Chương IV Nghị định 46/2015/NĐ-CP: Quản lý chất lượng thi công xây dựng công trình

Chapter IV

QUALITY CONTROL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

Article 23. Procedures for quality control for construction process

The quality of construction shall be control from the purchase, production and manufacture of building products, building materials, building structural components and equipment to the construction, trial run and acceptance, bringing the completed work items/works into use. Procedures and responsibilities in the construction are specified as follows:

1. Quality control for materials, products, structural components and equipment for construction.

2. Quality control by the contractor during the construction process.

3. Supervision of the construction by the investor, inspection and acceptance for building tasks during the construction process.

4. Designer's supervision by the engineering contractor in the construction process.

5. Control experiment, load testing and construction inspection during the construction process.

6. Acceptance for the construction stages, work items (if any).

7. Acceptance for the completed works/work items to bring them into use.

8. Inspection of the work acceptance by the regulatory agencies.

9. Establishment of the construction completion dossier, retention of documents about the works and transfer of works.

Article 24. Quality control for materials, products, structural components and equipment for construction

1. Responsibilities of the contractor in charge of supplying building products, building materials on the market.

a) Carrying out quality inspection experiment and present the contract awarder (the construction purchaser) the certificates and documents relating to the building products according to the provisions of the construction contract, the legislations on products and goods quality and relevant provisions of laws;

b) Inspecting the conformity of quality, quantity and type of the products with the requirements specified in the construction contract before transferring to the contract awarder;

c) Informing the contract awarder about requirements for transport, storage and maintenance of building products;

d) Carrying out repair or replace the products unconformable with the requirements for quality according to the commitment of warranty on the building products and the provisions of the construction contract.

2. Responsibilities of the contractor in charge of producing and manufacturing building materials, structural components and equipment used for the construction process according to the engineering plan:

a) Present the contractor awarder (the purchaser) the process of manufacturing and quality control during the production, processing and testing process according to the engineering plan;

b) Manufacturing, producing and testing according to the procedures approved by the contract awarder; self-controlling the quality and cooperating with the contract awarder in quality control during the manufacture, production, transport and storage on the construction site;

c) Inspecting and granting acceptance for the building products before transferring to the contract awarder;

d) Transporting and transferring the building products to the contract awarder according to the provisions of the contract;

dd) Presenting the contract awarder the relevant certificates and documents according to the provisions of the construction contract, legislations on product and goods quality and relevant provisions of laws.

3. The contract awarder is responsible for:

a) Issuing regulations on quantity, type and technical requirements for materials, products, structural components and equipment in the contract signed with the supplying contractor or the manufacturing contractor according to the requirements of the engineering plan and the technical instructions applied to the construction work;

b) Examinining the quantity, type and technical requirements for materials. Products, components and equipment according to the provisions of the contract; requesting the supplying contractor and the manufacturing and producing contractor to fulfill the responsibilities specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article before granting acceptance of using materials, products, structural components and equipment for construction;

c) Carrying out quality control in the manufacture and production according to the procedures agreed with the contractors.

4. The contractors mentioned in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall be responsible for the quality of materials, products, structural components and equipment they have supplied, manufactured and/or produced. The acceptance by the contract awarder does not reduce the responsibilities of the contractors.

Article 25. Responsibilities of construction contractor for construction work quality control

1. Receive and manage the construction site, maintain the landmarks and boundaries.

2. Notify the investor and relevant entities about their quality control system, objectives and quality assurance policy for the contruction. The construction work quality control system made by the contractor shall be conformable with the scale of the construction work and shall include the organization chart and responsibilities of specific divisions and individuals for the quality control by the contractor.

3. Request the investor to approve:

a) Plan on testing and quality assessment, monitoring and surveying of technical parameter of the work according to the requirements of engineering plan and technical instructions;

b) Measures for quality control and inspection for materials, products, structural components and equipment used for the construction of work; specifications of construction measures, ensuring safety of human, machinery, equipment and the construction work;

c) Plan on inspection and acceptance for building tasks, acceptance for construction process or work items and acceptance for completion of the work/work items;

d) Other necessary matters at the request of the investor and the provisions of the contract.

