According to Ms. Trinh Thi Trang, refer to Clause 3, Article 2 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP dated June 26, 2014 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Bidding regarding contractor selection:

"3. Consulting contractors may participate in providing one or more consulting services for the same project or bidding package, including: Preparation of pre-feasibility study reports, feasibility study reports, technical design documents, construction drawing design documents, supervision consultancy".

Ms. Trang asked, if the consulting contractor that prepares the project investment policy proposal is concurrently a consulting contractor to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the project, is it allowed to fall under the circumstances specified above? Is there a violation of other provisions of the law on bidding on guarantee of competition in bidding?

The Ministry of Planning and Investment responded to this issue as follows:

According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 2 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP of the Government, a consulting contractor may participate in providing one or more consulting services for the same project, the bidding package includes: Prepare pre-feasibility study report, make feasibility study report, make technical design dossier, make construction drawing design dossier, supervision consultant.

According to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 6 of the Bidding Law, the participating contractors must be legally and financially independent from the consulting contractors for making, verifying and appraising design and cost estimates; elaboration, appraisal of bidding documents, dossiers of requirements; evaluation of bids and proposals; evaluate the results of contractor selection for that bidding package.

At Point d, Clause 4, Article 2 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP stipulating that the contractor participating in the bid and the consulting contractor for that bidding package do not have each other's shares or contributed capital; do not share shares or contributed capital of more than 20% of another organization or individual with each party.

Accordingly, ensuring competition in bidding complies with the above regulations.