Also in June 2023, Mr. Thuyen's company continued to sign a contract with the same investor to implement the consulting package of preparing bidding documents and evaluating bidding documents for the same bidding package in the form of shortened bidding.

To carry out these tasks, the company established an expert team consisting of 01 person with sufficient capacity according to regulations.

During the implementation process, the inspection team commented that the company's simultaneous implementation of project management consulting and consulting on preparing bidding documents and evaluating bidding documents was not in accordance with the provisions of the 2013 Bidding Law.

Mr. Thuyen asked whether the company's simultaneous implementation of two consulting packages (project management and preparing bidding documents, evaluating bidding documents) for the same project was in accordance with legal regulations or not?

Does the establishment of an expert team consisting of only 1 person with sufficient capacity meet legal requirements or not?

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Finance has the following comments:

Clause 1, Article 5 of the 2013 Law on Bidding stipulates that a contractor is an organization with valid status when it meets the following conditions:

"a) Having a registration for establishment and operation issued by a competent authority of the country in which the contractor is operating;

b) Independent financial accounting;

c) Not in the process of dissolution; not being concluded to be in a state of bankruptcy or insolvent debt according to the provisions of law;

d) Having registered on the National Bidding Network;

đ) Ensuring competition in bidding according to the provisions of Article 6 of this Law;

e) Not being in the period of being banned from participating in bidding;

g) Having a name on the short list in cases where the short list has been selected;

h) Must form a joint venture with a domestic contractor or use a domestic subcontractor for a foreign contractor when participating in international bidding in Vietnam Vietnam, except in cases where domestic contractors are not qualified to participate in any part of the bidding package".

At Point b, Clause 1, Article 55 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP, it is stipulated that contractors are identified to receive request documents when they have valid qualifications as prescribed in Points a, b, c, d, e and h, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Law on Bidding and have sufficient capacity and experience to implement the bidding package.

Based on the above provisions, in case the bidding package is implemented in the form of designated bidding, contractors are identified to receive request documents (for normal designated bidding) or contractors are invited to negotiate contracts (for shortened designated bidding) when they meet the provisions at Point b, Clause 1, Article 55 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP (not having to meet the provisions at Point d, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Law on Bidding 2013).

Regarding the expert team members, according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 116 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP, depending on the nature and complexity of the bid package, the expert team members include experts in the fields of engineering, finance, commerce, administration, law and related fields.

Accordingly, the investor needs to base on the scale and nature of the bid package to determine the appropriate composition of the expert team according to the above provisions. 

In addition, the conditions for individuals participating in bidding activities are implemented according to the provisions of Article 16 of the Bidding Law 2013.