Regulations on inspection and supervision of bidding in Vietnam

Regulations on inspection and supervision of bidding in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is bidding?

According to Clause 12, Article 4 of the Law on Procurement 2013 (amended in the Law on Public – Private Partnership Investment 2020) as follows:

Bidding refers to the process of selecting a contractor to enter into and execute a contract for the provision of consulting services, non-consulting services, procurement of goods or construction; selecting investors to sign and execute investment contracts for execution of projects where land is used on the basis of ensuring competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency.

2. Regulations on inspection of bidding in Vietnam

The inspection of bidding according to Article 125 of Decree 63/2014/ND-CP is as follows:

(1) The bidding shall be inspected periodically or irregularly at the request of the Prime Minister, Presidents of the People’s Committees of provinces, competent persons of the inspecting authorities in charge of bidding in accordance with the regulations in (2). Methods of inspection can be direct inspection or report.

(2) The Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level authorities, Governmental authorities, other central authorities, Presidents of the People’s Committees of provinces; Directors of the provincial Departments of Planning and Investment, Heads of Departments under the management of the People’s Committees of provinces; Presidents of the People’s Committees of districts; Chiefs of state-owned enterprises shall direct the inspection of bidding of the units under their management and the projects approved by themselves to administer the bidding in order to enhance the progress and effectiveness of the bidding and detect, prevent and deal with the violations against the law on bidding.

(3) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take charge and inspect the bidding across Vietnam; the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level authorities, Governmental authorities, other central authorities; the People’s Committees of provinces; the provincial Departments of Planning and Investment and departments under the management of the People’s Committees of provinces and the People's Committees of districts; the state-owned enterprises shall take charge and inspect the bidding as required by the competent persons of the inspecting authorities in charge of bidding.

The provincial Departments of Planning and Investment shall assist the People’s Committees of provinces in taking charge and conducting local inspection of bidding.

(4) Inspection of bidding including periodic inspection and surprise inspection.

- A periodic inspection involves:

+ Inspecting the issuance of guiding documents on bidding, and division of responsibility for bidding;

+ Inspecting the training in bidding;

+ Inspecting the issuance of the Training certificates of bidding; practice certificates of bidding;

+ Inspecting the formulation of and approval for the plan to select the contractors, EOI request, invitation for prequalification, invitation for bid, request for proposals, result of the selection of the contractors;

+ Inspecting the contract and the adherence to the legal grounds for the signing and execution of the contract;

+ Inspecting the procedures for and progress of the execution of the contract according to the approved plan to select the contractors;

+ Inspecting the report on the bidding;

+ Inspecting the inspection and supervision of the bidding.

- According to each request for surprise inspection, and Decision on inspection, the chief inspector shall regulate the suitable inspection activities.

(5) There must be inspection report and conclusion after each inspection ends. The inspecting authorities shall monitor the handling of the problems (if any) mentioned in the inspection conclusion.

In case of any violation, it is required to impose the handling measures or send a report to the inspecting authorities for consideration.

(6) An inspection conclusion includes:

- The bidding at the inspected unit;

- Inspected contents;

- Comments;

- Conclusion;

- Recommendations.

3. Regulations on supervision of bidding in Vietnam

Article 126 of Decree 63/2014/ND-CP stipulates the supervision of bidding as follows:

(1) The competent persons shall appoint the regulatory individuals or bodies in charge of bidding to supervise the execution of the investors, procuring entities during the selection of the contractors to endure the adherence to the regulations of the law on bidding.

(2) The competent persons shall decide and direct the supervision of the bidding regarding the contracts of the projects and budget estimates approved by themselves if necessary; supervise the sole source contracts, high value contracts of which the investors and procuring entities posing questions.

(3) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take charge and supervise the bidding regarding the projects within the competence of the Prime Minister or at the request of the Prime Minister. The Ministries, ministerial-level authorities, Governmental authorities, other central authorities, units assigned to administer the bidding under the management of such authorities shall take charge and supervise the bidding in case the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level authorities, Governmental authorities, and other central authorities are the competent persons. The provincial Departments of Planning and Investment shall take charge and supervise the bidding regarding the local projects.

(4) A supervision of the compliance of the bidding with the regulations of the law on bidding involves supervising:

- The compilation of invitation for bid, request for proposals (when preparing for the selection the contractor);

- The release of the invitation for bid, request for proposals (when selecting the contractor);

- The result of the evaluation of the bid-envelope, proposals, negotiation of the contract (when assessing the bid-envelope and proposals);

- The assessment of and approval for the selection of the contractor;

- The process of the completion of the contract, contents of the contract and the adherence to the legal grounds for the signing and execution of the contract (when completing and signing the contract)

(5) Methods of supervision of bidding:

- The competent persons shall send written requests to the investors and procuring entities regarding the contracts needing supervising;

- The procuring entities shall send the names and addresses of the supervising entities to the contractors having the invitations for bid and the proposals;

- The procuring entities shall provide the information about the selection of the contractors for the supervising entities on receiving written requests;

- The supervising entities in charge of bidding shall send written reports on the violations against the law on bidding to the competent persons for consideration to ensure the effectiveness of the selection of the contractors.

(6) Responsibilities of every supervising entity in charge of bidding:

- Stay honest and impartial; do not harass the investors and procuring entities during the supervision;

- Request the investors and procuring entities to provide relevant information and documents which facilitate the supervision;

- Receive the reflections of the contractors and other entities related to the selection of contractors on the supervised contracts;

- Protect the information under the regulations;

- Fulfill other obligations under the regulations of the law on bidding and other law provisions.

Quoc Dat

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