MANAGEMENT AND USE OF CHARGES IN THE SELECTION OF CONTRACTORS
On 19th April, 2024, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam issues the Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BKHDT on elaborating provision and publishing of information on bidding and selection of contractors on Vietnam National E-Procurement System
A number of important contents is prescribed as follows:
(i) For charge rates:
- The charge for maintaining the name and capacity profile of contractors on the System shall comply with the provisions of Point a, Clause 11, Article 12 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of and measures to implement the Bidding Law regarding contractor selection;
- The charge for maintaining the name and capacity profile of investors on the System is VND 330,000 per year (including value-added tax). Investors shall pay this charge from the second year onwards after registration on the System.
Charge for bid dossier submission on the System shall comply with the provisions of Point b, Clause 11, Article 12 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP.
Charge for bid-winning contractors of bidding packages organized in the form of open bidding, restricted bidding, competitive offer, or online offer according to the standard e-procurement process shall comply with the provisions of Point c, Clause 11, Article 12 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP.
Charge for connecting the electronic bid guarantee function between the System and domestic credit institutions, foreign bank branches established under Vietnamese law, domestic non-life insurance companies, and branches of foreign non-life insurance companies established under Vietnamese law shall comply with the provisions of Point d, Clause 11, Article 12 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP.
(ii) For organization of charge payment
For the charge of maintaining the name and capacity profile of contractors and investors on the System
- Charges shall be paid before April 1 of each year (except for the year of registration on the System); in case the account status of contractors and investors on the System is “suspended for the entire year” (from 1st January to the end of 31st December of that year), contractors and investors are not required to pay such charges. For 2024, the deadline for charge payment is before 1st July, 2024;
- In case the contractor or investor pays the charge for maintaining the name and capacity profile on the System for multiple years (up to 05 years), this charge shall be deducted respectively for each year; during such period, in case the account status of the contractor or investor on the System is “suspended for the entire year” (from January 1 to December 31 of the year of suspension), the remaining charge shall be reserved and automatically deducted for the following years after the account on the System of the contractor or investor is restored;
- In case the contractor is also an investor, it is only required to pay a charge to maintain the name and capacity profile on the System as a contractor.
(iii) For charges for bid dossier submission, the payment deadline is 14 days from the date of bid opening.
(iv) For the charges for winning contractors, the payment deadline is 30 days from the date of posting the contractor selection results on the System.
In case of winning the bid but not signing the contract, the contractor is responsible for notifying the National E-Bidding Center and e-GP project enterprise within 30 days from the date of posting the contractor selection results on the System so that the e-GP project enterprise will refund this charge to the contractor.
This Circular takes effect on the signing date.