On June 30, 2023, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam issued Circular No. 14/2023/TT-BYT stipulating the process and procedure for building bidding package prices for procurement of goods and services in the field of medical devices at public health facilities (“Circular 14”). Circular 14 took effect on July 1, 2023, and will be valid through the end of 2023.

Circular 14 applies to the procurement of medical devices/equipment and their accessories, spare parts, and supplies, as well as related services of repair, maintenance, inspection, and calibration.

Under Circular 14, there are three methods of determining the price of bidding packages:

• Collecting quotations provided by suppliers of goods and services in the field of medical devices.
• Surveying the winning bid prices of similar goods and services on the national bidding network system (https://muasamcong.gov.vn).
• Using the results of price appraisal of a competent state agency that conducts price appraisal, or a specialized price appraisal enterprise.

Method (i) must be used first; the two remaining methods can be applied only after method (i) has been unsuccessful.

If the investor/procuring entity uses two or more methods to determine the price of bidding packages, it can select the highest price that is suitable to its financial capacity and professional requirements.

Circular 14 further sets out the specific step-by-step process to build prices for procuring products and services in the field of medical devices/equipment.

Transitional Provision

For bidding packages that have already approved a contractor selection plan before July 1, 2023, the approved contractor selection plan will be followed.

For bidding packages for which a contractor selection plan has been submitted by the investor/procuring entity but the plan has not yet been approved, the competent person can decide on the approval of the submitted plan or can request the investor/procuring entity to rebuild the bidding package price according to the provisions of Circular 14.