Binh Thuan has reached 100%

With just one click, contractors across the country can know the bidding information of all packages on the Bidding Network System. And if interested, they can participate in bidding in any locality across the country, including Binh Thuan , so this is considered a playground with many options for participants.

Why do local contractors win?

In the past few days, there has been news that local contractors in Binh Thuan have won local construction bids. The story of "familiar businesses" in districts, towns and cities has been stirred up like in previous years, when Binh Thuan had not yet participated or was in the process of implementing the online bidding roadmap. However, most of these construction bids took place in 2023, the year that Binh Thuan had the most bids since 2016 and was also the year that 100% of bids within the quota applied online bidding. This shows that businesses in the province, more specifically in districts, towns and cities, won most of the construction bids in that place. In the situation of online bidding, that is, public and transparent information about the project, contractor selection plan, bidding notice, bidding documents... on the National Bidding Network according to regulations, it more or less shows that local businesses have many advantages for competition. Because with just one click, bidders across the country can know the bidding information of all packages on the Bidding Network System. And if interested, they can participate in bidding in any locality across the country, including Binh Thuan, so this is considered a playground with many options for participants. Therefore, whether a posted bidding package has many or only 1 participating bidder, even if the bidding closing time is extended, according to regulations, the bid is still opened. If that unit meets the requirements of the bidding documents, it will still win the bid and be implemented normally.

Ngo Quyen Street, La Gi Town. Photo: Ngoc Lan

According to the assessment of the Department of Planning and Investment, the reality is that contractors and construction companies with headquarters, facilities and personnel in the locality of the bid package being invited to bid have more advantages than contractors from other provinces when participating in bidding for construction packages. This is reflected in the advantage of available facilities such as warehouses, yards and the ability to mobilize machinery, construction materials and equipment, production facilities, etc. during the construction process. In addition, there is the advantage of human resources such as local engineers and workers or the short distance to transport equipment and materials to the construction site as well as the ability to understand the favorable and unfavorable factors in the locality when constructing the project better than units from other provinces. Therefore, local contractors often have lower bid prices than contractors from other provinces. In addition, the plan, solution and construction techniques are also better due to the understanding of the local situation during the bidding process. Therefore, it is natural that the rate of winning bids by local contractors is often higher than that of out-of-province contractors when participating in bidding.

Cai River embankment, Ma Lam, Ham Thuan Bac. Photo: Ngoc Lan

The journey to transparency

In fact, capital bidding often has negative issues in many ways through the way of limiting information, being unclear, hiding information from many people, not selling bidding documents. To overcome that, aiming at publicizing and transparent information, creating fair competition in bidding, many years ago, the Central Government implemented online bidding. Binh Thuan has implemented a pilot application of online bidding since 2013, which is considered quite early compared to other provinces and cities in the country. However, in the 3 years from 2013 to 2015, online bidding only stopped at the level of posting information about the inviting party, contractor information, contractor selection plan information and bidding documents.

Park in Vo Xu town, Duc Linh district

Lien Huong Town Park, Tuy Phong

Since 2016, implementing Joint Circular No. 07/2015 of the Ministry of Planning & Investment and the Ministry of Finance , online bidding in the province has been strengthened. Since then, the rate of online bidding has increased gradually over the years, marking a turning point in 2020, when the rate was pushed from 28.76% in 2019 to 88.18%, corresponding to 470/533 bidding packages participating in online bidding. By 2023, 730/730 bidding packages were conducted online with a total value of online bidding packages of 4,478,407 million VND/4,478,407 million VND, reaching a rate of 100%. This is the year with the highest number of bidding packages participating in online bidding and is also the year Binh Thuan achieved the online bidding target as prescribed in Circular No. 08/2022 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Nguyen Hue Park, La Gi

According to the Department of Planning and Investment, in 2023, the system of legal documents on bidding will continue to be completed, standardized and unified to help maintain effective bidding activities, further enhancing transparency and competition. Accordingly, bidding work in the province in the past time has been organized and implemented seriously, complying with the provisions of the law on contractor selection to ensure the principles of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency; contractors with capacity and experience have been selected to ensure quality and progress. In addition, also in this year, the number of petitions on contractor selection results sent to the Advisory Council for Petition Resolution established by the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment increased. Of the 7 petitions that the Department has resolved, 3 are correct. The Department has made 4 decisions to handle with a total fine of 142.5 million VND.

Nguyen Thong Street, Phan Thiet

Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Phan Thiet

Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 dated June 23, 2023 has taken effect since January 1, 2024, replacing Bidding Law No. 43/2013/QH13 dated November 26, 2013. Accordingly, there are many new points such as expanding the scope of application, adding subjects participating in bidding activities for business households, increasing incentives in contractor selection, especially the online contractor selection process has been completed, accordingly, information about contractors, investors, bidding organization process, resolving contractors' questions and recommendations... are connected, fully shared, and convenient information from the National Information System. Thus, the Bidding Law No. 22/2023/QH15 is increasingly improved, suitable to the actual situation, creating a fair, transparent and equal playing field for all bidders with sufficient capacity and experience to participate and meet all requirements of the bidding documents without distinguishing between bidders in other localities or provinces.

BICH NGHI - PHOTO BY N. LAN

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/dau-thau-qua-mang-binh-thuan-da-dat-100-119021.html