Circular No. 11/2012/TT-BXD guiding the establishment and management of maintenance costs for construction works

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Establishing and Managing Maintenance Costs for Construction Projects

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Pursuant to Decree No. 17/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 4, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP dated December 6, 2010 of the Government on the maintenance of construction projects;

Considering the proposal of the Director of the Construction Economy Department and the Director of the Construction Economy Institute,

The Minister of Construction issues this Circular guiding the establishment and management of maintenance costs for construction projects, as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

This Circular guides the establishment and management of maintenance costs for construction projects and their components according to the requirements of the maintenance process; it applies to organizations and individuals involved in managing, operating, and using construction projects (owners or legally authorized representatives) within the territory of Vietnam.

Article 2. Contents of Maintenance Cost Items

The contents of cost items related to the implementation of maintenance for construction projects include:

1. Costs for preparing, reviewing, or verifying the maintenance procedures for construction projects;

2. Costs for preparing the maintenance plan for construction projects (including costs for preparing and reviewing or verifying maintenance costs for construction projects);

3. Costs for regular, periodic, and emergency inspections of construction projects;

4. Monitoring costs for construction projects that require monitoring;

5. Maintenance costs for construction projects;

6. Quality inspection costs for construction projects when necessary;

7. Regular and emergency repair costs for construction projects;

8. Costs for establishing and managing maintenance records for construction projects.

Specifically, monitoring and quality inspection costs for construction projects may include one or both of these items in the budgeted maintenance costs for construction projects as stipulated in Article 26 of Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP dated December 6, 2010 of the Government (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP).

Article 3. Principles for Determining Maintenance Costs for Construction Projects

1. Maintenance costs for construction projects determined according to the guidelines in this Circular are the necessary costs to complete some or all of the work items within the scope of the construction project maintenance procedure, in accordance with the prescribed methods, including all cost items, and consistent with the scale, design requirements, maintenance procedures, and other relevant conditions of the construction project.

2. Based on the nature, characteristics, and duration of the work within the scope of the construction project maintenance procedure, the volume of work content is determined as the basis for determining costs according to the guidance provided in Article 4 of this Circular.

3. When determining the costs for implementing maintenance work under Clause 4, Clause 6, and Clause 7 of Article 2 of this Circular, reference can be made to and applied the published construction norms and unit prices. In cases where it is necessary to establish new construction norms and unit prices for newly added work or adjust the published construction norms and unit prices to suit the nature, characteristics, conditions, construction methods, and technical requirements of the aforementioned maintenance work, the owner or the person authorized by the owner to act legally shall organize the establishment or adjustment of such norms and unit prices as the basis for determining costs.

The application and adaptation of published or adjusted construction norms and unit prices, or the establishment of new ones, shall follow the current principles for establishing and managing construction norms and construction project pricing.

Chapter II

METHODS FOR DETERMINING MAINTENANCE COSTS FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Article 4. Methods for determining maintenance costs of works

1. Method based on budget estimate according to volume and unit price.

Based on the volume of work carried out according to the maintenance plan and corresponding unit prices for each item of work to prepare a budget estimate for expenses related to: monitoring works; regular and emergency repairs of works; quality inspection of works.

2. Method based on percentage norms.

This method is applied to determine expenses for tasks such as: preparing a maintenance plan for works; regular, periodic, and emergency inspections of works; maintenance of works; establishing and managing maintenance records of works (collectively referred to as maintenance expenses).

Article 5. Determination of expenses in implementing maintenance of works

1. Expenses for drafting, reviewing, or auditing maintenance procedures.

Expenses for drafting maintenance procedures are included in technical design costs (for projects requiring three-step design) or construction drawing design costs (for projects requiring two-step and one-step design).

Expenses for reviewing or auditing construction maintenance procedures are included in the costs for reviewing or auditing construction designs.

In cases where works are in use but have not yet established maintenance procedures as stipulated in Article 15 of Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP, the expenses for drafting and reviewing or auditing maintenance procedures shall be determined according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Construction on preparing budget estimates for investment consulting services for construction works.

2. Maintenance expenses for works (including expenses for drafting maintenance plans for works, regular, periodic, and emergency inspections of works, expenses for establishing and managing maintenance records of works).

