Summary of 25 Common Bidding scenarios and How to Handle Them (Part 1)

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Handling bidding scenarios is stipulated in Article 131 of Decree 24/2024/ND-CP, Below, DauThau.info will guide you on handling 13 of the 25 common bidding scenarios. Let's explore!

Scenario 1: Adjusting the Bid Package Price or Content

If the inviting party has a reason to adjust the bid package price or content, the procurement plan must be adjusted according to the law before the bid closing time, except in scenarios 2 and 6 below.

Scenario 2: Approving the Bid Package Estimate after the Procurement Plan Approval

If the bid package estimate is approved after the procurement plan and the estimate is higher or lower than the price in the procurement plan, the estimate will replace the price in the procurement plan according to the following principles:

• If the approved bid package estimate is higher than the price in the procurement plan but does not exceed the total investment of the project or procurement estimate, the procurement plan does not need to be adjusted.
  If the higher estimate exceeds the total investment of the project or procurement estimate, the procurement plan must be adjusted; if the procurement method in the approved procurement plan is no longer suitable, the procurement method must be adjusted.

• If the approved bid package estimate is lower than the price in the procurement plan and does not change the procurement method in the approved procurement plan, the procurement plan does not need to be adjusted; if the procurement method needs to be adjusted to suit the new package value according to the approved estimate, the procurement plan must be adjusted.

The approved estimate after the procurement plan approval must be posted on the national bidding network system at least 5 days before the bid closing time.

Scenario 3: Shortlist with Less than 3 Qualified Bidders

If the shortlist has less than 3 qualified bidders, the investor can handle it in one of two ways based on the specific conditions of the bid package:

1. Select additional bidders for the shortlist.
2. Allow the issuance of the bidding documents immediately to the bidders in the shortlist.

Scenario 4: No Bidders at the Bid Closing Time

If no bidders are present at the bid closing time, the investor decides how to handle it in one of the following ways:

• Option 1: Cancel the invitation for expression of interest, prequalification invitation, or bidding invitation to re-invite bids. Before re-inviting bids, review and amend the invitation for expression of interest, prequalification invitation, or bidding documents (if necessary) to ensure there are no conditions restricting the participation of bidders or creating advantages for one or several bidders that cause unfair competition.
• Option 2: Extend the bid closing time by at least 5 days for packages inviting expression of interest, prequalification, construction, and mixed packages with a bid price not exceeding 20 billion VND, and goods and non-consulting service packages with a bid price not exceeding 10 billion VND; extend the bid closing time by at least 10 days for other packages.

Scenario 5: One or Two Bidders Submit Bids at the Bid Closing Time

If only one or two bidders submit their bids at the bid closing time for packages using open bidding, restricted bidding, competitive offering, or online quotation according to the normal process, the investor handles it within 4 hours from the bid closing time in one of two ways:

• Option 1: Allow extending the bid closing time to increase the number of bidders submitting their expression of interest, prequalification, or bidding documents. In this case, the new bid closing time and corresponding deadlines must be specified to give bidders enough time to amend or supplement their submitted documents according to the new requirements.
• Option 2: Allow opening the bids immediately to proceed with the evaluation.

Scenario 6: All Bidders' Prices Exceed the Bid Package Price

If the bid prices, after error correction, deviation adjustment, and deducting discounts (if any), of all technically qualified bidders exceed the approved bid package price, the investor decides how to handle the situation in one or a combination of the following ways:

• Option 1:  Allow these bidders to re-quote their bid prices if the bid package price includes all cost components for the package.
• Option 2: Simultaneously allow bidders to re-quote their bid prices and review the bid package price and the approved bidding documents, if necessary.

