Law on Bidding 2023 taking effect on January 1, 2024 in Vietnam

Below are some notable regulations in the Law on Bidding 2023:

Subjects eligible for incentives in contractor selection in Vietnam

- Originating goods of Vietnam;

- Eco-friendly products and services as prescribed by the Law on environmental protection;

- Domestic bidders that produce originating goods of Vietnam meeting the requirements laid down in bidding documents;

- Foreign bidders and domestic bidders coming together under a consortium agreement in which the domestic bidders take charge of at least 25% of total value of tasks of the package;

- A domestic bidder that submits a bid as an independent bidder or forms a consortium with other domestic bidders to participate in an international bidding;

- Bidders that are microenterprises or small enterprises as prescribed in the Law on assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises;

- Bidders that are startups as prescribed by laws;

- A bidder that employs the number of female workers, wounded soldiers and people with disabilities, or ethnics, each accounting for at least 25% of their total employees.

Incentives in contractor selection in Vietnam

- In case where bidders are equally evaluated, the bidder eligible for incentives (eligible bidder) shall be ranked higher than those ineligible for incentives (ineligible bidder);

- Extra points shall be given to the eligible bidder in case bidders are evaluated and ranked adopting the fixed-price method, technical-based evaluation method, or combined technical and price method;

- An amount of money shall be added to the bid price or evaluated price of the ineligible bidder in case bidders are evaluated and ranked adopting the lowest-price method or lowest-evaluated price method;

- Evaluation of capacity, experience and other criteria of eligible bidders shall be given priority during the evaluation of bids;

- Bidders that are microenterprises or small enterprises shall be given priority in bidding for construction packages whose price does not exceed VND 05 billion. Upon completion of the bidding process, if none of microenterprises and small enterprises meets the requirements of the package, a new bidding process shall be organized with the participation of other enterprises.

Investors eligible for incentives in investor selection in Vietnam

- Investors that apply technological solutions for reducing environmental pollution to their projects which pose high risk of adverse environmental impacts as prescribed by the Law on environmental protection;

- Investors that commit to make transfer of technologies included in the List of priority high technologies as prescribed by the Law on high technologies or the List of technologies of which the transfer is encouraged as prescribed by the Law on technology transfer.

Incentives in investor selection in Vietnam

- In case where investors are equally evaluated, the investor eligible for incentives shall be ranked higher than those ineligible for incentives;

- Extra points shall be given to eligible investors during evaluation and ranking of their bids.

The bid security to be forfeited in Vietnam

- After the deadline for submission of bids and during the validity period of the bid, the bidder or investor withdraws their bid or gives a written refusal to perform one or some tasks proposed in their bid in accordance with the requirements laid down in the bidding documents;

- The bidder or investor performs any of the prohibited acts specified in Article 16 of the Law on Bidding 2023 or commits violations of the bidding law resulting in bid cancellation as prescribed in Points d, dd Clause 1, Points d, dd Clause 2 Article 17 of the Law on Bidding 2023;

- The successful bidder or investor fails to furnish the required performance security as prescribed in Article 68 and Article 75 of the Law on Bidding 2023;

- The successful bidder fails or refuses to negotiate the contract (if any) within 05 working days in case of domestic bidding, or within 10 working days in case of international bidding, from the receipt of the invitation for contract negotiation, or, after the contract negotiation has been carried out, refuses to complete the contract and sign the contract negotiation record, except force majeure events;

- The successful bidder fails or refuses to carry out the completion of contract or framework agreement within 10 days, in case of domestic bidding, or within 20 days in case of international bidding, from the receipt of the notice of acceptance from the procuring entity, except force majeure events;

- The successful bidder fails or refuses to sign the contract or framework agreement within 10 days, in case of domestic bidding, or within 20 days in case of international bidding, from the date of completion of that contract or framework agreement, except force majeure events;

- The successful investor fails or refuses to carry out the completion of contract within 15 days, in case of domestic bidding, or within 30 days in case of international bidding, from the receipt of the notice of acceptance from the procuring entity, except force majeure events;

- The successful investor fails or refuses to sign the contract within 15 days, in case of domestic bidding, or within 30 days in case of international bidding, from the date of completion of that contract, except force majeure events.

Mai Thanh Loi

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