Decision No. 3399/QD-BTC On the issuance of regulations on procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools, goods, and services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the issuance of regulations on procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools, goods, and services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

- Pursuant to Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP dated July 1, 2003 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

- Pursuant to Decree No. 88/1999/ND-CP dated September 1, 1999 of the Government promulgating the Tendering Regulations; Decree No. 14/2000/ND-CP dated May 5, 2000 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of the Tendering Regulations issued together with Decree No. 88/1999/ND-CP dated September 1, 1999; Decree No. 66/2003/ND-CP dated June 12, 2003 amending and supplementing certain articles of the Tendering Regulations issued together with Decree No. 88/1999/ND-CP dated September 1, 1999 and Decree No. 14/2000/ND-CP dated May 5, 2000 of the Government;

- Pursuant to Circular No. 121/2000/TT-BTC dated December 29, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of tendering for procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, and working tools for state agencies, armed forces, mass organizations, and state-owned enterprises using state budget funds;

- To strengthen management and use of state budget funds and other lawful sources economically and effectively in accordance with the characteristics of activities and specialized tasks of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the Director of the Financial Management Department, the Director of the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department, and the Head of the Ministry's Office,

DECISION:

Article 1. The attached regulations on procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools, goods, and services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance are hereby issued.

Article 2. This Decision takes effect from the date of signature. All previous guidance documents on procurement or tendering for procurement of goods and services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance are abolished.

Article 3. The Directors of the Financial Management Department, the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department, the Head of the Ministry's Office, the Heads of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance, and the Heads of related units are responsible for implementing this Decision.

REGULATIONS

Procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools

and goods, services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance

(Issued together with Decision No.: 3399/QD-BTC dated October 3, 2005 of the Minister of Finance)

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS:

Article 1. Procurement of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools, and goods, services in units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as procurement or tendering for procurement of goods, services) aims to select suppliers of goods and services with sufficient capacity, enhance economic efficiency, save costs, ensure competitiveness, fairness, transparency, prevent negative behaviors in the procurement of goods and services by organizations and individuals, and increase the initiative of unit heads in the use of state budget funds and other lawful sources of funding.

Article 2. All units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance using state budget funds, retained proceeds from public service revenues according to regulations, other lawful sources, and domestic and foreign organization grants (if there are no binding conditions) when procuring various types of office supplies, materials, equipment, working tools, and goods, services must strictly comply with state regulations and the provisions of these regulations, specifically:

- For procurement of goods and services with a single price or total value of 200 million VND or more for a single procurement (a tender package) of similar or compatible goods, except in specific cases, must be conducted through tendering in accordance with Circular No. 121/2000/TT-BTC dated December 29, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the provisions of these regulations.

- For procurement of goods and services with a single price or total value below 200 million VND, the heads of units decide on the appropriate procurement method, ensuring effectiveness, and are responsible for their decisions. It is encouraged that units apply tendering methods specified in Circular 121/2000/TT-BTC and the provisions of these regulations.

Article 3. These regulations do not apply to the following cases:

- Repair, renovation, expansion of office premises, lecture halls, dormitories, warehouses, and other auxiliary facilities with construction characteristics.

- Construction of office premises and procurement of materials and equipment linked to investment projects as regulated in other documents on investment and construction management.

- Procurement of national reserve goods.

- Procurement of goods and services through international tendering.

Article 4. Tasks of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance:

1. The Financial Management Department has the task of assisting the Minister of Finance in compiling, guiding, inspecting, and supervising all matters related to procurement or tendering for procurement of goods and services of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance in accordance with regulations.

2. The Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department has the task of assisting the Minister of Finance in guiding, inspecting, and supervising technical standards and configurations for procurement or tendering for procurement of information technology goods and services of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance in accordance with regulations.