4. Assign the employees and equipment according to the provisions in the construction contract and relevant law provisions.

5. Take responsibilities for the quality control for the purchase, manufacture and production of materials, products, structural components and equipment used for construction according to the provisions in Article 24 of this Decree and the provisions of the construction contact.

6. Carry out the inspection of building materials, structural components and products, construction equipment and technological equipment before and during the construction process according to the provisions of the construction contract.

7. Carry out the construction according to the construction contract, construction license and construction engineering plan. Promptly notify the investor about the differences between the engineering plan, the documents about the construction contract and the conditions of the site during the construction. Carry self-control of construction quality according to the engineering plan and the provisions of the construction contract. The dossier of quality control for building tasks shall be established according to the regulations and conformable with the actual progress on site.

8. Control the quality of building and equipment installing tasks; supervise the construction of building tasks carried out by the subcontractor, applicable to the construction contractor being the principal contractor or general contractor.

9. Handle and remedy the mistakes and problems about the quality arising during the construction process (if any)

10. Carry out construction surveying and construction monitoring according to the engineering plan. Test run the equipment one by one and all at once according to the plan before applying for acceptance.

11. Set up the construction logbook according to the regulations.

12. Draw up as-built drawing according to the regulations.

13. Request the investor to grant acceptance for the construction transition works, acceptance for the works or work items and/or acceptance for completion of works/work items.

14. Report to the investor the process, quality, workload, labour safety and environmental protection in construction according to the construction contract and/or at the request of the investor.

15. Return the site and move building materials, machinery, equipment and other property out of the construction site when the acceptance for the work is obtained and the work is transferred to the contract awarder or the purchaser unless there is further provision in the contract.

Article 26. Construction supervision

1. The construction work shall undergo supervision during the construction process as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 120 of the Law on Construction. The contents of construction supervision:

a) Notify about tasks and competence of individual members in the quality control system of the investor, construction supervising contractor, to relevant contractors for cooperation;

b) Inspect the conditions for commencement of the construction work as prescribed in Article 107 of the Law on Construction;

c) Examine the conformity of the capacity of the construction contractor with the bid-envelopes and the construction contract, including: human resources, construction equipment, specialized construction laboratory and the quality control system of the construction contractor;

d) Examine the conformity of construction measures of the contractor with the approved engineering plan;

dd) Examine and approve the documents submitted by the contractors specified in Clause 3 Article 25 of this Decree and request the construction contractor to modify such documents during the construction process according to the actual conditions and the provisions in the contract. If necessary, the investor may agree in the construction contract with the contractors that the documents mentioned in Clause 3 Article 25 of this Decree are established by the supervising contractor and carried out by the construction contractor;

e) Examine and approve the materials, structural components, building products and equipments that are to be installed into the work;

g) Conduct inspection and expedite the construction contractor and other contractors to carry out the work according to the requirements for the construction progress;

h) Supervise the implementation of the regulations on environmental protection for the construction work according to the legislations on environmental protection; supervise the safety measures for the adjacent works and the construction monitoring;

i) Supervise the labor safety control according to the provisions in the standards and regulations in the contract and the legislations on labor safety;

k) Request the investor to adjust the engineering plan when finding mistakes or irrationalities;

l) Suspend the construction of the construction contractor if the construction quality is considered unconformable with technical requirements or the construction measures is considered unsafe; preside over and cooperate with relevant parties in handling the difficulties arising during the construction process according to the regulations in this Decree;

m) Examine the documents for the acceptance; examine and certify the as-built drawing;

n) Conduct control experiments and quality assessment of construction parts, work items and/or construction works according to the regulations in Article 29 of this Decree;

o) Conduct acceptance tests and grant acceptance for the building tasks to transit construction stages, acceptance for the construction process or construction parts, acceptance for completion of work items and construction work according to the regulations; conduct inspection and certify the completed construction workload;

p) Set up the documents on completion of construction;

q) Perform other activities according to the provisions in the construction contract.

