The Public Procurement Agency, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, will take measures to double the number of online bidding this year.

The agency will apply online bidding for procurement packages of goods purchases and construction funded by the Asia Development Bank and World Bank, provide bidding information on mobile devices, and select investors to build a national bidding network under the public-private partnership model (PPP).

Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, deputy director of the Public Procurement Agency, said online bidding had proved to be the most effective tool to ensure that the bidding was competitive, fair, transparent and economical, contributing to the reform of administrative procedures in the process of selecting contractors.

"Online bidding not only shortens the time and reduces costs for bid solicitors and tenders, but also prevents swindling," she said.

According to statistics from the National Online Bidding Centre, the number of packages that applied online bidding in 2017 was 8,200, more than double that in 2016, marking a total value of VND9 trillion (US$395.51 million). The online auction saving rate was 9 per cent compared with normal auctions.

Director of the National Online Bidding Centre Nguyen Thy Hung said the ministry’s Circular No. 04/2017/TT-BKHDT, dated November 15, 2017, was the first legal document providing updated convenience to create favourable conditions for bidding packages of goods purchase, non-consultancy biddings and small-scale construction projects.

The Circular 04, which will come into effect on March 1, details the selection of contractors through the national bidding network for bidding packages of consultancy, non-consultancy, goods procurement and construction and installation services. It will be applied in the way of open and competitive bidding but not to the tender packages that are divided into many parts. — VNS