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New Bidding Rules: Impact on EPC Contractors

3 min readFLAT LAW FIRM
Công trường xây dựng với cần cẩu tháp dưới bầu trời xanh

Contents

1. Overview

Vietnam's bidding legal framework has just undergone a major update:

  • Law No. 90/2025/QH15 amending the Law on Bidding — effective 01/7/2025.
  • Decree 214/2025/ND-CP guiding the Bidding Law, successively amended by Decrees 165/2026, 170/2026 and most recently Decree 349/2026/ND-CP — effective 09/9/2026.

For EPC (engineering–procurement–construction) contractors, this is not "the public investor's law" — most infrastructure, energy and industrial projects that Chinese/Vietnamese EPC contractors join go through bidding or are directly affected by these rules.

2. New points directly affecting EPC

2.1. Updated direct-contracting thresholds (Decree 349/2026)

Decree 349/2026/ND-CP updates the thresholds for direct contracting. EPC contractors must know the new thresholds to determine whether their package falls under open bidding, competitive chào hàng or direct contracting — each with different bidding strategy and margins.

2.2. Duty to update contract progress and subcontractor info (Decree 349/2026)

Notably, the decree adds duties to update contract implementation progress and subcontractor information. Under the EPC model — where the main contractor manages dozens of subcontractors — this reporting duty significantly increases the administrative compliance burden during execution.

2.3. Tighter capacity and experience conditions (Law 90/2025)

Law 90/2025/QH15 revises contractor selection rules, including capacity and experience assessment. EPC contractors — especially foreign contractors in consortium with Vietnamese partners — must re-examine how they evidence capacity under the new criteria.

2.4. Transitional provisions

Packages with approved contractor-selection plans before the new instruments' effective dates follow transitional provisions — but the "how far along means which law" boundary must be determined per package.

3. Practical impact on EPC contractors

  1. Higher compliance costs: progress and subcontractor update duties demand more professional contract administration — smaller contractors will feel the strain.
  2. Disqualification risk: missing new thresholds and selection methods → wrong filing → eliminated at the dossier stage.
  3. Subcontractor governance: subcontractor lists, capacity and progress are now updateable items — requiring tighter subcontract terms (audit rights, information duties).
  4. Opportunity: a more transparent framework curbing arbitrary direct contracting — genuinely capable contractors benefit long-term.

4. Immediate action items

  • ☐ Review the new frame: map Law 90/2025/QH15 and Decree 349/2026/ND-CP against current bidding procedures.
  • ☐ Update bid templates: evidence capacity and experience under the new criteria.
  • ☐ Build progress-update processes: assign owners for contract-progress and subcontractor-information reporting.
  • ☐ Review subcontracts: add information-provision and reporting-cooperation duties.
  • ☐ Check transitional treatment per ongoing package — old or new frame.

5. Open points to monitor

  • Detailed guidance on templates and frequency for progress and subcontractor updates — awaiting guiding instruments or practice.
  • How investors interpret and apply the new direct-contracting thresholds in specific selection plans.
  • Specific sanctions for update-duty breaches — monitor related sanction decrees.

6. Frequently asked questions

What is Law 90/2025/QH15 and when is it effective? The Law amending the Law on Bidding, effective 01/7/2025, revising contractor selection rules.

What's new in Decree 349/2026/ND-CP? Effective 09/9/2026, amending Decree 214/2025/ND-CP; updates direct-contracting thresholds and adds contract-progress and subcontractor-information update duties.

What should EPC contractors do now? Review bidding procedures under the new frame; update templates; build progress-reporting and subcontractor-governance processes; check transitional treatment per package.

EPC contractor needing a bidding-compliance review? Contact FLAT Law Firm.

7. Language versions

8. References

  • Law No. 90/2025/QH15 amending the Law on Bidding (effective 01/07/2025) (Vietnam).
  • Decree 214/2025/ND-CP; Decree 349/2026/ND-CP (effective 09/09/2026) (Vietnam).
  • Content cross-checked at the time of writing (28/9/2026).