The status quo and perspective for improvement of public works procurement performance in Vietnam

The public procurement sector plays a vital role in the economic development in developing countries such as Vietnam. However, public procurement activities usually perform poorly. This situation can be attributed to ineffective procedures and system (“hardware”) and human resource management (“software”), which occurs at every stage in project purchasing. The poor performance has reduced the effectiveness and efficiency of project delivery in the construction industry, causing delays, cost overruns, and defects in construction projects. This paper, through working experience and observation by the first author, problems of public procurement were obtained as hypotheses and then validated based on questionnaire surveys and CIS (Construction Industry Structure) model analysis. The survey results indicated a relative correlation with CIS model in description of current construction industry. The study aims to identify issues of public procurement at all stages: pre bid, bid information, evaluation, and award. Based on identified major problems and determined risks, the results are expected to provide a valuable perspective, and thus, to propose necessary strategies to deliver high performance, competition and transparency for the public procurement. In further studies, it is relevant to propose a new model for sustainable public procurement based on the best value approach.