Maintenance expenses for works include expenses for monitoring, caring, and minor repairs (such as replacing exhaust fans, patching potholes, replacing concrete roof slabs, replacing pipe valves, etc.), maintaining equipment (excluding central air conditioning systems and central gas systems) installed in works (such as replacing bolts, changing transformer oil, maintaining local air conditioners) are determined according to the percentage norms at Appendix 1 attached hereto relative to construction costs and equipment costs of the works (excluding technological equipment of the works) calculated based on the investment capital of similar level works at the time of drafting the maintenance plan.

For maintenance expenses for technological equipment of works (including central air conditioning systems and central gas systems), the expenses for this part of work are determined based on the maintenance procedures provided by the equipment suppliers.

3. Monitoring expenses for works that require monitoring.

These expenses are determined according to the current guidelines of the Ministry of Construction on preparing and managing surveying and construction costs.

4. Quality inspection expenses when necessary.

These expenses are determined according to the current guidelines of the Ministry of Construction on quality inspection, supervision, and certification of structural safety and compliance with quality standards for construction works.

5. Regular and emergency repair expenses for works.

Regular repair expenses for works (medium and major repairs) are prepared using the volume and unit price method. The method of preparing the budget estimate follows the guidelines of the Ministry of Construction on preparing and managing investment construction costs for works.

In cases where regular replacement of technological equipment of works is required, the expenses for this part of work are determined based on the requirements for repair and replacement in the maintenance procedures provided by the equipment suppliers.

In cases of emergency repairs, they shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Government Decree No. 71/2005/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2005, on managing special construction investment projects.

A consolidated table of maintenance expenses for works as guided in Appendix 2 attached hereto.

Chapter III

MANAGEMENT OF MAINTENANCE EXPENSES FOR WORKS

Article 6. Management of maintenance costs for construction projects funded by state budget

1. For regular and emergency repair work on projects and equipment with a value less than VND 500 million, the owner or the authorized person shall organize the preparation and decision-making of the cost estimate according to the contents stipulated in point a, Clause 4, Article 10 of Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP.

2. In cases where regular and emergency repair work on projects and equipment has a value of VND 500 million or more, an economic-technical report or an investment project for construction must be prepared. The owner or the authorized person is responsible for organizing the preparation, submission for review, and approval according to the regulations on construction project management. The content of the economic-technical report and the investment project for construction shall comply with current regulations.

3. The owner or the authorized person is responsible for organizing the preparation and review (if they have the necessary conditions and capacity) or hiring organizations or individuals with sufficient capacity and expertise to prepare and review the supplementary or adjusted construction cost norms and unit prices according to the content in Clause 3, Article 3 of this Circular or to review the maintenance cost estimate before the owner or the authorized person approves it.

4. The owner or the authorized person is responsible for managing the funds for maintenance implementation and settling and finalizing maintenance costs based on the terms agreed upon in the contract with the organization or individual performing the maintenance work.

5. It is encouraged that owners or legally authorized persons for projects not funded by the state budget implement maintenance activities according to the contents in Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Article.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 7. Implementation Organization

1. The investor shall organize the establishment of maintenance procedures during the design phase of the project, organize reviews or verifications as a basis for approval before acceptance for operation.

For construction projects of ongoing investment projects that have not established maintenance procedures, the investor must organize the establishment, review, or verification of maintenance procedures for the project. The costs of these tasks shall be added to the consulting fees for the construction project within the total investment of the project.

In cases where construction projects have been put into operation but do not have maintenance procedures, the owner or the legally authorized person shall organize the establishment, review, and approval of the maintenance procedures and costs.

2. After the construction project is put into operation, the owner or the authorized person is responsible for preparing the annual maintenance plan according to the approved maintenance procedure and the annual maintenance costs, including regular repair costs for projects due for repair according to the maintenance plan.

3. The source of maintenance funding shall be implemented according to the provisions of Article 19 of Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP.

4. The payment of maintenance costs shall be carried out according to the provisions of Article 20 of Decree No. 114/2010/NĐ-CP.

Article 8. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from February 1, 2013.

During implementation, if there are any difficulties, organizations and individuals are requested to send their opinions to the Ministry of Construction for research and resolution./.