Chương III Nghị định 15/2021/NĐ-CP: Khảo sát, lập, thẩm định và phê duyệt thiết kế xây dựng

Chapter III

SURVEY, FORMULATION, APPROVAL FOR CONSTRUCTION DESIGN

Section 1. CONSTRUCTION SURVEY

Article 25. Procedures for construction survey

1. Establish and approve the construction survey objectives.

2. Establish and approve the technical construction survey plan.

3. Carry out construction survey.

4. Inspect, grant acceptance and approve the technical construction survey result.

Article 26. Construction survey objectives

1. The plan on construction survey objectives is established for the survey activities, supporting the establishment of construction investment project, construction engineering plan, engineering plan on repair, renovation and expansion of works or supporting other survey activities relating to the construction.

2. The construction survey objectives shall be established by the designing contractor. In case the designing contractor has not been chosen or in other survey circumstances, the investment-decision maker or the investor or authority having competence to establish a PPP project may hire a qualified organization/individual to establish the plan on construction survey objectives.

3. The construction survey objectives shall be designated to the surveying contractor by the investor through the conclusion of an agreement on construction survey or designated to the designing contractor if the designing contractor performs both construction survey and construction design.

4. The plan on construction survey objectives shall include:

a) Targets of construction survey;

b) Scope of construction survey;

c) Requirements for application of technical regulations and standards on construction survey;

d) Estimate of activities for construction survey and cost estimate for construction survey activities (if any);

dd) Duration of construction survey.

5. The plan on construction survey objectives shall be modified if:

a) There are unusual factors that likely to affect the planned solution during the construction survey or there is change in engineering objectives that needs supplement in construction survey;

b) During the engineering planning process, the designing contractor discovers that the construction survey objectives and/or the construction survey report do not satisfy the engineering plan requirements;

c) During the construction process, a number of geological factors are determined unusual from the survey objectives approved by the investor or engineering contract that may affect the quality of construction and/or the measures for construction.

6. When establishing the survey, the designing contractor shall base on the survey objectives and the survey results of the previous engineering plan step and the result of relevant survey that is completed before (if any).

Article 27. Technical construction survey plan

1. The surveying contractor shall establish the technical construction survey plan according to the construction survey objectives.

2. The technical construction survey plan shall include:

a) Basis for establishing technical construction survey plan;

b) Specification of contents and loads construction survey task;

c) Measures, equipment and laboratories used for construction survey activities;

d) Technical regulations and standards on construction survey;

dd) Organization carrying the survey and measures for quality control for construction surveying contractor;

e) Surveying process;

g) Measures for ensuring the safety of human, equipment, technical infrastructure constructions and other constructions in the surveyed area; measures for environmental protection and preservation of landscape in the surveyed area and restoration of the site after the survey.

3. The investor is in charge of checking and engaging a consulting unit qualified for appraising the technical construction survey plan and approving the technical construction survey plan as stated in the agreement.

Article 28. Quality control in construction survey activities

1. The surveying contractor shall arrange sufficiently the eligible people to conduct the surveys according to the regulation in the construction contract; assign an eligible person to be the director of the survey and apply the measures for quality control specified in the technical construction survey plan.

2. Subject to the scope and type of survey, the investor shall, on its own or engage a qualified organization or individual to, supervise the construction survey as follows:

a) Inspect the actual proficiency of the construction surveying contractor, including human resources, surveying equipment used on the site and in laboratory (if any) in comparison with the approved technical construction survey plan and the regulations in the construction contract;

b) Conduct supervision and inspection over the conduction of construction survey, including: location, survey load, surveying process, retention of surveying data and testing sample; inspection over the experiment in laboratory and on-site; inspect the ensuring of labor safety and environmental safety during the survey.

3. The investor is entitled to suspend the survey if the contractor is determined to not comply with the approve survey project or the regulation in the construction contract.

Article 29. Content of construction survey report

1. Basis for construction survey

2. Procedures and methods for construction survey.

3. The generality of location and natural conditions of the construction survey site, characteristics and scope of the construction.

4. Load of completed construction surveys.

5. Experimented and analyzed result and data from construction survey.

6. The opinions, notes and/or suggestions (if any).

7. Conclusions and proposed solutions.

8. Appendixes.

Article 30. Approval for the technical construction survey result

1. The investor shall approve the construction survey report in a separate document or in the construction survey report. The investor may require the designing contractor or engage a qualified consulting unit to checking the construction survey report before approval.

