Official letter No. 1744/BXD-KTXD dated May 18th, 2021 of the Ministry of Construction regarding guidelines on determination of costs of hiring foreign consultants

According to the Ministry of Construction’s opinions, Circular No. 07/2012/TT-BXD guiding the determination of costs of hiring foreign consultants on construction expired from December 30th, 2020 because its promulgation was based on Decision No. 131/2007/QD-TTg which is abrogated at Decision No. 36/2020/QD-TTg (takes effect from December 30th, 2020).

Accordingly, the determination of costs of hiring foreign consultants on construction after December 30th, 2020 shall be determined according to the following new regulations:

- With regard to a project of which total investment capital is approved according to Decree No. 68/2019/NĐ-CP , costs of hiring foreign consultants must not be 2 times higher than costs calculated according to the norms at Annex 2 enclosed with Circular No. 16/2019/TTBXD for the case of hiring foreign consultants coordinating with domestic consulting organizations.

- In case of hiring foreign consulting organization coordinating with domestic consulting organization or the foreign consulting organization wholly performs the consultation, costs of hiring foreign consultants shall be determined by making cost estimate based on tasks, expert cost and other related costs in line with international practices and regulations of Vietnam’s laws, and shall be reported to investment decision maker for approval.

- With regard to a project applying regulations on management of construction investment cost according to Decree No. 10/2021/ND-CP (takes effect from February 9th, 2021 and replaces Decree No. 68/2019/ND-CP), costs of hiring foreign consultants shall be determined based on data base on costs of hiring foreign consultants of similar works, projects in Vietnam or by making cost estimate according to Clause 3 Article 32 of this Decree.