2. The investor may directly supervise the construction process or hire an advisory organization that is proficient according to the regulations to provide supervision to one, some or all of the contents specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. If the construction is carried out under an EPC contract or a turnkey contract, responsibilities in construction supervision are specified as follows:

a) General contractors are responsible for supervising the building parts they take on and the tasks of subcontractors. The general contractor may directly supervise or hire an advisory organization that is proficient according to the regulations to provide supervision to one, some or all of the contents specified in Clause 1 of this Article. This shall be mentioned in the contract between the general contractor and the investor;

b) The investor shall inspect the supervision activities of the general contractor.  The investor may appoint a representative to participate in the inspection and acceptance of building tasks and important movement of the construction that is agreed by the general contractor in the plan on inspection and acceptance prescribed in Point a Clause 3 Article 25 of this Decree.

4. Any entities carrying out the supervision prescribed in Clause 2 and Point a Clause 3 of this Article shall build a quality control system and shall assign staff sufficiently for taking responsibility for supervision at the construction site according to the scale and requirements for supervision activity. On the basis of the scale, characteristic and techniques of the work, the personnel structure of construction supervising organizations shall include a chief supervisor and supervisors. Any people who carrying out such supervision shall have construction supervising practice certificate in accordance with his/her speciality and the construction grades.

5. Regarding the construction using the state budget funds and the non-budget state funds:

a) Organizations in charge of construction supervision shall be separate from construction contractor and contractors manufacturing, producing and/or supplying material, products, structural components, equipments used for the construction work;

b) Organizations in charge of construction supervision shall not carry out the quality assessment on the works that are under their supervision;

c) Contractors manufacturing, producing and/or supplying material, products, structural components, equipments used for work construction shall not carry out the quality assessment on products relating to materials or equipment that they have supplied.

6. The Ministry of Construction is in charge of providing instructions on construction supervision activities.

Article 27. Acceptance for building tasks

1. Pursuant to the plan on experiment and testing of building tasks and the actual construction progress on construction site, the construction supervisor and the person directly in charge of constructional technique of construction contractor shall carry out an acceptance test on the building tasks to move to the next construction stage. The acceptance result shall be written in the acceptance report and certified for one or multiple building tasks of a work item according to the construction order.

2. When making an acceptance inspection of a building task, the supervisor shall base on the approved construction drawing documents and technical instructions, the technical standards and criteria that are applied, the result of experiments and testing on quality of materials, equipment that are conducted during the construction process relating to the items subject to acceptance.

3. The supervisor shall conduct acceptance inspection of the building task and grant acceptance in writing within 24 hours since the notification of acceptance for building task to take the next stage from the construction contractor is received. If the application for acceptance is rejected, a written notification including explanation shall be sent to the construction contractor.

Article 28. Designer's supervision by the engineering contractor in the construction process

1. The contractor that is in charge of drawing technical design of three-step design, contractor that is in charge of making construction drawing of one-step or two-step designs shall be responsible for designer's supervision according to the regulations in the construction contract.

2. Designer's supervision activity includes:

a) Provide guidance on construction engineering documents at the request of the investor, the construction contractor and the construction supervising contractor;

b) Cooperate with the investor in handling the difficulties relating to the engineering activities arising during the construction process, adjusting the engineering plan according to the actual construction condition and handling the irrationalities in the engineering plan at the request of the investor;

c) Promptly notify the investor and suggest handling measures to the investor when discover that the construction is unconformable with the approved engineering plan of the construction contractor;

d) Carry out work acceptance at the request of the investor. If a work item or a work is discovered unsatisfactory for gaining acceptance, such engineering contractor shall promptly send a written notification to the investor.

Article 29. Control experiments, quality assessment and experiments on bearing capacity of the structural components during the construction process

1. A control experiment shall be conducted in any of the following cases:

a) The control experiment is prescribed in the construction contract or technical instructions of important national works, large-sized works with complicated technical requirements, works that exert great impacts on community safety and environment;

b) The building materials, construction products, building equipment and construction quality is likely unconformable with the requirements for quality specified in technical instructions or the engineering plan;

c) There is request from the construction authority.

2. Quality assessment and experiments on bearing capacity of the structural components shall be conducted in any of the following cases:

a) The assessment/experiment is prescribed in the construction contract or technical instructions according to the request of the engineering plan;

b) A work, work item or a construction part is likely unsatisfactory with the requirements for quality specified in the engineering plan;

c) There is request from a State agency entitled to sign the contract on investment in the form of public-private partnerships;

d) The assessment/experiment is agreed by the presiding agencies and the presiding officers according to the legislation on judicial expertise or at the request of the presiding body of the inspection of incident causes when the construction work incident occurred;

dd) There is request from the State Council for Construction Acceptance or a construction authority.

3. With regard to the cases specified in Point c Clause 1, Points d and dd Clause 2 of this Article, the authority agencies may appoint an advisory organizations according to the shorten procedures for no-bid contract awarding prescribed in Clause 1 Article 56 of the Decree No. 63/2014/NĐ-CP dated June 26, 2014 to carry out the assessment/experiment.

4. The engineering contractor, the construction contractor, the construction products manufacturing and supplying contractor and relevant contractors shall bear the cost for control experiment, quality assessment and experiment on bearing capacity of structural components if the results of such experiment/assessment proves their fault. Otherwise, the costs shall be included in the total investment in the construction.

Article 30. Acceptance for the construction stages or the construction parts

1. On the basis of the particular conditions of the work, the investor and the construction contractor may negotiate about the acceptance for the construction stage or the construction part if:

a) A construction stage or a construction part is completed, the inspection and acceptance shall be conducted to assess the quality before taking the next stage.

b) A construction package is completed

2. The investor shall negotiate with the relevant construction contractor about the time of acceptance, procedures and contents of acceptance, participant in the acceptance. The acceptance result shall be recorded.

Article 31. Acceptance for the completion of works/work items for use

1. The investor shall conduct inspection and acceptance for completion of works/work items.

2. Conditions for gaining acceptance for the completion of works/work items:

a) The finished building tasks shall be inspected and granted acceptance according to the provisions of Articles 27 and 30 of this Decree. The results of experiments and testing shall conform to the technical requirements specified in the construction engineering plan;

b) There are no unresolved major issues in terms of construction quality that threaten the safety to the operation of the building;

c) The works/work items shall gain the acceptance of fire safety from the Fire department according to the legislation on fire prevention and fighting; gain the certificate for completing the environmental protection work from the EIA (environmental impact assessment) report approving authority according to the legislation on environmental protection and the written approval from another competent agency according to the relevant law provisions, if any.

3. The investor may decide to conduct acceptance for a construction part or conditional acceptance to bring into operation if there are unresolved issues in terms of quality that not threaten the bearing capacity, life cycle and functions of the work and shall ensure that the work conform the requirement for safety. The acceptance report shall specify the shortcomings in terms of quality that need remedial measures or the building tasks that need continuing and time limit for such tasks. The investor shall conduction inspection and acceptance for completion of work when the shortcomings in terms of quality have been remedied or the rest building tasks have been completed.

4. Conditions for bringing the work/work item into operation:

a) The work/work item has gained the acceptance according to the regulation;

b) Regarding the works specified in Clause 1 Article 32 of this Decree, a competent agency specified in Clause 2 Article 32 of this Decree has conducted an inspection of the acceptance and issued a written approval for the acceptance result of the investor prescribed in Point a of this Clause. Particularly for the construction work using the state budget and the non-budget state funds, the investor shall finalize the construction contract only when the written approval for acceptance result is received.

5. The investor shall negotiate with the relevant construction contractor about the time of acceptance, procedures and contents of acceptance. The acceptance result shall be recorded.

