Contractor selection duration in Vietnam

What is a contractor?

Pursuant to the Law on Bidding 2023, a contractor means an organization or individual or a group of organizations or individuals coming together under a consortium agreement that acts as a bidder, has their name specified in the letter of bid, and will directly sign and execute the contract, if winning the bid.

In case of a consortium, the consortium agreement must clearly state responsibilities of the lead member, joint responsibilities and specific responsibilities of each member of the consortium for the entire scope of the package. During the bidding process, contractors are referred to as “bidders"

Contractor selection duration in Vietnam (Internet image)

Contractor selection duration in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 45 of the Law on Bidding 2023, regulations on contractor selection duration in Vietnam are as follows:

(1) The contractor selection duration shall be subject to the following provisions:

- The minimum period between the first date on which the EOI request or prequalification document is issued and the deadline for submission of bids which is given for bidders to prepare their EOIs or prequalification applications shall be 09 days for domestic bidding or 18 days for international bidding;

- In case of competitive bidding or limited bidding, the minimum period between the first date on which the bidding documents are issued and the deadline for submission of bids which is given for bidders to prepare their bids shall be 18 days for domestic bidding or 35 days for international bidding. In case of a construction or mixed package whose price does not exceed VND 20 billion or a procurement or non-consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 10 billion, this period shall be 09 days for domestic bidding or 18 days for international bidding;

- In case of shopping, the minimum period between the first date on which the bidding documents are issued and the deadline for submission of bids which is given for bidders to prepare their bids shall be 05 days;

- Where a competent person decides to apply the competitive bidding method to the selection of contractor for a package which satisfies the direct contracting requirements laid down in Points a, b and c Clause 1 Article 23 of this Law, the minimum period between the first date on which the bidding documents are issued and the deadline for submission of bids which is given for bidders to prepare their bids shall be 09 days;

- The amendment of bidding documents must be made at least 10 days before the deadline for submission of bids. In case of a construction or mixed package whose price does not exceed VND 20 billion or a procurement or non-consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 10 billion, bidding documents may be amended at least 03 days before the deadline for submission of bids. The amendment of EOI request or prequalification document must be made at least 03 days before the deadline for submission of bids.

(2) EOI request, prequalification document and bidding documents shall be issued as the same time as the invitation for EOIs, invitation for prequalification applications and invitation for bid respectively.

(3) For tasks other than points (1) and (2), the competent person and the investor are responsible for deciding the implementation time on the basis of ensuring the progress of the project and bidding package.

Costs associated with the contractor selection in Vietnam

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 15 of the Law on Bidding 2023, costs associated with the contractor selection include:

- RFP, bidding documents used in domestic bidding, EOI request and prequalification document are issued free of charge on VNEPS;

- Bidding documents used in international bidding shall be issued on VNEPS; bidders shall make payment for purchase of electronic forms of the bidding documents when submitting their bids;

- Employers/procuring entities shall incur costs of publishing bidding information and other costs associated with the contractor selection;

- Bidders shall incur costs of preparing their EOIs, prequalification applications, bids, proposals, and participating in bidding, and settling bidding-related petitions (if any).

Mai Thanh Loi

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