Vietnam: Guidelines for sending and receiving e-documents on the National E-procurement System

According to Article 4 of Circular No. 11/2019/TT-BKHDT of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, e-documents specified in Clause 3, Article 3 of this Circular have their legal validity recognized, serve as a basis for comparison and authentication for assessment, appraisal and supervision as prescribed in Clause 5 Article 85 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government. In case an e-document is created electronically by the procuring entity, bidder, or investor on the System but not made from a paper document, this e-document will be valid as the original.

The sending time and receiving time of the e-document is determined based on the real time recorded on the System. The successfully sent e-documents are stored on the System and not modified by any organization or individual, except for the case specified in Article 15 of this Circular. When users send e-documents on the System, the System must give feedback to the user whether the submission is successful or unsuccessful.

Procuring entities, bidders, investors that successfully registered on the System have the right to access their transaction history, including information about the time, sender, receiver, and status of sent e-documents (successful or unsuccessful) and other information on the System. Information about the transaction history shall be used for resolving any dispute that may arise from delivery and receipt of e-documents on the System.

Notably, the entity in charge of evaluation, appraisal, supervision may not require a paper document when an equivalent e-document may be searched on and exported from the System, unless it is necessary to check and confirm the original document (such as bank guarantee, similar contract, financial statement, sale permit or other any other equivalent document, other necessary documents).

Other provisions can be found in Circular No. 11/2019/TT-BKHDT of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, which takes effect from February 01, 2020.

Thu Ba

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE