In the content of the bid as well as the contract signed with the investor, Van Don D & T Joint Stock Company (in Quang Ninh Province) will provide model A products, manufactured from 2017 back here. However, when placing an order, the Company knows that model A products have ceased production from July 24, 2018.

Model A + is the next generation of model A with more advanced features and still meets the technical requirements of model A. The manufacturer has written a confirmation of this. In addition, the inventory of model A from 2017 and earlier is not enough to implement the bidding package. Therefore, the Company cannot provide goods in accordance with the signed contract.

Through the receiving and responding system to recommendations of businesses, The Van Don D & T Joint Stock Company would like to ask , the company proposed to the investor to check and confirm the above information, from which there was a basis for signing the contract appendix about changing product models, is it against the law?

Regarding this issue, The Ministry of Planning and Investment has the following opinions

Clause 32, Article 4 and Clause 3, Article 65 of the Bidding Law stipulates that Contract means the document signed between the investor and the selected contractor in implementation of bidding package under project; Contract signed between parties must conform to content in bid invitation dossier, dossier of requirements, bidding dossier, dossier of proposals, result of contractual negotiation, and decision on approving result of contractor selection.

According to the content of the written question, after signing the contract, the contractor has made a written request to change model A of the goods to model A + in the signed contract on the grounds that the manufacturer no longer produces this type of goods. In this case, the investor must verify whether the incident is as explained by the contractor or not, the production stop of its model A occurs before or after the time of bid closure.

In case the manufacturer stops producing model A, which happens after the time of bidding closure, which is an objective incident, the investor shall review the quality, technological features, specifications and compatibility of the A + model that the contractor proposed to replace meets the requirements of the bidding documents, is equivalent to or better than model A and affects the results of the previously approved contractor selection or not to have a basis for contract adjustment, to avoid causing loss of the State budget.

In case the manufacturer actually stops producing model A before the time of bidding closure or still produces model type A, the contractor's proposal to change the model of goods that the contractor has proposed in the bid is not suitable. The contractor must be responsible for complying with the signed contract.