Son Hai Group fails to win bid for expressway in Binh Phuoc: Low price is not always good

That is the opinion of Dr. Pham Viet Thuan - Director of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environmental Economics when asked by VTC News Electronic Newspaper reporter about Son Hai Group Company Limited (Son Hai Group) being rejected from the bidding package to build the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway (section through Binh Phuoc).

According to Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, in bidding, usually the first and most important criteria for selecting contractors is technical criteria. Next is the experience criterion, then the bid price criterion and other criteria.

Ho Chi Minh - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway Joint Venture won the bid.

"When bidding and the price is lower than the bid price, lower than other bidders, it does not mean that you will win the bid. If you discover that the bidding unit is cheating, you can request a comparison of technical documents. If they win based on the technical criteria, then you do not need to discuss the price," said Dr. Pham Viet Thuan.

Mr. Thuan did not deny that Son Hai Group is a company with many years of experience in building bridges and roads, with good quality projects. However, according to the provisions of the Bidding Law, participating in public bidding, with public results, requires the company to meet the bidding criteria.

Technical criteria usually have 5 elements, if the bidding unit does not meet, it must be cut.

"Now people set criteria, technical criteria come first. Now if a contractor fails to meet the technical criteria, the next criteria will not be considered, no matter how good his price is," Mr. Thuan added.

Mr. Thuan also gave an example, he himself was the unit that selected the contractor: "In the past, I was also an investor, there was an experience I had to buy with money, a lot of money. That is, just choose the unit with the lowest price, then I myself "paid foolish money".

Mr. Thuan also added that if the bidding units are "not satisfied" with the bidding results, they should review the experience and capacity of the bidding consultant. If the bidding consultant meets the criteria and has a license to practice, the results must be accepted.

Regarding the incident, responding to VTC News, Mr. Dinh Tien Hai - Director of Binh Phuoc Province Construction Investment Project Management Board, the project investor, said that the selection of contractors was conducted through public bidding. After the bidding was completed, the results were publicly posted on the National Bidding Network.

Specifically, the bidding package for the construction of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway, the section through Binh Phuoc province, was announced to be opened for bidding at VND880.718 billion. The winning bidder was the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh Expressway Joint Venture, with a bidding price of VND866.46 billion (saving VND14.26 billion, a reduction of 1.62%).

The unsuccessful bidders include: Son Hai Group with a bid price of VND 732.28 billion (saving VND 148.44 billion, a reduction of 16.85%), CIENCO4 Group Joint Stock Company with a bid price of VND 800.69 billion (saving VND 80.03 billion, a reduction of 9.09%), IB2500057961 Expressway Joint Venture with a bid price of VND 804.06 billion (saving VND 76.66 billion, a reduction of 8.70%), and Binh Phuoc Expressway Joint Venture with a bid price of VND 836.10 billion (saving VND 44.62 billion, a reduction of 5.07%).

The reason for the failure to win the bid of all 4 above units is: The E-HSDT (including clarification documents) of the contractor does not meet the technical requirements of the technical evaluation criteria of E-HSMT.

"We will post the results online immediately after grading, on May 22, 2025, clearly on there. Look on there, where it is right, where it is wrong, it is all there. They (the bidding unit - PV) must check, if there is a mistake, they should make specific recommendations, not just general statements," said Mr. Dinh Tien Hai.

Previously, on the morning of May 26, Son Hai Group sent out information that it had sent a document to the Binh Phuoc Province Investment and Construction Project Management Board, protesting the results of the contractor selection for the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway construction package.

According to Son Hai Group, the investor selected the contractor with the highest bid price to win the bid. Meanwhile, the contractors that the investor eliminated were leading and reputable enterprises in traffic construction in Vietnam. All were eliminated by the investor on the grounds that they did not meet the technical requirements of the bid package.

Claiming that the investor had signs of violating the law in bidding, leading to a huge loss and waste of more than VND 113 billion of the State's money, Son Hai Group voiced its opposition to the investor's bidding decision. At the same time, the group also sent a petition to the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province to resolve the matter according to the provisions of the Bidding Law, and sent documents to the relevant authorities for consideration and clarification.

An expert with many years of experience in bidding law believes that the current bidding law has many shortcomings and is loose.
"In Korea, the bidding stage we are doing, they just call it solicitation. Units like Son Hai Group, Cienco 4, Truong Son,... are themselves very large enterprises with many years of experience.
These units themselves are already capable. Therefore, the criteria of the Bidding Law such as technical (including equipment, machinery...) are considered redundant and cumbersome. In principle, just ranking the experience of the enterprise is enough. How many similar projects has the enterprise had, has it been successful, has it been assessed as high quality... that's enough. At this time, the investor should only care about the price, whoever offers the lowest price, choose it," said this expert.

Thy Hue

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tap-doan-son-hai-truot-goi-thau-cao-toc-o-binh-phuoc-khong-phai-gia-thap-la-tot-ar945533.html