2. The surveying contractors shall be responsible for the quality of their construction survey. The approval for construction survey report of the investor does not cause change or reduce the responsibilities for the quality of construction survey carried out by the surveying contractor.

3. The construction survey report is a part of the construction completion dossier and shall be kept as prescribed.

Section 2. CONSTRUCTION DESIGN

Article 31. Construction design phases

1. Subject to scope and nature of a project, the number of construction design phases shall be determined in the decision on approval for construction project.

2. Details of each phase shall comply with regulation of law on construction and conform to the construction design purposes and objectives set out for such phase.

3. If there are at least 2 steps in the construction design of a building work, the content and specifications of two consecutive steps of design must be conformable. In the process of preparing of construction design following the basic design, the investor is allowed to decide the design adjustment to meet efficiency and usage requirements without changing the approved purposes, functions, scope, planning - architecture items in detailed construction planning or investment policy decision/approval.

4. The investor shall prepare construction design, except for construction design steps assigned to the construction contractor under the contract.

5. The investor shall appraise and control construction designs according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 82 of the Law on Construction 2014, amended in Clause 24, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14.

Article 32. Construction design objectives

1. The investor or eligible organizations/individuals hired by the investor shall establish the construction design objectives.

2. The construction design objectives shall be conformable with the investment policy and prevail as a basis for establishing construction project and construction design. The investor may hire a consulting organization or a consulting expert to give consultancy or inspect the design objectives if necessary.

3. The construction design objectives shall include the following main contents:

a) Basis for establishing the construction design objectives;

b) Purposes of construction;

c) Location of construction;

d) Requirements on planning, landscape and architecture of the works;

dd) Requirements on scale and time limit for the use of works, functions and other technical requirement on the works.

4. The construction design objectives shall be modified according to the actual conditions to ensure the effectiveness of the construction investment project.

Article 33. Format of construction design documents

1. Format of construction design documents is governed as follows:

a) Design documents shall be established for particular works, including: description of the design plan, spreadsheets, drawings, relevant construction survey documents, construction estimate, technical instructions and construction maintenance process (if any);

b) Size, scale and title block of the drawing shall satisfy the applicable criteria for construction. The title block of each drawing shall include names and signatures of the direct designer, the design inspector, the design president, and the design chairperson. The legal representative of the design contractor shall certify and bear its seal if the design contractor is an organization;

c) The description, drawing and estimate shall be bound together, shall be enumerated with number and symbol for long-term searching and retention;

d) The Minister of Construction shall regulate national standards for format and contents of design documents equivalent to every construction design step.

2. Technical instructions:

a) Technical instructions are the basis for the supervision, construction and acceptance of the construction works. Technical instructions shall be established by the design contractor or the consulting contractor that are hired by the investor. The approved technical instructions are a part of invitation for construction bidding, the basis for management, supervision and acceptance for construction works;

The technical instructions shall conform with the technical standards, the criteria applied to the approved construction and the requirements of the construction engineering plan;

c) The investor shall require the design contractor or other consulting contractor to make separate technical instructions for construction works of special class, class I and class II. For other construction works, technical instructions may be made separately or included in the construction design notes.

3. Design documents form a part of the as-built documents and shall be kept as prescribed by the Government on quality control and maintenance of construction works and archives regulations.

Article 34. Control for construction design plan

1. Design contractors shall take responsibility for quality of construction designs made by themselves; the inspection, appraisal of and approval for a construction design carried out by an individual, organization, the investor, investment-decision maker or a construction authority shall not substitute or diminish responsibility of the design contractor as to the said construction design.

2. If the design contractor acts as a general design contractor, it shall take charge of primary design works and be held accountable to performance of the contract with the Employer. The design subcontractor shall be held accountable for progress and quality to the general design contractor and to the law for their work taken.

3. In the course of design of construction works in a project of national importance, a project with large scale, complex engineering, the design contractor may request the investor to carry out certain simulation tests and inspections to check out the operation functions of the works to complete the construction design and ensure technical instructions and safety requirements.

4. After the design documents are appraised and approved as prescribed, the investor shall inspect the amount of works performed, the conformity as to format and quantity of the design documents with provisions of the construction contract and give a written notice of acceptance of the design documents to the design contractor if qualified.

