The Surprising Reason Why 8 Bids Were Rejected for the Long Thanh Airport Project

Why was the consortium disqualified?

Previously, the Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) invited bids for Package 4.7, which involved the construction and installation of aircraft parking equipment at the passenger terminal and other works for Component 3 of Phase 1 of the Long Thanh International Airport project.

The project, with a bid price of over VND 6,300 billion, was to be awarded through a single-stage two-envelope bidding process, with the contractor selected through an offline method.

Two consortia of major contractors submitted bids for this package. Consortium 1 comprised eight contractors, led by Deo Ca Group JSC and included Deo Ca Construction JSC, Deo Ca Transport Infrastructure Investment JSC, Lizen Co. Ltd., Thang Long Corporation – JSC, Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, Hoa Hiep LLC, and Son Hai Group LLC (referred to as the Deo Ca Consortium).

Consortium 2 consisted of six contractors: ACC Airport Construction Joint Stock Company, Truong Son Construction Corporation, Vietnam Export Import and Construction Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Development Investment Construction JSC, Cienco 4 Group JSC, and Aviation Construction 647 JSC.

On August 13, 2024, ACV issued Notification No. 3351/TB-TCTCHK VN, announcing the list of bidders that met and did not meet the technical requirements. Accordingly, the Deo Ca Consortium was disqualified for failing to meet the eligibility criteria specified in the invitation to bid for Package 4.7.

Specifically, a member of the Deo Ca Consortium, Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, with the national bidding network code vn2800177056, had been suspended from the system from June 30, 2024, until the approval of the list of bidders.

Regarding this issue, the Deo Ca Consortium sent two written requests to ACV, asking to be reconsidered for the technical evaluation. However, ACV did not approve and asserted that the Deo Ca Consortium had violated the law and was therefore disqualified from the bidding process.

According to a bidding expert, the mistake made by a member of the Deo Ca Consortium in this case could be described as rather silly. Point a, Clause 11, Article 12, Decree 24/2024/ND-CP stipulates that contractors must pay an annual maintenance fee of VND 330,000 for their name and capacity profile on the national bidding network.

It is likely that this member forgot to pay the fee and was suspended from June 30, 2024, without their knowledge. This mistake has been common among many contractors in the past. However, forgetting to pay the fee when participating in bidding through the national bidding network would prevent them from downloading the documents, so contractors would easily notice the issue and could rectify it by paying the fee immediately to regain eligibility.

What does the consortium have to say?

Regarding this incident, on August 22, a representative of the Deo Ca Consortium stated that on August 12, 2024, ACV issued a decision approving the list of bidders that met the technical requirements for Package 4.7, disqualifying the Deo Ca Consortium due to the error: “The consortium member Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, with the national bidding network code vn2800177056, has been suspended from the system from June 30, 2024, until the evaluation report on the bid validity was issued. The bidder does not meet the condition in point f of item 5. CDNT – Eligibility of the Bidder: ‘Not in a state of suspension or termination of participation in the system.'”

The Deo Ca Consortium representative stated that at the time of the technical evaluation, the consortium member Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company had an active bidding account and was in normal operating status on the national bidding network. At that time, there was no decision approving the results of the contractor selection for Package 4.7.

The suspension of Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company’s account was due to a delay in paying the fee. Based on the Law on Bidding, the Deo Ca Consortium believes that ACV’s assessment that Hoang Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company does not meet the eligibility criteria specified in the invitation to bid is incorrect. The Deo Ca Consortium has sent a document to the Bidding Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment for guidance and clarification on this matter.

On August 15, the Bidding Management Department issued a response regarding the eligibility of the bidder. Specifically, the document stated that “a bidder (an organization) that meets all the conditions stipulated in Clause 1, Article 5 of the Law on Bidding shall be considered to meet the eligibility requirements when participating in bidding for packages not subject to online bidding within the scope of this Law. It is inappropriate for the invitation to bid to stipulate that the bidder ‘is not in a state of suspension or termination of participation in the system’ as a condition for ensuring eligibility, as this is only applicable to online bidding.”

It is understood that the Deo Ca Consortium has sent three written requests to ACV, asking to be reconsidered for the technical evaluation. However, ACV has not approved and maintains that the Deo Ca Consortium has violated the law and must be disqualified from the bidding process, even though the ACC Consortium’s bid was approximately VND 416 billion higher than that of the Deo Ca Consortium.