The Ministry of Education and Training Inspectorate Information Portal (MOET) posted inspection conclusion No. 38/KL-TTr signed by Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuong, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Education and Training, on the inspection of the Investment Project to purchase training equipment using national target program funds for the University of Education, Hue University.
According to the inspection conclusion, the investor of the above project is the University of Education, Hue University. The total estimated investment is 12,500,000,000 VND. The funding source is from the state budget (National Target Program on Education and Training). The implementation period is 2014.
According to the Inspection Conclusion, the above project has 3 bidding packages including: Bid package 01: Investment in purchasing equipment for pedagogical professional rooms; Bid package 02: Investment in purchasing shared equipment, network infrastructure, support tools and system software for information technology application; Bid package 03: Investment in purchasing equipment to innovate teaching methods for geography and chemistry.
Notably, package 01 is related to contractor AIC. Some contents in the inspection decision are as follows:
Regarding the process of preparing, appraising and approving bidding documents as follows:
The school hired a consulting unit to prepare bidding documents for package 01 according to the shortened bidding procedure.
When implementing the shortened bidding process, the school did not negotiate the contract as prescribed.
When submitting to the principal for signing and promulgating Decision No. 1750/QD-DHSP dated November 13, 2014 approving the bidding documents for the project packages, including Package No. 01, the submitted documents did not include a request for approval of the bidding documents and a decision to approve the plan for selecting contractors for the consulting package to prepare bidding documents according to regulations.
Regarding contractor selection and contract negotiation:
The bid opening minutes prepared by the school do not include detailed assessments of the contents of the examination of the validity and completeness of the bid documents.
In some contents of the scope of supply in the bidding documents of 03 contractors, including: High Technology Consulting Joint Stock Company (hereinafter abbreviated as HTC Company), Mopha Joint Stock Company (hereinafter abbreviated as Mopha Company) and International Progress Joint Stock Company (hereinafter abbreviated as AIC Company), there are some spelling errors as well as similar presentation.
"However, there is not enough basis to conclude that there is an "Agreement for one or more parties to prepare bidding documents for the bidding parties so that one party wins the bid" between the above-mentioned Companies, as a basis to determine that there is a violation of the provisions in Point b, Clause 3, Article 89 of the Law on Bidding", the inspector stated.
The bid evaluation report for Package No. 01 only includes an evaluation of the bid of AIC Company, and no evaluation of the other two bidders.
The appraisal report of the bidding results of the Appraisal Team for Package No. 01 has violations of the provisions of Circular No. 08/2010/TT-BKHDT of the Ministry of Planning and Investment as follows:
Legal documents when evaluating contractor selection results do not include documents approving the list of contractors meeting technical requirements or documents approving the list of contractor rankings.
The time to prepare bidding documents for Package No. 1 is 11 days, which is not in accordance with the provisions in Point e, Clause 1, Article 12 of the Law on Bidding.
The school did not post information on the contractor selection plan as prescribed in Point a, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Bidding, Article 7 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP.
The content of the Report on appraisal of contractor selection results does not include an assessment of the assurance of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency in the contractor selection process as prescribed in Point c, Clause 4, Article 106 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP.
On December 8, 2014, the University sent 3 official dispatches to the companies announcing the results of contractor selection (Official dispatch No. 1957/DHSP to AIC Company, Official dispatch No. 1958/DHSP to HTC Company, Official dispatch No. 1959/DHSP to Mopha Company). However, the official dispatches sent to the above companies did not fully comply with the provisions of Clause 6, Article 20 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP.
Regarding contract signing, contract performance; advance payment, payment, liquidation, contract settlement; product acceptance and handover:
On December 29, 2014, AIC Company issued Official Letter No. 2555/AIC-BQL&PTDA4 notifying the progress of the implementation of Economic Contract No. 10-12/2014 HDKT-DHSP/AIC to the School requesting consideration of extending the delivery time on the grounds that the delivery and installation time coincided with the end of the year (New Year and Christmas), causing the production, transportation and handover of equipment to be delayed. However, AIC Company did not have documents from equipment manufacturers as evidence attached to Official Letter No. 2555a/AIC-BQL&PTDA4.
The fact that the School only relied on the request of AIC Company in Official Dispatch No. 2555a/AIC-BQL&PTDA4 and did not request to present evidence of delays in the production and transportation of equipment. Therefore, the School's signing of an appendix to extend the implementation time of the Package 1 contract with AIC Company is not fully proven in practice.
The contract of Package 01 requires the seller to provide detailed operating and maintenance manuals for each type of equipment supplied and to instruct the buyer's personnel on the installation and commissioning of the supplied machinery and equipment. Therefore, the seller's responsibility is to provide training and instructions for use to the buyer. However, the school does not have any documents proving that AIC Company has provided training and instructions for use to the buyer.
