Under the Vietnamese Law, especially Decision No. 03 dated January 16, 2012 of Prime Minister regarding to amendment of Decision No. 87/2004/QD-TTg dated May 19, 2004 of the Prime Minister promulgating the Regulation on management of operations of foreign contractors in the construction domain in Vietnam, foreign contractors working in Vietnam in designing general contractors; work constructiongeneral contractors; work designing and construction general contractors; general contractors for work designing, technological equipment provision and work construction; general contractors for formulation of work construction investment projects, work designing, technological equipment provision and work construction have to apply for Contracting License.
Conditions for being granted contracting licenses
To be granted contracting licenses, foreign contractors must satisfy the following conditions and requirements:
For bidding packages subject to compulsory application of the provisions of the Vietnamese bidding legislation:
- Having won biddings or having been selected for contracting.
- Having signed contracts.
For bidding packages not subject to compulsory application of the provisions of the Vietnamese bidding legislation:
- Having won biddings or having been selected for contracting.
- Having signed contracts.
- Having full capability suitable to contracted works according to Vietnamese law provisions.
In all cases of being contracted (as a result of winning bids or being selected as contractors), foreign contractors shall have to enter into partnership with Vietnamese contractors or employ Vietnamese subcontractors (except for cases permitted by the Prime Minister or provided for by Vietnamese laws).
They must commit to fully observe the Vietnamese law provisions concerning contracting activities in Vietnam.
Dossiers of application for contracting licenses
To be considered for grant of contracting licenses in Vietnam, foreign contractors must send directly or indirectly their registration dossiers to competent agencies.
A dossier of application for contracting license comprises:
a/ An application for contracting license (made according to the form guided by the Construction Ministry).
b/ A copy of the document on the bidding result or the decision on selection of the contractor or the lawful contract.
c/ Copies of the establishment license and the company's charter (or the business registration certificate, for organizations; the consultancy practice license, for individuals) and the practice certificate granted by the country of which the foreign contractor bears the nationality.
d/ The report on operation experiences related to contracted works and the financial audit report for the latest 3 years (for the cases mentioned in Clause 2, Article 4 of this Regulation).
e/ The partnership contract with a Vietnamese contractor or the written commitment to employ Vietnamese subcontractors to perform the contracted works (already included in the bid dossier or tender dossier).
f/ The lawful authorization letter, for persons other than the contractor's representative at law.
Applications for contracting licenses must be made in Vietnamese. Other foreign papers and documents must be consularly legalized (except otherwise provided for by Vietnamese laws or international agreements which Vietnam has signed or acceded to). Papers and documents in foreign languages must be translated into Vietnamese and the translations must be notarized or authenticated according to Vietnamese laws.
Competent Authority to issue the Contracting License
The Ministry of Construction grant, withdraw the Contracting License in cases where foreign contractors undertake bidding packages of group-A projects.
The provincial/municipal Construction Services is authorized by People’s Committee to grant and withdraw contracting licenses in cases where foreign contractors undertake bidding packages under group-B or group-C projects in their localities.
Time limits for granting contracting licenses
Competent State agencies shall examine dossiers before granting contracting licenses to foreign contractors within 15 working days after receiving the complete and valid dossiers. In case of refusal to grant licenses, the agencies competent to grant contracting licenses must reply the contractors in writing, clearly stating the reasons therefore.
