Binh Phuoc province affirms that the bidding is in accordance with regulations, rejects Son Hai Group's proposal

On the evening of June 26, information from the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province, the unit has sent a written response to Son Hai Group Company Limited (Son Hai Group) regarding the petition reflecting signs of illegal bidding in the construction package of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway construction project (section through Binh Phuoc province). Specifically:

Regarding the content that the Binh Phuoc Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board (investor) and the expert team assessed that Son Hai Group did not meet the requirements for materials and equipment provided for the bid package, the Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee said that this assessment was "in accordance with regulations".

Response document of Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee.

According to the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province, the bidder's bidding documents have declared and provided incomplete information, not meeting the requirements of E-HSMT. To ensure the evaluation of bidding documents, the Binh Phuoc Provincial Project Management Board has also asked for opinions from the Bidding Management Department - Ministry of Finance .

"A bidder's bidding documents that do not state information on symbols, labels, and origins of main materials and equipment as required by E-HSMT are considered invalid. In this case, allowing the bidder to clarify and supplement will change the basic content of E-HSMT," the document stated.

Regarding the assessment that Son Hai Group did not meet the requirements for organizing the implementation of BIM (building information model) in the bidding package: Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee affirmed that the decision of the investor and the bidding expert team to apply BIM to the construction package during the construction phase and the evaluation of the contractor's bidding documents not meeting the BIM criteria of E-HSMT is in accordance with regulations.

The assessment content of Son Hai Group does not meet the requirements for construction machinery and equipment serving the construction package: Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee said that the requirements of the bidding expert team regarding the inspection documents of construction machinery and equipment in E-HSTM are completely objective.

For the 12 devices included in E-HSDT by Son Hai Group, there are documents issued by the City Industrial Equipment Safety Technical Inspection Joint Stock Company. However, according to the guidance document sent by the Vietnam Register to Binh Phuoc, the name of the City Industrial Equipment Safety Technical Inspection Joint Stock Company is not in the list of organizations certified to be qualified to conduct safety technical inspection activities in the field of transportation. And the inspection and testing papers of the 12 specialized construction vehicles in E-HSDT of the Son Hai contractor are not consistent with the issued form.

"The fact that the Bidding Expert Team assessed that Son Hai's E-HSDT did not meet the requirements for machinery, equipment, etc. is in accordance with the provisions of the 2023 Bidding Law and Decree 24/ND-CP of the Government in 2024," the dispatch stated.

Finally, regarding the content that the bidding certificate of the Head of the Expert Group "expired", the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province believes that this proposal of Son Hai Group is incorrect.

"The evaluation of E-HSDT by the investor/Expert Team is in accordance with regulations. Therefore, the recommendations in Document No. 180/DKN-TDSH dated May 27, 2025 of Son Hai Group Company Limited are not appropriate," the document of Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee stated.

On May 26, Son Hai Group sent a document to the Binh Phuoc Provincial Investment and Construction Project Management Board, Binh Phuoc Provincial People's Committee and related units, protesting the results of the selection of contractors for the construction package of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway, section through Binh Phuoc.

Son Hai Group proposed that despite being the unit with the lowest bid price, it failed the bid. Meanwhile, the unit with the highest bid price won the bid.

Claiming that "the investor showed signs of violating the law in bidding" leading to a huge risk of loss and waste of more than 113 billion VND of state money, Son Hai Group spoke out against the investor's bidding decision.

In response to Son Hai Group, Mr. Dinh Tien Hai - Director of Binh Phuoc Province Construction Investment Project Management Board affirmed that the bidding process was carried out transparently and publicly online.

On June 4, the Ministry of Finance sent a delegation to Binh Phuoc for a direct inspection. The inspection delegation worked with the Management Board and related units on a number of issues such as: Bidding documents, results of bid evaluation, handling and resolving complaints during bidding, capacity and experience of the Expert Team, etc.

The 70km Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway project passes through 3 provinces: Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc. The project has a total investment of 25,000 billion VND, is a key traffic project, of special importance to the socio-economic development of the Southeast region.
Of which, the section through Binh Phuoc province has a total length of about 6.6km, a design speed of 100km/h, and a scale of 4 lanes.
The starting point borders Binh Duong province and the ending point is Chon Thanh town (Binh Phuoc), the total cost is 1,474 billion VND, of which the central budget is expected to be 1,000 billion VND, the rest is the local budget.
Project implementation period is from 2024 to 2026. In 2024, investment preparation, preparation and approval of investment policy report, preparation and approval of feasibility study report, organization of contractor selection, construction commencement; in 2025 - 2026, construction will continue and strive to complete the project and put it into use by the end of 2026.

Thy Hue

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tinh-binh-phuoc-khang-dinh-cham-thau-dung-quy-dinh-bac-kien-nghi-cua-tap-doan-son-hai-ar951211.html