• Option 3: Invite these bidders to participate in online quotation according to the simplified process. If the approved procurement plan price needs adjustment, the authorized person is responsible for approving the adjustment before the start of the online quotation.
• Option 4: Allow inviting the first-ranked bidder for price negotiation but ensuring the post-negotiation price does not exceed the lowest corrected bid price after error correction, deviation adjustment, and deducting discounts (if any). If the approved procurement plan price needs adjustment, the authorized person is responsible for approving the adjustment within 10 days from the date of receiving the adjustment request. If negotiations fail, invite the next-ranked bidder for negotiation. This method is only applicable to open bidding packages, and the investor must ensure the competition, fairness, transparency, and economic efficiency of the project, procurement estimate, and bid package.
  If only one bidder passes the technical evaluation step, handle it according to points a or b of this clause or allow inviting the bidder for price negotiation but ensuring the post-negotiation price does not exceed the bid package price.

Scenario 7: Handling scenarios with Goods Procurement Packages under Clause 2, Article 92

For goods procurement packages under Clause 2, Article 92 of Decree 24/2024/ND-CP (*), if the first-ranked bidder has unit prices for one or more items exceeding the standards and norms issued by the competent authority, and the proposed winning price does not exceed the approved bid package price, it can be handled sequentially as follows:

• Option 1: Invite the first-ranked bidder for negotiation for items with unit prices exceeding the procurement standards and norms issued by the competent authority.

• Option 2: Allow all technically qualified bidders to re-quote their bid prices.

(*) Clause 2, Article 92 of Decree 24/2024/ND-CP stipulates:

2. For goods under the list regulated by the Government or the Prime Minister regarding standards, norms, or decentralization of standards and norms, the condition for bid approval is that the proposed winning price of each good ensures it does not exceed the price of each good according to the standards and norms issued by the competent authority.
Situation 8: Handling scenarios with Split Packages

Scenario 8: Handling scenarios with Split Packages

Scenario 9: Abnormally Low Bid Prices

If the bid dossier has abnormally low bid prices after error correction, deviation adjustment, and deducting discounts (if any), affecting the package quality, or if the construction package has bid prices after error correction, deviation adjustment, and deducting discounts (if any) lower than 70% of the bid package price, the investor handles the situation as follows:

Scenario 10:  Handling with international construction and mixed packages with abnormal unit prices

For international construction and mixed packages, if the first-ranked bidder's bid document is unbalanced: having bid unit prices significantly higher than the corresponding unit prices in the package estimate for simple technical items, items likely to increase in quantity beyond the bid price list, and significantly lower bid unit prices than the corresponding unit prices in the package estimate for complex, difficult-to-implement items, the procuring entity can request the bidder to clarify the cost components in writing.

The bidder must prove the compatibility of the bid price with the scope of work, construction methods proposed by the bidder, implementation schedule, and other requirements of the invitation to bid document. If the bidder's explanation is unclear or unconvincing, the bid document will be rejected.
To mitigate risks, the investor can set the performance security value at more than 10% but not exceeding 30% of the contract price, approved in writing by the authorized person.

Scenario 11: Deviation adjustment for proposed construction methods different from the invitation to bid document

If the invitation to bid document allows the bidder to propose different construction methods from those stated in the invitation to bid document, the difference between the work volume according to the construction method in the invitation to bid document and the work volume according to the construction method proposed by the bidder will not be adjusted as missing deviations according to clause 2, Article 29 of Decree 24/2024/ND-CP. This difference is not considered a missing deviation.

Scenario 12: Bidder undergoing merger during the bidding process

If a bidder is undergoing a merger during the bidding process, the merged bidder can continue participating in the bid and inherit the bidding capacity and experience of the merged bidder.

Scenario 13: Determining the capacity and experience of branches, enterprises, representative offices separated from a legal entity

If branches, enterprises, representative offices are separated from a legal entity according to civil law, the bidder inheriting or formed from the branches, enterprises, representative offices will inherit the bidding capacity and experience of the branches, enterprises, representative offices.

These are DauThau.info's insights on 13 of the 25 common bidding situations and how to handle each specific situation. We hope this information will help you gain more experience in handling arising situations during the bidding process. The remaining 12 situations will be introduced in the article Summary of 25 Common Bidding Situations and How to Handle Them (Part 2), Stay tuned!

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