3. The heads of units and organizations directly under the Ministry of Finance and the Team Leaders of Tendering Expert Teams are personally and comprehensively responsible for organizing and implementing procurement or tendering for procurement of goods and services in accordance with current state regulations and the provisions of these regulations.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Article 5. Scope and list of goods subject to tendering:

1. Information technology goods and services:

- Computers, printers, network equipment, transmission equipment, and other types of equipment.

- Intellectual property rights, system software, development software, pre-installed software, upgrades to existing software, and other computer application programs.

- Types of services: consulting, design, project proposal and project development; guidance, training, technology transfer; repair, upgrade, warranty, maintenance of information technology equipment.

- Other types of information technology goods and services.

2. Other types of goods and services:

- Desks, chairs, filing cabinets, beds, student desks.

- Various machines and equipment: photocopiers, paper cutters, fax machines, air conditioners, sound equipment, projectors, and other office equipment.

- Transportation means such as: various types of cars, ships, boats, motorcycles, money carts, money transfer vehicles, and other transportation means for work purposes.

- Repair and maintenance services (air conditioners, photocopiers, paper cutters, printers, and other types), insurance services, regular supply of office supplies (ink for printers, ink for photocopiers, photocopy paper, and other types), and other types of services.

- Machines and equipment such as: special and dedicated equipment, banknote counters and bundlers; safes; cash inspection and protection equipment, valuable seals, gold, silver, precious stones; machinery and equipment for weighing, measuring, counting, and storing reserve goods, and other types.

- Printing services: invoices, receipts, seals, publications, forms, ledgers, documents, and seals such as payment orders, checks, promissory notes, bonds, various fee tickets, commodity stamps, and other types.

- Uniforms for civil servants and officials serving professional work (including purchasing materials and tailoring).

- Industrial property rights, technological property rights.

- Other assets serving professional work.

In cases where special seals, treasury alarm systems, and military-use weapons of Tax Departments, State Treasuries, and Customs are purchased through limited bidding (or designated bidding) to ensure confidentiality regulations, such actions must be approved by the Minister of Finance before the units organize and implement according to the provisions.

Article 6. Conditions for procurement or bidding for procurement of goods and services:

1. Units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance can only procure or bid for procurement of goods within the approved budget, in accordance with the approved content, and must meet the following conditions:

- There must be a state budget estimate approved by the competent authority.

- The content and list of goods and services to be procured must be approved by the competent authority.

- A bidding plan and tender dossier must have been approved by the authorized person or the competent authority according to the分级处理上述文本的翻译任务，确保每个段落都符合要求。继续翻译剩余部分：

2. For the procurement or bidding for procurement of information technology goods and services, in addition to the conditions stipulated in point 1 above, units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance when procuring or bidding for procurement must ensure uniformity in accordance with current national and Ministry of Finance management regulations on information technology.

Article 7. Methods of selecting contractors: Including open bidding and non-bidding procurement methods. Based on the written approval notice regarding the source of funds, content of goods and services to be procured for a fiscal year or implementation phase for each type of goods and services from the competent authority, the heads of units shall apply the method of selecting contractors in accordance with the regulations. Strictly prohibit the fragmentation of tenders to carry out procurement through non-bidding methods.

Article 8. Forms of bidding for procurement of goods and services:

1. Open bidding: This is the main form applied in bidding for procurement of goods and services. The minimum number of bidders required is five qualified bidders. In cases where the number of bidders does not meet the requirements, the head of the unit requiring procurement and the bidding expert team must submit for approval by the immediate superior administrative authority.

2. Limited bidding: This is a form of bidding where the bidder invites a certain number of qualified bidders (minimum three). The list of bidders participating must be approved by the head of the immediate superior administrative authority. This form can only be considered for application under one of the following conditions:

- Only a few bidders meet the requirements of the tender package;

- As required by the funding sponsor for the procurement;

- Due to specific circumstances of the tender package, limited bidding has advantages.

The head of the unit requiring procurement and the head of the bidding expert team must clearly explain the reasons for the occurrence of any of the above conditions along with the submission for approval of the bidding plan and tender dossier.

