Report very slow, not fulfilling responsibility

The Government Office has just issued a document conveying the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on the inspection of the selection of contractors for the construction package of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway project through Binh Phuoc province (now Dong Nai province).

composed, in the directive document dated May 29, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the deadline for reporting to be June 10, but the Ministry of Finance only reported on June 19, which is very slow. The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to “take full advantage of the experience”.

In addition, the content of the report and recommendations has not yet properly reflected the responsibilities and functions of the state management agency on bidding; and has not properly implemented regulations on the inspection of contractor selection activities.

The report also does not specifically state and analyze the inspection results, does not state the conclusion and specific recommendations for the inspection unit, or recommendations for authorized authorities.

In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister requested to check both the capacity and experience of the expert team. However, the Ministry of Finance only checked the bidding certificate and assigned the Project Management Board to be responsible for ensuring the capacity and experience of the members of the expert team... which is "not fulfilling its responsibility".

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Perspective of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway project through Binh Phuoc province. Photo: Project Management Board

Despite the directive requiring a comprehensive inspection of the contents related to contractor selection (such as bidding documents, bidding evaluation results, handling of recommendations, etc.), the Ministry of Finance only briefly concluded that "the evaluation content of the expert team 'does not meet'", lacking specific analysis.

Request a report back, so as not to affect project progress

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to urgently report clearly and make specific and clear recommendations in accordance with its functions, tasks and regulations, including clearly reporting on four key issues.

Firstly, it is necessary to evaluate whether the content of E-HSMT is in accordance with regulations, especially whether the content on BIM leads to different interpretations; whether the offering of symbols, codes, labels (if any) and origin of materials and equipment; whether the standards for evaluating equipment capacity and evaluating equipment in terms of technology are consistent or not; if there is any inconsistency, will it affect the results of E-HSDT evaluation and distort the results of contractor selection?

Second, check whether the assessment of E-HSDT by the expert team and the investor ensures objectivity, consistency and accuracy; between the detailed assessment report of the expert team and the summary assessment report; Whether the expert team's failure to clarify E-HSDT ensures the accuracy of the E-HSDT assessment results.

Third, regarding the capacity of the expert team, the Ministry of Finance must have a full assessment of the capacity, not only based on certificates, but also on practical experience, number of members and consistency between reports.

Finally, specifically evaluate whether the contractor selection results are accurate, transparent, fair and effective.

In particular, there should be specific and clear recommendations for further handling such as: Continuing to sign with the selected contractor or requiring the investor, the inviting party, the expert team to complete the content or other necessary measures.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province (now Dong Nai province) to complete the report and submit it to the Prime Minister before July 5, to avoid delays that could affect the project's progress.

Along with that, Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee directed the investor, Project Management Board and bidding expert team to promptly coordinate with the working group to provide documents and files and resolve petitions in accordance with regulations.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway construction project passes through Ho Chi Minh City (about 2km of access road), Binh Duong province (52km long) and Binh Phuoc province (7km long) with a total investment of VND 1,474 billion. The section through Binh Phuoc province starts construction in December 2024.

The construction package for the section through Binh Phuoc province has an estimated cost of more than 880 billion VND.

After the bid opening on March 17, the Truong Son - Thanh Phat joint venture was selected with a winning bid of VND845.4 billion, saving more than VND35 billion compared to the estimate.

However, the remaining four bidders, including Son Hai Group Company Limited (Son Hai Group) - the bidder with the lowest price (over 732 billion VND), were eliminated due to failing to meet technical requirements.

The investor said that Son Hai did not meet the requirements for materials and equipment; did not meet the requirements for organizing the implementation of building information modeling (BIM) and did not meet the requirements for machinery and equipment for construction.

Afterwards, Son Hai Group, one of the five bidders, submitted a petition disagreeing with the disqualification result, despite offering the lowest price.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/pho-thu-tuong-phe-binh-viec-bao-cao-vu-tap-doan-son-hai-truot-thau-rat-cham-2417399.html