Article 32. Inspection of construction work acceptance

1. The competent agencies specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall conduct an inspection of the acceptance issued to the construction work during and after the construction process according to the regulation in Clause 4 Article 123 of the Law on Construction, including:

a) Important national works, large-sized works with complicated technical requirements according to the List that is annually promulgated by the Prime Minister;

b) Works using the state budget funds and non-budget state fund;

c) Works that exert great impacts on community safety prescribed in Appendix II of this Decree other than those specified in Points a and b of this Clause;

d) The works that exert great impacts on environment other than those specified in Points a, b and c of this Clause shall undergo the inspection according to the legislations on environmental protection;

dd) Particularly for the construction of electric line, electrical substation with voltage of 35KV and lower, grade IV works using non-budget state funds, the investor shall conduct acceptance test themselves according to the regulations in this Decree. The investor is responsible for reporting the result of such acceptance test to the construction authority according to the competence level specified in Point c Clause 2 of this Article for collection, retention and supervision.

2. Inspecting competence:

a) The State Council for Construction Acceptance that is established and operated according to the decision of the Prime Minister is responsible for the inspection of the works specified in Point a Clause 1 of this Article;

b) The construction authority affiliated to the Ministry of Construction and the Ministries managing specialized construction works are responsible for the inspection of works (regardless of the sources of capital) under the management of the Ministries according to the regulations in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 51 of this Decree, applicable to grade I works, special grade works, works allocated by the Prime Minister, linear works crossing multiple provinces, works in which investment is decided by the Ministry of Construction and/or the Ministries managing specialized construction works, works in which investment decider or investor is a state-owned economic corporation, except for the works specified in Point a of this Clause;

c) The Services of Construction and the Services managing specialized construction works are responsible for the inspection of works located in local are under the management of Services according to the regulations in Clause 4 Article 51 of this Decree, except for the works specified in Points a and b of this Clause.

On the basis of the actual conditions, the People’s Committees of provinces may authorize the construction managing divisions of People’s Committees of districts to conduct the inspections of a number of grade III or grade IV works that are within the responsibilities of such Services of Construction and Services managing specialized construction works;

d) If the construction investment project includes multiple works/work items with different types and grades that are prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the agency presiding over the inspection shall be the agency responsible for the inspection of the main work/work item that has the highest grade in the construction investment project;

dd) The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security are responsible for deciding the competence in carrying out inspection of National defense and security works.

3. Contents of inspection include the adherence to the regulations on construction work quality control by the investor and the contractors in the survey, engineering planning and construction activities according to the regulations in this Decree and relevant law provisions.

4. Inspection process:

a) Regarding the works specified in Clause 1 of this Article, after the commencement, the investor shall report to the competent agencies specified in Clause 2 of this Article the following information: name and contact address of the investor, name of work, location, scale and scheduled progress of the construction work;

b) The competent agencies specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall notify the investor the inspection plan; conduct the inspection and make notification of the inspection result within 7 days from the day on which the inspection finishes;

c) At least 15 days, applicable to special grade works and grade I works or 10 days, applicable to the other works, before the day on which the pre-acceptance test is planned to be conducted according to the regulation in Clause 1 or 3 Article 31 of this Decree, the investor shall submit an application for inspection of acceptance for work/work item for operation to a competent agency specified in Clause 2 of this Article;

d) The competent agency specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall conduct the inspection of acceptance by the investor and issue the written approval for the acceptance result made by the investor within 15 days, applicable to special grade works and grade I works, or 10 days, applicable to the other works, from the day on which the inspection finishes. If the investor must fulfill the requirements specified in Point dd of this Clause, such time limit shall be calculated from the day on which the investor completed the fulfillment;

dd) During the inspection process, the competent agency may request the investor and the relevant parties to explain and remedy the shortcomings (if any) and conduct the control experiment, load testing and quality assessment of construction parts, items or the whole work according to the regulation in Article 29 of this Decree;

e) The competent agency may invite an eligible organization/individual to carrying out the inspection.

5. Cost for the inspection of the acceptance activity during and after the construction process shall be estimated, appraised, approved and included in the total investment in the construction.

