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The office of Can Tho City CDC. (Photo: SGGP) |
On February 18, the Can Tho City Police Investigation Agency stated that they had initiated legal proceedings in the case of "violating regulations on bidding, causing serious consequences" related to Viet A Company.
Previously, in June 2022, the Inspectorate of Can Tho City issued a report on the inspection conclusions regarding the procurement and use of medical equipment, materials, and supplies at the Can Tho City Health Department, the Can Tho City Center for Disease Control (CDC Can Tho), and related agencies and units in the area.
Specifically, the Inspectorate conducted inspections on 413 out of 576 bidding packages, with a value of over VND238 billion, regarding the procurement and use of equipment, materials, and vehicles for Covid-19 prevention and control, as well as various types of Covid-19 rapid diagnostic and biological tests.
As for the procurement at the Can Tho City Health Department, the Inspectorate pointed out that the department's borrowing and signing of advance purchase agreements with the contractor and then designating the winner of the bid did not comply with the bidding rules; the selection of contractors for some bidding packages did not meet the capacity requirements; some bidding packages did not complete all steps for bid designation according to the shortened process and did not publicly announce the results of contractor selection.
The responsibility for the limitations and shortcomings lies with the Deputy Director in charge of the department, the Planning and Finance Division under the department, the Deputy Director, who is also the Head of the Procurement Unit, and the members of the unit.
The procurement process of Can Tho City CDC appears to have several limitations and shortcomings. For instance, the product proposal from Viet A Company was made without stating the criteria used for selection, while the Ministry of Health had advertised several other test kits. Some bidding packages lacked cost estimates and contractor selection plans. The application of equipment prices according to the appraisal certificate is not suitable in terms of time.
It prepared the bidding documents without specifying evaluation criteria; the contractor appointments by Can Tho City CDC show signs of intentionally favoring Viet A Company and Hop Nhat Company in implementing the bidding package to legalize procurement documents. The price setting without referring to market prices leads to price differences, causing losses to the State budget.
From the inspection results, the Chief Inspector of Can Tho City proposed to transfer to the investigation agency five bidding packages for procurement of test kits manufactured by Viet A Company, appointed by the Can Tho CDC.
These bidding packages showed signs of intentionally choosing products of Viet A Company and appointing Hop Nhat Company as the supplier and legalizing the procurement documents to make payments to the contractor not in compliance with legal regulations, violating the bidding regulations, causing serious consequences, and leading to losses to the State budget.
At the same time, the Chief Inspector also proposed to transfer to the investigation agency a procurement package of test kits manufactured by Viet A Company, appointed by Can Tho General Hospital, with signs of irresponsible behavior resulting in serious consequences in the procurement process, and a procurement package for a digital mobile X-ray machine to serve the Covid-19 prevention and control at the Traditional Medicine Hospital that violated bidding regulations.
