In 2018, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La Province had a decentralization and hierarchy by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to allocate the provincial budget estimate in 2018 to its units. The Department has made a decision to assign estimates and types of chapters - types to the unit under the Department to perform the task.

Through the receiving and responding system to business’s recommendation, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La Province would like to ask for answers about the implementation of the procuring public assets task  that Department’s tasks will be submitted to the Department of Culture. Chemistry, Sports and Tourism to approve a contractor selection plan, is it correct?

In this regard, the Ministry of Finance gives the following opinions:

Competence to decide on procurement of public assets serving the operation of state agencies and public non-business units is prescribed in Clause 2, Article 3 and Clause 2, Article 37 of Decree No. 151/2017 / ND-CP On December 26, 2017, the Government details a number of articles of the Law on Management and Use of Public Property.

Accordingly, the provincial People's Council decides or decentralizes the authority to decide on the procurement of public assets in service of activities of State agencies and public non-business units under the management of localities; except for the case where the head of a public non-business unit is self-sufficient for recurrent expenditures and investment spending decides to procure assets (except non-business establishments and cars) from the Non-business activity development fund from borrowed capital and capital mobilized according to the prescribed regime to serve career activities and business activities of the unit..

The power to approve the contractor selection plan is specified in Article 6 of the Ministry of Finance's Circular No. 58/2016 / TT-BTC dated March 29, 2016, detailing the use of state capital for procurement in order to maintain regular activities of State agencies, units of the people's armed forces, public non-business units, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, social - professional organizations.

Accordingly, Chairman of People's Committee at all levels; The heads of agencies and competent units to decide on procurement of properties and services shall approve plans on contractor selection under their competence to decide on procurement of properties, goods and services of their respective levels according to regulations.

Thus, the authority to approve a contractor selection plan is based on the competence to decide the procurement of assets, not on the basis of decentralization of the allocation of budget estimates.

Therefore, the unit is requested to base on regulations on the competence to decide on the procurement of properties in their respective localities, of the units under the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to determine the competence to approve the plan to select the contractor as prescribed.