bid submission deadline, they must notify the relevant authority to remove the information and post a corrected version.

(10) Beyond the situations outlined in Clauses (1) to (9), the EOI requester or procuring entity may report unforeseen circumstances in investor selection to the competent authority. This report will enable a considered decision that upholds the bidding objectives of competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency, and accountability.

Legal basis: Article 57 of Decree 23/2024/ND-CP.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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