The Hanoi People’s Committee has recently submitted a document to the government seeking the latter’s guidance on pressing ahead with the public procurement procedures for goods and services, which would later be financed by the state budget.

A BRT bus in Hanoi. Photo: Hai Linh.

Under the document, Hanoi is responsible for informing the central government of a list of public goods and products that would be purchased since January 1, 2020.

To date, local authorities have completed the procurement procedure for a number of public goods and services. However, there remain a few whose procurement procedures could not be completed before December 31, 2019 for the provision of these goods and services to start on January 1, 2020.

These included public transportation vehicles, works on environmental hygiene, water drainage, and irrigation services, among others. 

To ensure the continuity of provision of public services and goods and social welfare during the period from early 2020 until the completion of procurement procedure, public services providers continue to carry out their works with funds allocated from the regular spending of 2019.

However, under the current regulations, these works could not be paid if they are procured without tendering, causing difficulties for services providers in operation and paying salaries for their employees.

Therefore, the municipal People’s Committee suggests the government allow Hanoi to use its budget to finance the amount of works already done. In this case, the price would not be higher than the one paid for the same work last year.