Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (now the Ministry of Finance) has the following opinion:

In Clause 4, Article 16 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP dated February 27, 2024 of the Government, it is stipulated that for the selection of contractors in the procurement budget, the investor must state the following contents in the document submitting the contractor selection plan:

"a) The state budget estimate approved by the competent authority according to the budget year or the expected budget estimate granted in the case of procurement for the following year or procurement for many years; expected legal financial sources in the fiscal year or expected legal financial sources for the following years in the case of procurement for the following year or procurement for many years;

b) The value of the procurement work performed in the fiscal year or budget year;

c) The portion of the budget not used for procurement;

d) The procurement budget is determined by the budget specified in Point a of this Clause minus the budget specified in Point b and Point c of this Clause. The investor does not have to appraise and approve the procurement budget.

In case the investor has available budget for procurement in the budget year or fiscal year and does not use the expected revenue in the year, it is not required to determine the procurement budget according to the provisions in this Clause. In this case, the procurement budget is the available budget used for procurement in the budget year or fiscal year".

Accordingly, the investor does not have to appraise and approve the procurement budget or decide on procurement.

The determination of the procurement estimate is incorporated into the submission when approving the contractor selection plan according to the instructions in Form No. 2A of the Contractor Selection Plan Submission Form issued with Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BKHĐT dated April 26, 2024 of the Minister of Planning and Investment.

In addition, Ms. Lan should note that the procurement estimate is a term specified in Clause 7, Article 4 of the Law on Bidding, not a bid package estimate (not a detailed estimate for each bid package), not an estimate for additional purchase volume.

The bid package estimate specified in Point a, Clause 2, Article 16 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP is only applicable in cases where the law stipulates the preparation of estimates or provides guidance on norms and unit prices.