04 Contractor Selection Methods Under the 2023 Bidding Law

1.3 Two-stage, One-envelope

• Contractors from the first stage shortlist are invited to clarify their technical proposals. The clarification includes the investor, bidding organizer asking contractors to adjust their first-stage technical proposals. Contractors are allowed to comment on the bidding documents.
• Based on the clarified technical proposals with each contractor, the first-stage bidding documents are adjusted and supplemented regarding contractor instructions, evaluation standards, technical requirements, contract conditions, and other contents to form the second-stage bidding documents, including technical discrepancies of contractors that have been accepted, proposals in the alternative solutions of contractors that have been accepted.
• Contractors submit bid documents including technical and financial proposals as required by the second-stage bidding documents, including the bid price and bid security based on the adjusted content of the first-stage technical proposal as stipulated in point a of this clause. The bid opening is conducted once for all bid documents.

1.4 Two-stage Two-envelope

• Contractors on the list that meet the requirements of the first stage are invited to clarify their technical proposals. The clarification includes adjustments to the first-stage technical proposals at the request of the investor or the bid solicitor. Contractors can provide feedback on the bidding documents.
• Based on the clarified technical proposals for each contractor, the first-stage bidding documents are adjusted and supplemented with instructions to contractors, evaluation criteria, technical requirements, contract conditions, and other contents to form the second-stage bidding documents, including accepted technical deviations and alternative solutions proposed by contractors.
• contractors submit a bid including separate technical and financial proposals as per the requirements of the second-stage bidding documents, including the bid price and bid security. The financial proposals correspond to the main technical proposal of the contractor; if a contractor proposes an alternative technical solution, they must submit the financial proposal for this alternative solution. The bid opening is conducted twice. Technical proposals are opened immediately after the bid closing. contractors meeting the technical requirements will have their financial proposals opened for evaluation.

2. Scenarios on Contractor Selection Methods

• Question: A construction package falls under the one-stage one-envelope contractor selection method. Only one contractor participates, and the bid price is higher than the package value. Is there a solution in this case?
• Expert DauThau.info replied: Currently, this situation is being addressed as per Clause 8, Article 117 of Decree 63/2014/ND-CP, specifically:

"8. If the bid price of all contractors meeting the technical requirements and ranked in the list exceeds the approved package value, consider one of the following solutions:

a) Allow these contractors to re-offer their bid prices if the bidding package price includes all elements constituting the cost of implementing the bidding package;

b) Simultaneously allow re-bidding by the contractors and the bid solicitor to report to the investor for reviewing the package value and approved bidding documents, if necessary.

In the case of allowing re-bidding, clearly define the preparation and submission time for re-bid documents but not more than 10 days from the date the bid solicitor sends the request for re-bidding, as well as the opening of re-bid documents according to the procedure stipulated in Article 29 of this Decree. If it's necessary to adjust the package value in the approved contractor selection plan, the competent person is responsible for approving the adjustment before the opening of re-bid documents but no more than 10 days from receiving the adjustment request, ensuring it's before the deadline for submitting re-bid documents;

c) Allow negotiation with the first-ranked contractor on the price, ensuring the negotiated price does not exceed the lowest bid price after error correction and deviation adjustment, excluding any discount. If adjustment of the package price in the approved contractor selection plan is needed, the competent person must approve the adjustment within a maximum period of 10 days from receiving the adjustment request. If the negotiation is unsuccessful, invite the next-ranked contractor for negotiation. This method only applies to open bidding cases ”

However, because there is only one contractor submitting a bid, the element "the" contractors under the above conditions is not appropriate. This is a case where the current regulations do not specifically stipulate, hopefully the new decree Instructions for the Bidding Law 2023 will provide detailed instructions, ensuring "according to the principles of ensuring competition, fairness, transparency, and economic efficiency"

 

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