Section 3. APPRAISAL AND APPROVAL OF CONSTRUCTION DESIGN FOLLOWING BASIC DESIGN

Article 35. Appraisal and approval of construction design following basic design

1. The investor or an specialized affiliate of the investment-decision maker (if the investment-decision maker is in charge of appraisal) shall carry out the appraisal as prescribed in Articles 82 and 83 of the Construction Law 2014, amended in clauses 24 and 25 Article 1 of the Law No. 62/2020/QH14.

2. The appraisal of the construction authority shall be carried out in accordance with Articles 36, 37 and 38 hereof.

3. In the course of the appraisal, the investor or specialized affiliate of the investment-decision maker or the construction authority may invite other specialists to join such appraisal.

4. The construction design assessment of construction works specified in clause 6 Article 82 of the Construction Law 2014, amended in clauses 24 and 25 Article 1 of the Law No. 62/2020/QH14 is follows:

a) During the assessment, if the assessment report has insufficient grounds to reach an assessment conclusion, the construction authority may request additional information to complete the assessment report;

b) The assessment consulting organization shall be legally and financially independent from the investor and construction design consulting contractors;

c) Contents of an assessment report are provided in form No. 05 of Appendix I hereto. The drawings which have been assessed must bear a seal as prescribed in Form No. 08 of Appendix I hereto.

5. The investor shall consolidate the appraisal result of the construction design following the basic design given by the construction authority and documents of relevant agencies to form the basis for approval of the design. The appraisal result and approval of the investor shall be demonstrated in a decision on approval for construction design as prescribed in Form No. 07 of Appendix I hereto.

6. The appraisal of the construction design following the basic design shall be performed with all the works, or each work of the project, or parts of works according to the construction stage at the request of the investor provided that the consistency of the contents and basis of calculation in the appraisal results are ensured.

Article 36. Appraisal of designs following basic design by construction authorities

1. For construction works under projects funded by public investment capital, construction authorities shall appraise construction design steps following basic design for construction works under specialized management according to the provisions of Article 109 of this Decree, in specific:

a) The construction authorities under Ministries in charge of field-based construction works shall appraise the works belonging to the following projects: projects assigned by the Prime Minister; projects of national importance; group A projects; group B projects with investment decisions made by the heads of central agencies or other individuals authorized or delegated by the heads of central agencies; construction projects located in 02 provinces or more; projects of group C under the specialized management, with investment decisions made by the Ministry in charge of field-based construction works (to which the construction authority is affiliated) or other agencies/individuals authorized or delegated by the Ministry in charge of field-based construction works; except for the works specified at point c of this clause;

b) A construction authority affiliated to provincial-level People's Committee shall appraise works under projects in the administrative area of ​​the province, except for works specified at Point a of this Clause;

c) A construction authority affiliated to the People's Committee of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City shall appraise works under a project with the investment decision made by the President of the People's Committee of City or an individual authorized or delegated by the President.

2. For construction works under projects funded by public investment capital, construction authorities shall appraise construction design steps following basic design for construction works of group B and higher, works with great impact on community safety and benefits, under specialized management according to the provisions of Article 109 of this Decree, in specific:

a) The construction authorities under Ministries in charge of field-based construction works shall appraise the works belonging to the following projects: projects with investment policies approved by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister; group A projects; group B projects with the investment decisions made by Ministers, heads of central agencies, heads of economic groups or state-owned general companies or other individuals authorized or delegated by the former people; projects with works of special class, class I; projects located in 2 provinces or more; projects of group C under the specialized management, with investment decisions made by the Ministry in charge of field-based construction works (to which the construction authority is affiliated) or other agencies/individuals authorized or delegated by the Ministry in charge of field-based construction works; except for works specified at Point c of this Clause;

b) A construction authority affiliated to provincial-level People's Committee shall appraise works under projects in the administrative area of ​​the province, except for works specified at Point a of this Clause;

c) A construction authority affiliated to the People's Committee of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City shall appraise works under a project with the investment decision made by the President of the People's Committee of City or an individual authorized or delegated by the President.

3. For PPP projects, construction authorities shall appraise construction design steps following basic design for construction works under specialized management according to the provisions of Article 109 of this Decree, in specific:

a) The construction authorities under Ministries in charge of field-based construction works shall appraise the works belonging to the following projects: projects with investment policies approved by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister; projects with the investment decisions made by Ministers, heads of central agencies or other agencies as prescribed in law on public-private partnerships investment or other individuals authorized or delegated by the former people; projects with works of special class, class I; projects located in 2 provinces or more;

b) A construction authority affiliated to provincial-level People's Committee shall appraise works under PPP projects in the administrative area of ​​the province, except for works specified at Point a of this Clause.

