Lieutenant Colonel Vu Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Economic Police Department (C03), stated that the department is currently coordinating with the Government Inspectorate to review and handle records related to violations at the two hospital projects.

According to the Government Inspectorate’s findings, the investor submitted proposals, which were then approved by the Minister of Health, allowing the hiring of a foreign consultancy to prepare the project plans. At that time, the Management Board for Key Health Projects (established by ministerial decision) presented a report stating:

"The hospital construction must be designed and built with flexible architectural solutions and new materials that are compatible with the increasing variety and technological advancement of medical equipment. Therefore, domestic consulting firms do not meet the required standards, making it necessary to hire a foreign consultancy."

However, the board did not provide any supporting documents to justify the claim that domestic consultants were incapable of meeting the project’s demands or that hiring a foreign firm was essential.

The Government Inspectorate noted that prior to this, a domestic consulting firm had already successfully provided planning and technical design consulting for a large-scale project - specifically, the 1,500-bed General Hospital in Binh Duong Province, which was approved by the Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee.

The approval of a policy to hire a foreign consultant without sufficient evidence to disqualify domestic firms violated Point C, Clause 1, Article 13 of the 2005 Bidding Law. Furthermore, the failure to prove the necessity of hiring a foreign consultant breached the principles outlined in Article 2, Clause 1 of the Regulations on Hiring Foreign Consultants in Construction Activities in Vietnam.

Unlawful directive

The Government Inspectorate pointed out that although the Director of the Key Health Projects Management Board had only proposed a policy to hire foreign consultants for project planning, the Minister of Health went further by approving the hiring of foreign consultants for both project planning and design in Decision No. 996/QD-BYT - even before the projects were officially approved and without any recommendation to do so.

In May 2014, the Ministry of Health issued a notice detailing the outcome of an April 16, 2014 working session, during which ministry leaders assessed a site visit to hospitals designed by VK Company in Belgium and others in Germany. Based on this report, Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien concluded:

"Based on the delegation’s report, selecting VK Company (Kingdom of Belgium) - a firm that has designed large-scale hospital projects similar to Bach Mai and Viet Duc - is appropriate.

Regarding the timeline, the Project Management Board is instructed to coordinate with VK Company to outline the project implementation schedule. By the end of May 2014, a design concept should be finalized, with full project documentation and preliminary designs completed from June to September 2014."

This conclusion effectively appointed VK Company as the consulting unit before any formal bidding process had taken place. In reality, the project planning bid selection schedule was only approved by the board's director on June 26, 2014, after which the selection process began.

According to the Government Inspectorate, this action violated Chapter 2 of the 2005 Bidding Law. The approval and implementation of foreign consultancy hiring were carried out subjectively, deliberately favoring VK Company without proper assessment of the capacity or experience of domestic consultants. This constituted a serious violation of Vietnamese bidding laws and regulations regarding the hiring of foreign consultants in construction activities.

The Government Inspectorate affirmed that responsibility lies with the Minister of Health, the Director of the Key Health Projects Management Board, the Department of Medical Equipment and Health Works, and other relevant units and individuals directly involved.

T. Nhung