Struggling to bid for cooking for schools in Bac Kan

For nearly 2 months now, every weekday, even though it's not the end of the working day yet, at exactly 15 minutes to 11, Ms. LTP (Bac Kan city) has to ask her boss for permission to leave early to pick up her child.

Her child is in grade 1 at Duc Xuan Primary School. Grade 1 students study at campus 2, which is quite far from campus 1 and the city center.

According to Ms. P, the school has not yet organized a boarding meal, so every day she has to pick up her child even though it is not the end of her working day. After picking up and taking her child home, she has to cook for her child, and before she can rest, she has to take her child to school, which is very inconvenient. On business trips, she has to ask family or friends to pick her up. She only hopes that the school will soon organize a boarding meal like in previous years.

Bac Kan has 280 schools from kindergarten to high school, of which 190 schools organize cooking for students, including: 7 ethnic boarding schools, 37 ethnic semi-boarding schools, 107 kindergartens, 38 primary and secondary schools and 1 center to support the development of inclusive education.

However, since the opening of the school year, most of these educational institutions have not been able to select suppliers according to the 2023 Bidding Law, and most of them still organize meals for students in the same way as in previous school years.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Bac Kan, ethnic boarding schools, semi-boarding schools and the Center for Supporting the Development of Inclusive Education still organize cooking for students because these are specialized schools, students eat, live and study at school, so the units still carry out food purchase contracts in the area to organize cooking.

Preschools still organize cooking because the nature of preschool education is to nurture, care for, and educate children from 3 months to 6 years old according to the preschool education program issued by the Minister of Education and Training.

29/56 primary schools are still organizing meals for students because the monthly cooking budget is less than 50 million VND, and the unit is free to decide on purchases according to regulations.

There are 9 primary schools in Bac Kan city, Cho Moi and Ngan Son that are temporarily suspending cooking because these units have a budget of over 100 million VND/month for organizing cooking and are facing difficulties in purchasing food when implementing the regulations of the new Bidding Law.

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 2 of the Bidding Law 2023, the organization of cooking to serve boarding and semi-boarding students must comply with the provisions of the Bidding Law.

This law has just been issued, with many new points that will be applied from January 1, 2024, so units are still confused in determining the budget limit, as well as organizing bidding according to regulations.

The Department of Planning and Investment of Bac Kan has issued instructions to the education sector and schools, but implementation is still at a standstill.

According to the Department of Education and Training, in reality, the budget for organizing cooking at different units is different. Some units are allocated in the budget, while others are implemented from revenue sources according to Resolution No. 13/2021/NQ-HDND of the People's Council of Bac Kan province on regulations on service revenues to serve and support educational activities in public educational institutions in the area.

Therefore, units have difficulty in building estimates and determining bid package prices to choose the bidding method by month/school year/fiscal year to ensure compliance with legal regulations.

In addition, according to the guidance in Official Dispatch No. 2029/STC-QLCS dated September 24, 2024 of the Department of Finance, the cost of bidding consultancy from the revenue source as prescribed in Resolution No. 13 of the Provincial People's Council is understood to be included in the revenue item "Lunch money for children and students". Thus, it is not really appropriate for the student's family to have to bear an additional expense.

The delay in implementing the bidding for cooking for schools is affecting teaching and learning in Bac Kan and many parents who are officials, civil servants and public employees have to "cut" their working time to pick up and drop off their children.

Faced with this situation, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Kan province Hoang Thu Trang requested the Department of Education and Training, People's Committees of districts and cities to direct the Department of Education and Training, educational institutions to continue to organize the procurement of goods and services (including organizing cooking) to ensure compliance with the provisions of the 2023 Bidding Law and current guiding documents; urgently develop a financial plan for the school year according to regulations.

The Department of Planning and Investment shall preside over and coordinate with relevant units to research and issue detailed instructions on the bidding process. In particular, it shall focus on providing detailed instructions on competitive bidding and self-implementation to select food and meal suppliers for students at educational institutions in accordance with the law. The requirement is to be completed by October 2024.

The Department of Education and Training shall preside over and coordinate with relevant units to urgently review, research, and advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council to amend and supplement a number of contents of Resolution No. 13/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 7, 2021 of the Provincial People's Council regulating service revenues to serve and support educational activities in public educational institutions in Bac Kan province to ensure consistency with reality and budget balance capability.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/loay-hoay-dau-thau-nau-an-cho-truong-hoc-o-bac-kan-post836594.html