4. For construction projects funded by other funds, the construction authorities shall only appraise construction works under the specialized management according to the provisions of Article 109 of this Decree, for works under the projects built in an area with no urban planning or functional construction planning or detailed construction planning for rural residential area, in specific:

a) A construction authority under Ministry in charge of field-based construction works shall appraise the works in projects with great impact on community safety and benefits, including: projects with works of special class, class I; projects located in two provinces or more;

A construction authority affiliated to the People's Committees of province shall appraise the works in projects with great impact on community safety and benefits, except for the works in point a hereof.

5. For a mixed project consisting of varied types of works, the appraisal competence of the construction authority is determined according to the specialized management specified in Article 109 of this Decree in conformity with the functions of the main works of a project or main works of highest class in case the project has many main works.

If a project has many works of the same type with varied classes, the appraising agency must appraise the works with the highest class of the project.

6. Appraisal of the FEED design step for contractor selection in case of performance of an Engineering, Procurement, Construction contract (hereinafter referred to as engineering documents in EPC bidding) or another design step implemented in accordance with international practices specified at Points a and d, Clause 2, Article 82 of the Law on Construction in 2014, as amended and supplemented in Clause 24, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14 of the construction authority is prescribed as follows:

a) The construction authority shall appraise the matters specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 83a, added in Clause 26, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14 (hereinafter referred to as Article 83a of Construction Law) for construction design documents seeking appraisal that have full contents as prescribed in Article 80 of the Law on Construction 2014;

b) If the engineering documents in EPC bidding documents do not have adequate contents as prescribed in Article 80 of the Law on Construction 2014 as a basis for assessment of construction safety, fire safety, the construction authority shall appraise the contents specified in Clauses 2 and 3, except for the contents specified at Points c and dd, Clause 2, Article 83a of the Construction Law as the basis for the investor to appraise and approve the engineering documents in EPC bidding documents. And, in a notification of appraisal result, the construction authority shall require the investor to further submit engineering documents with full contents to appraise these contents as prescribed in Points c and dd, Clause 2, Article 83a of the Construction Law.

In a notification of supplemental appraisal result, the construction authority shall require the investor to send documents proving the eligibility of requirements for issuance of construction permit to the local construction authority enclosed with a notice of commencement for supervision as prescribed in Article 56 hereof for construction designs qualified for approval and eligible for exemption of construction permit as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 89 of the Law on Construction 2014, which is amended and supplemented in Clause 30, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14.

Article 37. Application for appraisal of design following basic design to construction authorities

1. The applicant shall submit 1 set of application for appraisal to the construction authority. The application for appraisal shall be submitted in person or by post.

2. The application for appraisal shall ensure the legality and conformity with the matters seeking appraisal. The application for appraisal shall be considered valid when it has full contents specified in clause 3 hereof, is made in proper format, primarily written in Vietnamese and certificated by the applicant. The part of the architectural design documents in the construction design documents (if any) should comply with the provisions of the law on architecture.

3. An application for appraisal of construction design following basic design includes:

a) Application form for appraisal using the form No. 04 of Appendix I hereto;

b) The enclosed legal documents, including: a decision on approval for the construction project together with an approved feasibility study report; a notice of appraisal result of the construction authority and the basic design drawings enclosed with a certification stamp (if any); a report on the construction design assessment result of the assessment consulting contractor certified by the investor (if required); a document on evaluation and approval of fire safety design, result of environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law on environmental protection (if required) and other relevant documents;

Procedures for fire safety shall be completed in parallel, no fire safety document is required at the time of submission of the appraisal application, but the completion of fire safety procedures must be sent to the construction authority before the deadline for notification of appraisal result;

c) Construction survey documents approved by the investor; construction design documents of the construction design step seeking appraisal;

d) Construction eligibility certificate codes of the survey contractor, construction design contractor, assessment contractor; construction practice certificate codes of the titles of construction survey president, design president, chairperson; assessment president, chairperson; construction operating license of foreign contractor (if any);

dd) For a work funded by public investment capital, state capital other than public investment capital that requires appraisal of construction estimate, in addition to the requirements specified in point a, point b, point c and point d clause, the dossier must also have construction cost estimates; relevant information and data on relevant prices and norms to determine construction cost estimates; quotations, valuation results (if any).