Article 9. Other procurement methods:

1. Competitive bidding: This is a method of selecting contractors based on the bidding documents submitted by bidders. Competitive bidding is applicable when procuring goods valued at less than 200 million VND without meeting the conditions for open bidding or designated bidding as prescribed. When implementing procurement through competitive bidding, each tender package must have at least three different bidders participating based on the bidding requirements of the bidder. If the number of bidders does not meet the requirement, the bidder must submit for decision by the authorized person or the competent authority. Bidding submissions can be made directly, via fax, postal service, or other means.

2. Direct procurement: This is a method of directly selecting contractors to provide regular goods or supplementary goods due to additional needs based on the results of bidding organized and implemented during the year. When procuring the aforementioned goods, it must ensure that the unit price of the goods does not exceed the unit price in the previously signed contract, and the contractor must prove their capability to execute the tender package. If market prices fluctuate, fail to meet pricing requirements, or if the previously signed contract price is no longer reasonable for direct procurement, the unit must organize a new tender package.

3. Designated bidding: This is a method of directly selecting a contractor who meets all the requirements of the tender package, specifically:

a. For tender packages valued at less than 1 billion VND (including software upgrades) in the following situations:

- Emergency procurement due to natural disasters, enemy threats, accidents, epidemics requiring immediate resolution, and other special procurement cases;

- Tender packages based on the requirements of funding agencies, designated by authorized decision-makers upon receiving written opinions from funding agencies and other relevant agencies;

- Goods produced exclusively by domestic enterprises with unified national prices. Goods produced exclusively by foreign companies and simultaneously having exclusive distribution rights in Vietnam;

- Special tender packages closely related to goods already supplied by a contractor, for which there is evidence proving that only that contractor can execute the tender package with the best quality and most reasonable cost;

When implementing direct designation for the above procurement cases, the Minister of Finance (through the Financial Management Department) immediately designates a competent contractor to timely perform the work and assumes responsibility for the decision. For information technology goods and services, the Financial Management Department must seek the opinion of the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department before submitting to the Minister of Finance for approval;

b. For tender packages valued at 1 (one) billion dong or more, if it is deemed necessary to designate a contractor, the Ministry of Finance will review the report and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision;

c. In the case of purchasing motorcycles, cars, and domestically produced and assembled equipment registered with copyrights and having unified national prices, direct designation procurement procedures may be applied without value limits for tender packages;

d. When procuring the aforementioned goods, if the agency or unit deems it unnecessary to designate a contractor and instead opts for other procurement methods such as bidding, competitive quotation, or direct purchase, they must report to the authorized person for permission to organize the bidding or procurement according to regulations;

đ. In applying direct designation procurement as stipulated above, the Inviting Party must clearly state the reasons for direct designation, the technical and financial capabilities of the proposed contractor, and the approved value of the procurement tender package;

Article 10. Conditions for participating in tendering: All units and organizations across all sectors and economic components participating in tendering must meet the following conditions:

- Possess a business registration certificate issued by the competent authority, with a business scope compatible with the tendered goods category. For complex goods tendered as specified in the tender invitation documents, in addition to the business registration certificate, a sales permit from the manufacturer's copyright must also be provided;

For scientific research institutions participating in tendering to provide goods in the form of software applications..., if they do not have a business registration certificate, they must have functions and tasks recorded in their establishment decision that match the content and requirements of the tender package;

- Possess sufficient professional technical capacity; ability to supply and warranty goods (for goods requiring warranty) and financial conditions meeting the requirements of the tender package;

- The tender submission must comply with the provisions of the tender invitation documents;

- Only participate in one tender submission in one tender package, whether as a sole bidder or a consortium bidder. If a State-owned Enterprise submits a bid, its affiliated units (subsidiaries) are not allowed to participate as independent contractors in the same tender package;

- The Inviting Party shall not participate as a bidder in the tender packages organized by itself;

- Consultants shall not participate in bidding for tender packages for which they have provided consultancy services;

