On July 7, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 274/2026/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and implementation measures of the Bidding Law regarding the selection of investors for business investment projects (“Decree 274”) to replace Government Decree No. 23/2024/ND-CP dated February 27, 2024 (“Decree 23”), Decree No. 115/2024/ND-CP dated September 16, 2024 (“Decree 115”), and Decree No. 225/2025/ND-CP dated August 15, 2025 (“Decree 225”). In general, Decree 274 inherits the provisions of Decree 23, Decree 115, and Decree 225, while adding several provisions to refine related matters.
1. Reducing the documentation components for business investment project approval
Decrees 23 and 115 stipulate that as a general principle, project approval (approval of project information, approval of bidding documents) requires the project to conform with relevant master plans and sector plans in accordance with the law on planning, as well as sector-specific and field-specific management laws. In essence, this provision requires the project to be consistent with all relevant planning, such as construction planning, land use planning, and relevant sector/field planning. This leads to excessively long project approval times in practice, causing substantial difficulties for both investors and state agencies.
Decree 274 provides that, as a matter of principle, a project only needs to comply with “one of the master plans within the national planning system pursuant to the law on planning” to satisfy the planning requirements for the approval of project information and bidding documents. In principle, this provision can be understood as a reduction of unnecessary investment conditions for investors, contributing to accelerating the project approval process and shortening project preparation time.
2. Adding financial capacity requirements and efficiency conditions for project implementation by investors in special cases
Decree 274 inherits the provisions of Decree 225 regarding investor selection in special cases, but adds requirements on investors' financial capacity and project execution conditions.
Specifically, Decree 274 adds a requirement that investors must be capable of arranging equity and raising loan capital in accordance with regulations, as well as meeting requirements on land-use efficiency or investment efficiency for sector, field, or local development. Among these, land-use efficiency or investment efficiency for sector, field, or local development is a mandatory element of the project proposal and evaluation criteria for projects that must be implemented immediately to meet urgent and critical needs regarding socio-economic development, national defense, and security.
3. Project information may only be adjusted prior to bidding and after the investor selection decision has been issued
Decree 274 introduces a provision allowing project information to be adjusted prior to organizing bidding: if an adjustment is required for one or several details in the document approving the business investment project information, and such adjustment leads to changes in the evaluation criteria of the invitation for bids or request for proposals (if any), the competent authority, agency, organization, or the investor shall prepare a request dossier for adjustment and submit it to the competent person for approval of the adjusted project information and subsequent publication.
Accordingly, as a general rule, project information may be adjusted prior to bidding, and thereafter may only be adjusted once the decision approving the investor selection results has been issued.
4. Adding regulations on handling land funds with land-attached assets classified as public property
For investment projects expected to be implemented on land funds with land-attached assets classified as public property that must be handled at agencies, organizations, or units pursuant to the law on management and use of public property, the expression of interest dossier shall include details regarding the sale of land-attached assets or the reimbursement of the residual value of land-attached assets that are demolished or destroyed in accordance with Clause 4, Article 51 of this Decree.
Investors must commit in their project implementation application dossier to paying the amount corresponding to the value of the public property as determined in the expression of interest dossier.
5. Roadmap for applying online investor selection
Instead of submitting project proposal dossiers directly to the competent authority, Decree 274 outlines the roadmap for implementing online investor selection procedures as follows:
- From January 1, 2027: Implement procedures for submitting project proposal dossiers (for projects proposed by investors that are not subject to investment policy approval) and carrying out procedures for expressions of interest on the National E-Procurement System.
- From April 1, 2027: Implement online investor selection for business investment projects applying open bidding and restricted bidding through single-stage one-envelope or single-stage two-envelope procedures on the System.
- For business investment projects that have not yet applied online investor selection under the above roadmap: Information regarding investor selection must still be publicly disclosed on the System in accordance with regulations.
Decree 274 takes effect on August 21, 2026.
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