The recently issued Decree 63/2014/ND-CP, which has details of the Law on Bidding, is expected to ensure transparency and efficiency, and help avoid any overlap during the bidding process. Director of the Bidding Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment Le Van Tang spoke to Vietnam News Agency about the new bidding regulations.
What are the important points of Decree 63?
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| Le Van Tang |
The Law on Bidding, which came into force on July 1 this year, has innovative ideas compared with the previous law, especially the provision on selecting bidders.
The policy of giving incentives in the bidding participation has caused concern among bidders.
The Decree 63 has detailed the incentives for domestic bidders when they join international bidding processes, together with incentives for the use of local products.
With such incentives, domestic bidders and local products will get priority over foreign bidders and imported products, respectively.
In addition, the ceiling for direct procurement (monetary limits for direct procurement) has been lowered to VND500 million (US$23,500) for consultancy bidding packages and VND1 billion ($47,000) for procurement bidding packages.
The Decree 63 also raises the standards for evaluation of bids, which will help procuring agencies and entities to effectively select contractors appropriate to the demands of each bidding package.
How will the decree help improve the efficiency of the bidding process?
The decree will encourage fair competition in the bidding process.
Earlier, individuals or entities who wanted to participate in procurement proceedings had to buy bid documents from the procuring entities. In some cases, it was very difficult for the bidders to buy documents as the procuring agencies deliberately created difficulties.
The Decree 63 regulates that bid documents which have not purchased from procuring agencies and entities will still be accepted.
This new regulation would help create fair competition in the bidding proceedings.
Do you think that the Law on Bidding and Decree 63 will help remove the overlaps and inconsistencies among relevant regulations?
Earlier, there were bidding regulations in many different laws such as the Law on Construction. However, with the Law on Bidding, this overlap has been removed completely as the relevant entities will comply only with the new law during the bidding proceedings, without referring to any other law.
How will the new regulations on bidding ensure more efficient use of the State's capital?
I am sure that with the Decree 63, the use of the State's capital will be more efficient.
This is because the ceilings on direct procurement in procurement and consultancy bidding packages have been cut from VND5 billion ($235,800) to VND1 billion ($47,000), and from VND3 billion ($141,500) to VND500 million ($23,500), respectively, and for goods bidding packages from VND2 billion to VND1 billion.
Last year, the number of direct procurements was high, though direct procurements were not as economical as the procurements made through bids.
With the ceilings on direct procurement cut, the number of bidding packages will increase. It will help reduce corruption and bribery, and help to boost savings.
The development of e-bidding in the coming years will further boost savings and efficiency.
Regarding projects, I think through bidding, high-quality contractors would be selected at competitive prices, which will certainly enhance efficiency. –— VNS