Vietnam: Procedures for appraisal of basic design of IT application project funded by the state budget

Procedures for appraisal of basic design of IT application project funded by the state budget (Image from the Internet)

1. What is an "IT application project"?

According to Clause 5, Article 3 of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government (amended by Point c, Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree 82/2024/ND-CP), “IT application project” means a set of activities concerning considering or investing in capital for purchasing or leasing of information technology services, establishing, expanding or upgrading an infrastructure, software or database system for the purpose of development, maintenance and  improvement of  product and service quality and operational efficiency within a certain period of time.

In the preparation phase, an IT application project is presented via a pre-feasibility study report, guidelines proposal report, feasibility study report or economic-technical report.

2. Procedures for appraisal of basic design of IT application project funded by the state budget 

Competence in and procedures for appraisal of basic designs of IT application projects funded by the state budget are specified in Article 20 of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP (amended by Clause 15, Article 1 of Decree 82/2024/ND-CP) as follows:

- The Ministry of Information and Communications shall appraise basic designs of group A projects, excluding projects for procurement of backup or substitute hardware devices of current infrastructure systems, or procurement of non-installed equipment and commercial software.

- The specialized information technology unit under the Provincial People's Committee appraises the basic design for projects decided by the Chairman of the People's Committees at all levels, except for projects with basic designs under the appraisal authority of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

- Units specializing in information technology affiliated to provincial People's Committees shall appraise basic designs of projects whose investment is decided by chairpersons of People’s Committees at all levels, excluding projects whose basic designs are appraised by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

- Units specializing in information technology affiliated to investment decision makers shall appraise basic designs of projects, excluding those whose basic designs are appraised by the Ministry of Information and Communications or within the appraisal competence prescribed in Clause 2 Article 20 of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP (amended by Clause 15, Article 1 of Decree 82/2024/ND-CP).

- In case a unit that appraises a basic design is also an investment project owner, such unit shall establish an appraisal council to appraise the basic design or the investment decision maker shall assign another specialized unit to appraise the basic design.

- The appraisal council or body specializing in investment management shall appraise projects according to regulations of the Law on Public Investment 2019 of Vietnam and:

+ Submit the basic design dossier to the competent units prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 Article 20 of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP (amended by Clause 15, Article 1 of Decree 82/2024/ND-CP) to obtain comments on such basic design (except cases where the investment project owner is also the unit that appraises the basic design);

+ Obtain comments from relevant bodies and units (if necessary).

- The units that appraise basic designs prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 Article 20 of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP (amended by Clause 15, Article 1 of Decree 82/2024/ND-CP) shall send the appraisal comments to the units in charge of organizing project appraisal.

Vo Tan Dai

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