Official investor response

Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), the investor of Long Thanh Airport project, has just responded to the complaint of Hoa Lu Joint Venture, one of three joint ventures participating in the bidding for package 5.10 worth more than 35,200 billion VND to build Long Thanh International Airport.

Accordingly, ACV affirmed that it had done the right thing in evaluating the technical proposal. The Hoa Lu consortium's submission of the proposal did not follow the correct procedure, affecting the reputation of all parties.

ACV said that based on the bidding documents submitted on June 12 by participating contractors, the inviting party and the contractor selection expert team evaluated the technical proposals based on the criteria, requirements, and standards specified in the bidding documents, ensuring the correct order and procedures according to the provisions of the law on bidding.

Also according to ACV, during the process of evaluating bidding documents and contents that need to be clarified according to the law on bidding, the inviting party has issued documents requesting contractors to supplement and clarify according to regulations to ensure objectivity, fairness and transparency for participating contractors.

Clarifying the technical proposal contents must comply with the principle of not changing the basic content of the submitted bidding documents, ensuring competition and fairness among participating bidders.

The contents of the contractor's technical proposal, including explanations, technical documents, and drawings, are sufficient to serve as a basis for the inviting party and the expert team to evaluate according to the standards specified in the approved bidding documents and released on the national bidding network.

ACV said that the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements has been approved by the investor based on the results of the evaluation of the technical proposals that have been appraised. The inviting party has also announced the list of contractors meeting the technical requirements to all participating contractors.

The Long Thanh Airport investor said that according to regulations, for unsuccessful bidders, the announcement of the contractor selection results must clearly state the reason for the unsuccessful bidder. The investor will announce the contractor selection results when there is a Decision approving the contractor selection results, clearly stating the winning bidder (if any) and the reason for the unsuccessful bidders to all participating bidders.

Regarding the petition settlement process, ACV believes that according to the Law on Bidding and Decree 63/2014, petitions from contractors must be sent to the investor, the inviting party and signed by the legal representative of Hoa Lu Joint Venture.

In case of disagreement with the results of the investor's and the inviting party's petitions, Hoa Lu Joint Venture has the right to send a petition to the competent authority within 5 working days from the deadline.

According to ACV, because it is in the bidding stage, related information is kept confidential according to the provisions of the law on bidding. Therefore, the petition letter sent by Hoa Luu Joint Venture to many levels of leaders, managers, agencies and investors is not in accordance with the petition handling process.

According to ACV, this could affect the reputation of the contractor, investor, and the inviting party. Therefore, the investor requested that Hoa Lu Joint Venture strictly comply with the provisions of the Law on Bidding.

Speaking to VietNamNet on July 6, a representative of the State Capital Management Committee, which holds more than 95% of ACV's capital, said that ACV is urgently implementing the project in accordance with the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister to start construction in August.

Answering the question of whether Package 5.10 of the Long Thanh Airport terminal construction project will continue to round 2 (financial round, after the technical round) and whether the Hoa Lu Joint Venture's complaint will affect the project's progress, this representative said that the bidding for Package 5.10 is carried out in accordance with regulations and according to plan.

Previously, on August 1, ACV announced that the Vietur consortium met the technical requirements for package 5.10. This means that the remaining two consortiums, Hoa Lu and CHEC-BCEG-Vietnam Contractors (led by China Harbour Engineering of China), were eliminated from the bidding process.

The Hoa Lu consortium, led by Coteccons, includes eight contractors: Hoa Binh, Central, An Phong, Delta, Unicons, Thanh An and Power Line Engineering (PLE - Thailand). This is the only consortium led by a domestic contractor and has committed to completing the project by August 2026 if it wins the bid.

Vietur consortium consists of 10 members, led by ICISTAS Industry and Trade-Construction Group. This consortium includes Newtecons, Ricons and SOL E&C of Mr. Nguyen Ba Duong.

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