HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly Standing Committee on Wednesday reviewed a draft rewrite of the Law on Bidding, which would give project owners far more discretion in picking contractors and shift the focus from procedural compliance to quality and results.

Lawmakers broadly backed the direction, but urged drafters to define who bears final responsibility for decisions and to protect competition as controls are loosened.

Finance Minister Ngô Văn Tuấn said the draft would tighten enforcement on several fronts. A new price database, fed by tax and customs data, would supply market benchmarks to curb inflated bid prices, and price inflation would join the list of banned practices.

The 60-article draft would also let project owners choose how to select contractors and add 'competitive negotiation' for cases where technical requirements, technology solutions or prices are not fully defined.

Under the draft, direct contractor appointment would be expanded and details would be left to the Government. Several steps, including preliminary qualification and expressions of interest, would be cut, and two-stage bidding would be used less often.

The finance official also said enforcement would be tightened through tougher rules on illegal subcontracting and unauthorised transfer of contracts, a single oversight body and more data analysis and violation alerts on the national e-procurement system.

Under the draft, priority would be given to firms in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and green industries, as well as to small and medium-sized businesses.

The current law took effect on January 1, 2024, and has been revised five times. This revision is being drafted under a streamlined legislative procedure.

Phan Văn Mãi, chairman of the NA Economic and Finance Committee, said most members supported revising the law to cut administrative procedures and free up resources for investment.

Mãi said drafters should weigh the real-world impact of each major change, including what it would cost to comply with and what it would deliver, and consult widely before finalising the text.

Amendments should be confined to problems already well documented in practice, he said.

The legislative official also said the draft must draw clear limits on project owners' new autonomy. Without them, officials given decision-making power may become reluctant to use it.

The draft should also spell out its relationship with sector-specific laws to avoid overlap, he added.

Mãi also said open bidding should remain the default. Competitive negotiation, direct appointment and special-case procedures should be used only when truly necessary and subject to controls.

He called for a mechanism to keep bids for complex projects objectively comparable if two-stage bidding is dropped.

As for integrity, the committee representative asked drafters to tighten definitions of bid rigging and fraud and to address conflicts of interest from the point of bidding.

A 12-month restriction on bids from firms employing former executives of the project owner should be lifted only if other laws provide an equivalent safeguard, he said.

Mãi also said subcontracting must not change the main contractor's real role. Domestic preference rules should not restrict competition more than necessary and must comply with international commitments, he added.

Summing up the session, National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Hồng said drafters must draw clear lines between the bidding law and sector-specific legislation so the rewrite does not create overlaps or legal gaps.

She singled out the provisions that exempt certain areas from the law for particular scrutiny. The text must also be constitutional and compatible with Việt Nam's treaty commitments, she said. — VNS