Article 11. Bidding organization costs: The Inviting Party may sell tender invitation documents at a price determined by the authorized person or competent authority. For domestic bidding, the price of one set of tender invitation documents shall not exceed 500,000 dong. For international bidding, international practices shall apply;

Bidding organization and evaluation costs for the purchasing entity can be funded from the sale of tender invitation documents and managed according to current regulations. If revenue does not cover expenses, the entity's funds shall be used to implement and included in the value of the purchased goods in the tender package;

Article 12. Authority to approve the establishment of the Bid Evaluation Committee, bidding plan, tender invitation documents, and to review and approve the results of goods and information technology service procurement tenders as follows:

1. For specialized systems under the Ministry of Finance: General Taxation Department, State Treasury, General Customs Department, National Reserve Corporation, Securities Commission implements as follows:

- Heads of provincial-level units and budgetary units under the General Departments, including: Department Directors and equivalents, Provincial State Treasury Directors, Regional National Reserves, and heads of budgetary units under the Securities Commission approve procurement tenders for goods and information technology services with a total value of less than 500 million dong per procurement;

- General Department Directors, General Managers, National Reserve Corporation Department Directors, Securities Commission Chairmen approve procurement tenders for goods and information technology services with a total value of from 500 million dong to less than 30,000 million dong per procurement;

- The Minister of Finance approves procurement tenders for goods and information technology services with a total value of from 30,000 million dong to less than 100,000 million dong per procurement. The Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department is responsible for reviewing and reporting to the Minister of Finance for approval;

- For values of 100,000 million dong or more per procurement, the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department is responsible for reviewing and reporting to the Minister of Finance for submission to the Prime Minister for approval;

2. For the Finance Academy, subordinate schools under the Ministry, the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department, and remaining administrative and public service units under the Ministry:

- Unit heads with procurement needs approve procurement tenders for goods and information technology services with a total value of less than 1,000 million dong per procurement.

- The Minister of Finance approves bidding for procurement of goods and services with a total value from 1,000 million VND to less than 100,000 million VND for a single procurement. The Department of Information Technology and Financial Statistics is responsible for reviewing and submitting to the Minister of Finance for approval.

- For values of 100,000 million dong or more per procurement, the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department is responsible for reviewing and reporting to the Minister of Finance for submission to the Prime Minister for approval;

3. The Minister of Finance approves bidding for procurement of all general software systems across the entire sector, software related between units within the sector, and overall advisory tasks. The Department of Information Technology and Financial Statistics is responsible for reviewing and submitting to the Minister of Finance for approval.

Article 13. The authority to approve the establishment of the bidding expert team, bidding plans, tender invitation documents, review and approve the results of bidding for other goods and services procurement is as follows:

1. For specialized systems under the Ministry of Finance: General Taxation Department, State Treasury, General Customs Department, National Reserve Corporation, Securities Commission implements as follows:

- Heads of provincial-level units and budgetary units under the General Department, including: Department Directors and equivalents, Provincial State Treasury Directors, Regional National Reserves, and heads of budgetary units under the Securities Commission approve bidding for procurement of goods and services with a total value under 500 million VND for a single procurement.

- General Directors, Directors of the National Reserve Department, and Chairmen of the Securities Commission approve bidding for procurement of goods and services with a total value from 500 million VND to less than 2,000 million VND for a single procurement.

- The Minister of Finance approves bidding for procurement of goods and services with a total value from 2,000 million VND to less than 100,000 million VND for a single procurement. The Administrative and Financial Affairs Department is responsible for reviewing and submitting to the Minister of Finance for approval.

- For values of 100,000 million VND or more for a single procurement, the Administrative and Financial Affairs Department is responsible for reviewing and reporting to the Minister of Finance for submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

2. For the Finance Academy, affiliated schools under the Ministry, the Administrative and Financial Affairs Department, and remaining administrative and public service units under the Ministry:

- The head of the unit requiring procurement approves bidding, tender invitation documents, reviews and approves the results of bidding for procurement of goods and services with a value under 500 million VND for a single procurement.

