The detailed regulations on a number of articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law on contractor selection

On 27/2/2024, the Government has just issued Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law on contractor selection.

The Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP specifically regulates the costs in contractor selection. In particular, the costs of preparing and appraising documents are as follows:

The cost of preparing the request for expression of interest and prequalification documents is calculated at 0.1% of the bidding package price but the minimum is 2 million VND and the maximum is 30 million VND;

The cost of evaluating the request for expression of interest and pre-qualification documents is calculated at 0.06% of the bidding package price but the minimum is 2 million VND and the maximum is 30 million VND;

The cost of preparing bidding documents and request documents is calculated at 0.2% of the bidding package price but the minimum is 3 million VND and the maximum is 60 million VND;

The cost of evaluating bidding documents and request documents is calculated at 0.1% of the bidding package price but the minimum is 2 million VND and the maximum is 60 million VND.

The cost of appraising the contractor selection results, including the case of not being able to select a contractor, is calculated at 0.1% of the bidding package price but the minimum is 3 million VND and the maximum is 60 million VND.

For the bidding packages with similar content belonging to the same project, the procurement estimates of the same investor or bidding packages that require reorganization of contractor selection, the costs of: preparation and appraisal of interest invitation documents, pre-qualification documents; preparation and appraisal of bidding documents and request documents are calculated at a maximum of 50% of the prescribed cost; in case it is necessary to re-bid a part of the bidding package (for a divided bidding package), the maximum cost shall be 50% of the cost according to the estimated value of the re-bidding portion.

In case of reorganizing the contractor selection, the cost of contractor selection must be calculated and added to the project and procurement estimate in accordance with the reality of the bidding package. In case of international bidding, document translation cost is calculated in accordance with market prices, ensuring the effectiveness of the bidding package.

The expenses for the Advisory Council to resolve the contractor's recommendations

The Decree also stipulates that the cost for the Advisory Council to resolve the contractor's petition regarding the contractor selection results is calculated as a percentage of the bidding price of the contractor making the petition as follows:

Bid price under 50 billion VND, the rate is 0.03% but the minimum is 5 million VND;

Bid price from 50 billion VND to less than 100 billion VND, the rate is 0.025% but the minimum is 15 million VND;

Bid price from 100 billion VND to less than 200 billion VND, the rate is 0.02% but the minimum is 25 million VND;

Bid price from 200 billion VND or more, the rate is 0.015% but the minimum is 40 million VND and the maximum is 60 million VND.

Regarding the reimbursement of costs for resolving petitions: In case the contractor's proposal is concluded to be correct, the organizations and individuals involved are responsible for paying the contractor with the request of an amount equal to the cost of resolving the petition that the contractor has submitted.

In case the contractor's petition is concluded to be incorrect, the contractor will not be reimbursed for the cost of resolving the petition.

The Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP regulates the capacity and experience conditions for expert groups and appraisal teams.

1. Members of the expert group and appraisal team must meet the following requirements: Have a professional certificate in bidding, except for the cases specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article; graduated from university or higher; have full civil act capacity according to the provisions of law; not being prosecuted for criminal liability; have at least 03 years of work in one of the fields related to the legal, technical, financial content of the bidding package: have experience or implement technical-related content stated in the interest invitation documents, pre-qualification documents, bidding documents, request documents or financial or legal work.

2. Individuals who evaluate the overall contractor selection plan and contractor selection plan according to assigned tasks (not including bidding consultants) are not required to have a professional certificate in bidding.

3. In case the opinion of specialized experts is needed, these experts are not required to have a professional certificate in bidding.

4. For the medical field, in case the investor does not have personnel who meet the requirements specified in Clause 1 of this Article, then select a consulting contractor to act as an expert team or appraisal team. In case a consulting contractor cannot be selected, the investor has the right to mobilize and assign work to personnel such as doctors, pharmacists, managers or invite officials from the Department of Health and the Ministry of Health and experts in the medical field participating in expert groups and appraisal teams without having to meet the regulations in Points a and b, Clause 1 of this Article. The organization of contractor selection must meet the goals of bidding work which are competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency and accountability.

The Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP also solves problems in medical bidding, specifically: detailing the order and procedures for selecting contractors on the basis of continuing to promote decentralization and delegation of authority for investors; cutting time and costs for organizing contractor selection; continuing to enhance the application of information technology - online bidding to improve openness, transparency, and economic efficiency.

The Decree 24 clearly stipulates the bidding packages that can be appointed in cases of urgency, patient care, and disease prevention and control to ensure that hospitals can immediately purchase drugs to serve their work without going through time-consuming bidding procedures.

The Decree 24 has added regulations allowing the selection of more than one winning contractor so that if the first ranked contractor is no longer able to provide, the investor can immediately sign a contract with the next ranked contractor. The investor is invited to bid in a way that allows contractors to offer quantities according to their supply capacity without necessarily having to offer the exact quantity of drugs stated in the bidding documents.

In case drugs are on the list of centralized procurement but have not yet organized bidding or have been bid but have not selected a contractor or the previously signed framework agreement expires, the hospital may purchase according to the notice of the unit that is assigned the task of centralized procurement to meet usage needs for a maximum period of 12 months and is paid by the health insurance fund according to the contract price.

In addition, in case the contractor has won the bid (including the winning bid for the centralized bidding package) but during the contract implementation process it cannot continue to provide drugs, the hospital is allowed to appoint another contractor to carry out the remaining work of the bidding package without limiting the bidding appointment limit.

Regarding determining the price of bidding packages, the Decree 24 stipulates that collecting quotations is one of seven bases for determining bidding package prices. Particularly in the medical field, in case there is more than one quotation, the investor can choose the highest quotation suitable to their financial capacity and professional requirements to price the bidding package; for other fields, the average value of the quotations can only be taken as the bidding package price.

The Decree 24 also stipulates that in case the investor does not have personnel who meet the requirements or cannot select a consulting contractor to act as an expert group or appraisal team, it has the right to mobilize and assign work to personnel who are doctors, pharmacists, managers or invite officials from the Department of Health, the Ministry of Health and experts in the medical field to join expert groups and appraisal teams to carry out procurement activities.

The Decree 24 specifically stipulates the responsibilities of the Ministry of Health in issuing sample dossiers for contractor selection for drugs; the guidance on principles, criteria, and synthesis of needs to create a list of drugs for centralized procurement; the time limit for synthesizing the list, time for promulgating the list; expected time to organize contractor selection, expected time to publicize information on framework agreements and contracts in centralized procurement.