On the afternoon of May 23, at the plenary session at the National Assembly hall, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang gave an explanation of the major contents in the draft Law on Bidding (amended).
Need to strictly control, avoid abusing bidding regulations
According to the Minister of Finance, this draft Law proposes to allow the appointment of bids in some necessary cases, especially in urgent circumstances such as natural disasters, epidemics, national defense and security, or when investors do not increase the total investment and are eligible for control.
However, the Minister emphasized the viewpoint of "not always being involved in selecting bidding appointments", it is impossible to let the abuse of this mechanism be used as a way to "auction" while the Law sets the goal of publicity, transparency, and competition.
"Bidding regulations must also have strict conditions, and a clear inspection and supervision mechanism. People choose to do the easy things first, while the difficult things are pushed together, which is very dangerous for the apparatus" - Mr. Thang said.
Citing the direction of General Secretary To Lam, "officials must dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common good, but must not do it recklessly or recklessly. It must be based on legal principles, for work efficiency, avoid stagnation due to fear of mistakes, the Minister said that this is the guideline for perfecting the amended Bidding Law, in which the mechanism for appointing bids needs to be designed with clear responsibility, transparent procedures and strict post-inspections.
Do not let "fear of mistakes" become an excuse for failure to act, remove obstacles for bidding in the health sector
Recently, the problem of bidding for drugs and medical equipment has caused many bottlenecks for the health sector. Regarding this issue, the Minister emphasized the viewpoint that it is necessary to create conditions for medical units to be financially autonomous and proactive in procurement and bidding.
"We cannot let doctors waste time examining to go through bidding procedures and buy materials. Autonomous hospitals must be given the right to bid, the Ministry of Health plays the role of guiding and developing the list, and cannot take all the work on itself" - the Minister stated.
To do this, he affirmed that it is necessary to change the thinking in medical bidding: not only choose low prices but also choose suitable products in terms of quality and technical expertise, to better serve patients.
A reality that many delegates raised in the National Assembly was the mentality of "fear of mistakes, fear of responsibility" that made many officials not dare to decide, thereby causing a deadlock in project implementation.
According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, partly because the law is unclear, but some officials are also afraid of collisions.
" don't do anything difficult, do something solid. Not daring to decide or take responsibility is a huge obstacle" - Mr. Thang said and affirmed that the law must be clear and strict enough to serve as a basis for implementation, but must also give reasonable authority to the person implementing it, and at the same time have an effective inspection and supervision mechanism to avoid laxity or "iding from work".
Minister Nguyen Van Thang pledged that the Ministry of Finance will fully absorb comments from National Assembly deputies, coordinate with ministries and branches to complete the draft Law on Bidding (amended). Thereby, ensuring feasibility, transparency, limiting negativity and promoting public investment disbursement, especially in essential areas such as healthcare, infrastructure, and social security.