- The Minister of Finance approves bidding for procurement of goods and services with a value from 500 million VND to less than 100,000 million VND for a single procurement. The Administrative and Financial Affairs Department is responsible for reviewing and submitting to the Minister of Finance for approval.

- For values of 100,000 million VND or more for a single procurement, the Administrative and Financial Affairs Department is responsible for reviewing and reporting to the Minister of Finance for submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

Article 14. Procedures for implementing bidding work:

The procedures for implementing bidding work are unified among units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance when organizing bidding for procurement of goods and services. Heads of units classified according to their authority are responsible for organizing implementation and guiding the bidding expert team to follow the prescribed content and procedures, supplemented with additional content as necessary to meet the requirements of procurement work. In cases where changes are necessary, units must report to the Ministry of Finance (through the Administrative and Financial Affairs Department) for examination and approval before organizing implementation.

The content and procedures for implementing bidding work for procurement of goods and services are specified in detail in the attached appendix to this regulation.

Article 15. Bidding Expert Team: The bidding expert team is established in accordance with the classification regulations stipulated in Article 12 and Article 13 of this regulation, specifically:

1. The composition of the bidding expert team is defined based on the principle of odd numbers and uniformity as follows:

- Team Leader: decided by the head of the unit requiring procurement.

- Deputy Team Leader: from one to two members, including: leaders of the asset management department (or user department) and the financial-accounting department of the unit. In the case of bidding for procurement of information technology goods and services, the leader of the asset management department (or user department) can be replaced by the leader of the information technology department of the unit.

- Members: from three to five members, including staff from departments such as finance-accounting, asset management, and specialized technical departments of the unit requiring procurement and using goods and services. If necessary, the head of the unit requiring procurement may invite experts outside their own management.

- Secretary: designated among the above members.

2. In the case of bidding for procurement of goods and services, if it is deemed necessary to establish an independent advisory team (maximum not exceeding three people) or hire an advisory unit, the head of the unit requiring procurement must submit to the superior management authority for approval. The independent advisory team or hired advisory unit has the responsibility to advise the head of the unit requiring procurement during the planning of bidding, preparation of tender invitation documents, evaluation of tender documents, and does not have the right to participate in voting to score bids.

3. The bidding expert team operates on a part-time basis, and after completing the bidding procurement process, the bidding expert team will dissolve itself. All members of the bidding expert team must strictly keep confidential all information of bidding units and internal information of the bidding round. Members of the bidding expert team are personally responsible for all opinions they provide during the bidding process, and any violations will be handled according to the law.

Article 16. Implementation of bidding results: Based on the decision approving the bidding results, the direct procurement unit organizes the successful bidder to negotiate the contract according to the provisions in the tender invitation documents, and the contract value shall not exceed the approved winning bid value. If negotiations for contract terms fail (cannot be implemented), the direct procurement unit reports to the authorized person or authority to invite the next ranked bidder to negotiate the contract.

Article 17. In cases of complaints or disputes related to the organization of bidding, within ten days from the date of notification of the bidding results, units with complaints or disputes must submit their opinions to the competent authority for examination and resolution.

III. IMPLEMENTATION:

Article 18. Heads of units and organizations under the Ministry of Finance are fully responsible for procurement and bidding procurement of goods and services within their management scope.

Article 19. The Financial Management Department, the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department shall be responsible for periodically or unexpectedly inspecting and supervising procurement activities or tendering for procurement of goods and services of units and systems under the Ministry of Finance in accordance with the tasks prescribed in Article 3 of this Regulation and compiling reports to the Minister of Finance.

Article 20. Annually, the heads of units and organizations under the Ministry shall be responsible for compiling and submitting reports on the implementation of tendering activities to the Ministry of Finance (the Financial Management Department and the Information Technology and Financial Statistics Department for tendering procurement of goods and information technology services) before December 20th for compilation and reporting to the Ministry of Finance as stipulated.

During the process of implementation, if there are any difficulties, units are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance (Financial Management Department) for consideration and resolution./.