Vietnam's new Circular on online bidding documents

Vietnam's new Circular on online bidding documents

Specifically, Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BKHDT on guidelines on the provision and disclosure of information on contractor selection and forms of bidding documents on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System promulgated by the Minister of Planning and Investment of Vietnam comes into force as of April 26, 2024. 

- From April 26, 2024, Circular No. 01/2024/TT-BKHDT shall be annulled, excluding Form No. 7A and Form No. 7B enclosed with Circular No. 01/2024/TT-BKHDT, which shall be effective until the Circular on guidelines on drug bidding at public health facilities promulgated by the Ministry of Health of Vietnam comes into force. 

- If during the contractor selection, the information shall be kept confidential and cannot be published on the System, the competent person shall decide to publish the information during the contractor selection.

- Regarding a particular package, if the regulations of E-HSMST, E-HSMQT, and E-HSMT forms issued together with Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BKHDT are applied, there are fewer than 3 bidders who meet requirements for average annual revenues or similar contract. In this case, the investor and the procuring entity may adjust these requirements according to the following principles:

+ Adjustments to requirements for average annual revenues and similar contracts that are not consistent with the regulations in E-HSMT, E-HSMQT, and E-HSMT forms shall ensure that the division of packages is reasonable and the scale of packages is not too large to restrict competition;

+ When E-HSMT, E-HSMQT, or E-HSMT is proposed for approval, the procuring entity shall clarify adjustments to E-HSMST, E-HSMQT, or E-HSMT in the proposal for the investor’s consideration;

+ In all cases, the investor shall ensure that the bidders' participation is not restricted; the selected contractors shall have qualifications to implement the packages.

- From April 26, 2024, when preparing bidding documents for offline selection of contractors, the investor and the procuring entity shall use E-HSMT forms enclosed with Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BKHDT in accordance with regulations of the Law on Bidding and Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP.

- Annually, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall provide guidelines on the provision and disclosure of information on bidding on the System in conformity with the Tet and holiday schedule as notified by the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam. 

- Adjustments to web forms on the System shall comply with Point dd Clause 2 Article 135 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP.

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