Hanoi (VNA) – The 2023 Law on Bidding, which will take effect from January 1, 2ꦚ024, is expected to contribute to ensuring transparency and openness in bidding activities – an area that can pose risks of losses and economic waste if not tightly maꦕnaged.

Director of the Public Procurement Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment Tran Hao Hung said with significant amendments, the law will remove bottlenecks in the bidding process across sectors, especially challenges and obstacles in the procurement and bidding for drugs, chemicals, testing materials, and medical equipment. It will enhance the self-reliance and responsibility of public healthcare facilities in deciding the procurement of medicines and medical equipment, Hung said.   The law will allow public healthcare facilities to decide on selecting bidders for procurement packages funded by loans, excluding State-invested credit capital, ODA-re-lending loans, and concessional loans from foreign sponsors, thus contributing to ensuring transparency, openness, economic efficiency, and accountability in procurement activities using capital from State-owned enterprises, Hung noted. To prevent corruption in bidding activities, the law’s regulations regarding information disclosure and establishment of national database of contractors were amended, aiming to minimise cases of fraud, substandard goods, or products not meeting the demands, he went on. Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the Research Department for Social Issues of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Ho Cong Hoa said the addition of preferential mechanisms in selecting contractors and investors for environmentally friendly goods and services to the law will be an important motivation to promote sustainable bidding, which is one of the measures to increase the value of Vietnamese goods in the global supply chain./.