A corner of Long Thanh International Airport seen from above - Photo: A LOC
Bid failure due to negligence
Talking to Tuoi Tre Online about the Deo Ca consortium being eliminated from bidding package 4.7 by Vietnam Airports Corporation - JSC (ACV), part of the Long Thanh International Airport construction investment project phase 1, Mr. Hung explained:
The reason the Deo Ca consortium was disqualified was because one member of the consortium, Hoang Long Construction Investment Corporation, had its account on the national bidding network suspended from June 30 until the time of the technical proposal evaluation report.
According to the requirements of the bidding documents for package 4.7, "the contractor or consortium of contractors participating in the bidding must not be in a state of suspension or termination of participation in the national bidding network".
Dr. Nguyen Viet Hung, former Director of the Bidding Management Department (now the Bidding Management Department), Ministry of Planning and Investment - Photo: B.NGOC
Mr. Hung said that this is the basis for ACV to determine the eligibility of contractors and consortiums of contractors participating in the bidding for package 4.7.
This bidding document was publicly posted by ACV on the bidding network system during the 40 days of issuing the bidding document (from June 18 to July 29, 2024), which is also the period during which the Deo Ca consortium prepared the bidding document.
During this time, Deo Ca consortium can completely request members of the consortium to pay fees on the national bidding network to be eligible.
However, the Deo Ca consortium negligently failed to require its members to comply with the requirements of the bidding documents, so it was disqualified by ACV because its consortium status was invalid. This was a very "naive" mistake, Mr. Hung emphasized.
Mr. Hung added that cases of disqualification due to such "naive" errors in bidding still occur. There were contractors who were disqualified simply because the bidding documents specified the closing time for bidding at 10:00 a.m., but the participating contractor submitted his bid at 10:05 a.m., so it was past the closing time.
That is the legal regulation on bidding, this ensures competition, fairness, and transparency in bidding. It is similar to the case of a business director who owes 1 million in taxes and is not allowed to leave the country. Since it is a legal regulation, everyone must comply, because 1 million compared to the money in the pocket of a business director is not worth much.
The parties must comply with the requirements of the bidding documents.
"In a bidding, the first thing to consider is the validity of the contractor, then comes the steps of bid evaluation, bid evaluation, assessment of experience, technical capacity, and bid price," Mr. Hung emphasized.
According to Mr. Hung, the requirements are very specific in the bidding documents. ACV has prepared the bidding documents in accordance with Circular 06/2024/BKHĐT issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment. If it is done in accordance with the law, then the bidders participating in the bidding must also comply with the law, thus protecting those who do it in accordance with the regulations.
The Decree guiding the Law on Bidding also clearly states that the evaluation of bidding documents must be based on evaluation criteria, including validity based on the bidding documents.
On ACV's side, Mr. Hung said that the investor must evaluate bids according to the requirements of the bidding documents, otherwise it will violate the bidding process and the bidding law. Then other contractors will have opinions, they can even sue ACV.
Some bidding experts also commented that in a bidding, the bidding documents are the topic and the highest legal basis for the relevant parties to comply with throughout the bidding process, bid evaluation and announcement of bidding results.
If the Deo Ca consortium participating in the bidding for package 4.7 has one member with invalid qualifications, the entire consortium will be considered invalid. As a legal provision, negligence cannot be used as an excuse to ignore violations, regardless of whether the violation is small or large.
Package 4.7 has a package price of 6,368 billion VND, with 2 consortiums participating in the bidding including:
Joint venture of ACC Aviation Construction Corporation - Truong Son Construction Corporation - Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation - Vietnam Construction Investment Development Joint Stock Company - Cienco 4 Group Joint Stock Company and Sau Bon Bay Aviation Construction Joint Stock Company.
And the Consortium of Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company - Deo Ca Construction Joint Stock Company - Deo Ca Transport Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company - Lizen Joint Stock Company - Thang Long Corporation - Hoang Long Construction Investment Corporation - Hoa Hiep Company Limited and Son Hai Group Company Limited (abbreviated as Deo Ca Consortium).
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lien-danh-deo-ca-bi-loai-khoi-goi-thau-o-san-bay-long-thanh-vi-so-suat-ngay-tho-20240826155530376.htm
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