New points in the regulations of the Vietnam Bidding Law 2023

Bidding is an important field for many investors. On July 17, the Office of the President officially announced the President’s Order on the Bidding Law passed by the 15th National Assembly at its 5th Session. The Bidding Law 2023 has made extensive changes in the current bidding field. In the following article, Viet An Law will summarize new points in the regulations of the Vietnam Bidding Law 2023.

Important new points of the Vietnam Bidding Law 2023

Regarding the adjustment range

The Bidding Law 2023, although maintaining the same scope of regulation as the 2013 Bidding Law, has two important new points as follows:

Firstly, the law has added regulations to strengthen bidding management in enterprises with investment capital from state-owned enterprises. This is shown through Clause 2 of Article 2 of the Bidding Law 2023. Specifically, in addition to applying to state-owned enterprises according to the provisions of the Enterprise Law, the law has also expanded the scope of application to businesses. Enterprises in which state-owned enterprises hold 100% of charter capital.

Secondly, the law clearly defines the scope of regulation of investor selection activities for business investment projects, including the following cases:

• Investment projects that use land are required to organize bidding according to the provisions of land law;
• Investment projects in various fields and industries must organize bidding to select investors according to the provisions of the law on industry and field management.

These adjustments mark an improvement in efficiency and transparency in bidding management and at the same time create more favorable conditions for state-owned enterprises and business investment projects.

Regarding the form of contractor selection

Firstly, expanding the scope of application of the form of direct contracting to speed up the implementation progress of several important and urgent projects. This helps ensure that important projects can be implemented quickly and efficiently, while also easing bidding procedures for special cases.

Secondly, there is a change in authority. Accordingly, the Minister and Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee have the authority to decide to apply the form of contractor selection in special cases. In addition, for bidding packages related to ensuring national defense and security, the Prime Minister has the authority to decide. This helps ensure that authority is distributed flexibly and effectively, according to the nature and importance of each project, while maintaining oversight and control at all levels of management.

Regarding prohibited acts in bidding activities

The Bidding Law 2023 has supplemented and stipulated in more detail several prohibited behaviors in bidding activities, to ensure transparency and fairness in this process. The most obvious new point is the regulation expanding the scope of bid rigging acts. Specifically, bid rigging includes the following acts:

• Arrange, agree, or force one or more parties to prepare bids or withdraw bids so that one party wins the bid;
• Arrange or agree to refuse to provide goods or services, not sign subcontracts or make other forms of agreement to limit competition so that one party wins the bid;
• Qualified and experienced contractors and investors participated in the bidding and met the requirements of the bidding documents but intentionally did not provide documents to prove their capacity and experience when requested by the bidding party to clarify the bid documents or comparing documents to create conditions for one party to win the bid.

Regarding contractor selection incentives

The Bidding Law 2023 has introduced important measures to promote development and create favorable conditions for businesses producing goods of Vietnamese origin and creative startups.

In particular, the Government has added subjects eligible for incentives in contractor selection, including businesses producing goods of Vietnamese origin and creative start-up businesses. This incentive not only helps ensure better opportunities for businesses to access the market but also lays the foundation for fair competition and building domestic production capacity.

Regarding bidding in the medical field

This law specifically regulates bidding in the health sector to resolve some difficulties and problems in the procurement of drugs, chemicals, testing supplies, and medical equipment. The main points of this regulation include:

Expand the decision-making capacity of public health facilities

• Purchasing drugs outside the list of drugs covered by health insurance: Authorized public health facilities can decide on their own to purchase drugs outside the list of drugs covered by health insurance. This gives medical facilities flexibility in purchasing to meet patient needs.
• Purchasing vaccines for vaccination in the form of services: Public health facilities are allowed to decide on their own to choose contractors to carry out bidding packages for purchasing vaccines for vaccination in the form of services. This helps enhance disease prevention in the community.

Allows appointment of contractors in emergencies and centralized procurement

• Regulations allow the appointment of contractors to purchase drugs and medical equipment in case of patient emergency or to maintain the operation of medical examination and treatment facilities in urgent cases, to ensure life and health. of people.
• Centralized procurement for rare drugs: Rare drugs with low volumes of use will employ centralized procurement to ensure effective access and good cost performance.

Adjustments to chemical procurement and incentives for domestically produced drugs

• Require medical equipment to accompany chemicals: Clear requirement that the contractor must provide medical equipment to use the purchased chemicals (order machine model, loan machine).
• Incentives for domestically produced drugs: The law proposes regulations to ensure patients’ rights to access good quality drugs and encourage businesses to invest in technology and raw materials to produce drugs that meet the high standards needs of domestic consumers.
• Payment of costs for purchasing drugs, chemicals, testing supplies, and equipment from health insurance funds: Specific regulations on payment of costs for purchasing medical products from health insurance funds of institutions’ private medical examination and treatment facilities.

Regarding bidding procedures

Bidding procedures in the Bidding Law 2023 have been simplified to simplify bidding processes and procedures by eliminating some appraisal and approval procedures at the intermediate level. At the same time, regulations are added to allow the pre-deployment of some bidding activities.

Regarding the bidding package price

The Bidding Law 2023 redefines the concept of “bidding package price” in Article 39, instead of just regulating on what basis the bidding package price is determined as prescribed in the Bidding Law 2013. This regulation helps determine the actual price of bidding packages more feasible and accurate, ensuring the rights and interests of relevant parties and serving the management of state agencies.

Above is an article detailing the new points in the regulations of the Vietnam Bidding Law 2023. If you have any difficulties related to this type of contract, please contact Viet An Law Firm to get detailed advice!