Article 38. Process of appraisal of design following basic design at construction authorities

1. The construction authority shall receive and verify if the application for appraisal is complete and valid as prescribed in Article 37 of this Decree. Within 05 working days from the day on which the application is received, the construction authority shall:

a) Request the applicant in writing for supplemental documents (where necessary, such a request is only made once during the appraisal process). In a case where consultation from relevant agencies is needed, the appraising agency shall request the applicant for supplemental documents on consultation matters;

b) Return of appraisal application in case of rejection specified in clause 2 Article 15 hereof.

2. Within 20 days after receiving the above request of the construction authority, if the applicant fails to supplement the documents required, the appraising agency shall suspend the appraisal and the applicant shall re-submit an appraisal application upon further request.

3. The construction authority shall carry out the appraisal following the interlinked single-window system as prescribed in the Law No. 62/2020/QH14.

4. During the appraisal process, the construction authority has the right to suspend the appraisal (not more than one time) and promptly notify the appraisal applicant of errors and misstatements in the application which leads to ineligibility to make an appraisal conclusion. In case the above-mentioned errors and misstatements are not corrected within 20 days, the construction authority shall stop the appraisal, and the appraisal applicant shall re-submit an application for appraisal upon request.

5. The appraisal result must contain the evaluation and conclusion on satisfaction of requirements for each appraisal matter as prescribed in Article 83a of the Construction Law, requirements for the investment-decision maker, investor, and the competent agency for the PPP project. The appraisal result shall be sent to the applicant for consolidation and to the local construction authority for supervision.

For construction designs qualified for approval and exemption from construction permit according to Point g, Clause 2, Article 89 of the Construction Law 2014 , which is amended and supplemented in Clause 30, Article 1 of Law No. 62/2020/QH14, the appraisal result shall also require the investor to send documents proving the eligibility of requirements for issuance of construction permit to the local construction authority together with the commencement notice for monitoring and management as prescribed in Article 56 of this Decree.

The notification of appraisal result of construction design following basic design is specified in Form No.06, Appendix I to this Decree.

6. The stamping and archival of appraisal dossiers at the construction authorities comply with the provisions of Clause 7, Article 15 of this Decree.

7. Time limits for appraisal of construction design following basic design of the construction authority from the date on which the satisfactory dossier is received:

a) Within 40 days regarding class I and special class construction works;

b) Within 30 days regarding class II and class III construction works;

c) Within 20 days regarding remaining construction works.

Article 39. Appraisal for modification to construction design following basic design

1. The construction authority, according to their competence defined in Article 36 of this Decree, shall appraise the modification to the construction design in the following cases:

a) Modification and supplementation to construction design with changes in geotechnical engineering, design loads, structural solutions, materials used for load-bearing structures and execution plan that affects load-bearing safety of the project;

b) When modifying the construction project, the modification to the basic design is required.

2. The assessment of modified construction design shall comply with Clause 4, Article 35 of this Decree.

3. For the modified and supplemented construction design not specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the investor shall organize the appraisal themselves as the basis for approval.

4. The adjustment of construction estimate shall comply with the Government's regulations on construction cost management and relevant law provisions.

5. Application for appraisal of modification to construction design:

a) Required documents in Article 37 hereof;

b) Report on the investor's execution of the works (in case the work has been constructed).

Article 40. Approval for construction design following basic design

1. The approval for construction design following basic design by the investor shall be demonstrated in an appraisal decision, containing at least the following:

a) Approver;

b) Name of the work or part of the work;

c) Project name;

d) Type and class of the work;

dd) Construction site;

e) The contractor that prepares construction survey report;

g) The contractor that prepares construction design;

h) The unit that assesses the construction design;

i) Scale and technical specifications; design solutions to efficiently use energy and save resources (if any);

k) Design life of the work;

l) Value of construction estimate by each cost item;

m) Others.

2. The form of the decision on approving the construction design following basic design for projects funded by public investment capital or state capital other than public investment capital is specified in Form No. 07, Appendix I to this Decree.

3. In the case of project management in the form of field-based PMB, area-based PMB or single-project PMB, the investor shall authorize the affiliated PMB to approve the construction design.

4. The person that is designated to approve construction design shall sign and stamp in the approved construction design documents (including the note and design drawings). The specimen of construction design approval seal is specified in Form No. 08, Appendix I to this Decree.