6. The Ministry of Construction shall provide guidance on the inspection of acceptance activities during and after the construction.

Article 33. Establishment and retention of the documents on completion of construction work

1. The document on completion of construction work shall be set up sufficiently by the investor before the work/work item is brought into operation.

2. The document on completion of construction work shall be set up for the whole construction investment project if the works (work items) included in the project are brought into operation at the same time. If the works (work items) included in the project are brought into operation at different time, the documents on completion of construction work may be established particularly for such works (work items).

3. The investor shall establish and retain a set of documents on completion of construction work; the entities involving the construction investment shall retain themselves the documents relating to their construction parts. Particularly for the construction of housing and vestige works, the retention of documents shall comply with the legislations on housing and the legislations on historical and cultural works.

4. The Ministry of Construction shall provide guidance on list and retention duration of documents on completion of construction work.

Article 34. Transfer of construction works/work items

1. The transfer of construction works/work items shall comply with the regulations in Article 124 of the Law on Construction.

2. Depending on the conditions of the work, the work parts/work items that are completed and gain acceptance according to the regulation may be transferred and brought into operation at the request of the investor or the user.

3. In case of investment in the form of public-private partnerships and the competent State management agency sign the project contracts, the investor shall consider satisfying the conditions for transference specified in the project contracts and the provisions of relevant legislative documents.

Article 35. Requirements for warranty for construction works

1. The construction contractor and the equipment supplying contractor shall be responsible to the investor for the warranty for their parts of construction work.

2. Duration of warranty for new construction or renovation of works/work items is calculated from the day on which the acceptance is issued as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 3 Article 31 of this Decree and as follows:

a) Not under 24 months, applicable to special grade and grade I works/work items;

a) Not under 12 months, applicable to other works/work items;

c) Particularly for housing, duration of warranty shall be according to the legislations on housing.

3. Duration of warranty for construction equipment and technological equipment is determined according to the construction contract that not shorter than the warranty duration regulated by the manufacturer and is calculated from the day on which the acceptance for completion of equipment installation is issued.

4. Depending on the conditions of the work, the investor may negotiate with the contractors about the warranty duration for specific work item or construction/installation package besides the general warranty duration for the construction as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article that not shorter than the warranty duration prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

5. Regarding the work items having shortcomings in terms of quality or problems during the construction process that are resolved by the contractors, the warranty period of such work items may be extended according to the agreement between the investor and the construction contractor before gaining acceptance.

6. The investor shall negotiate in the construction contract with the construction contractors about the rights and responsibilities of the parties in the warranty of construction works; warranty duration of construction works, construction equipment, technological equipment; warranty deposit; the retention, use and refund of warranty deposit and the replacement of warranty money with the warranty guarantee letter from the bank that has equal value. The contractors mentioned above shall have the warranty deposit refunded or have the guarantee letter annulled only when the warranty period expires and   the investor confirms the completion of warranty.

7. Regarding the works using state capital, the minimum warranty deposit is specified as follows:

a) 3% of contract value, applicable to special grade and grade I works;

b) 5% of contract value, applicable to other works;

c) Warranty deposit for construction works using other capital may be determined referring from the minimum rates specified in Points a and b of this Clause.

Article 36. Warranty for construction works

1. During the warranty duration of construction work, if a construction shortcoming a discovered, the owner, manager or user shall report to the investor to request the construction contractor and the supplying contractor to carry out the warranty.

2. The construction contractor, the supplying contractor shall carried out the warranty for their construction parts, applicable to the breakdowns occurred within the warranty period, when the notification of warranty from the investor, owner, manager or user is received and shall bear all the costs relating to warranty activities.

3. The construction contractor, the supplying contractor may refuse to carry out warranty if the breakdowns are not due to the fault of the contractor or due to force majeure; If the breakdowns are arisen due to the fault of the contractor but the contractor fails to carry out the warranty, the investor is entiled to use the warranty deposit to hire another organization/individual to carry out instead. The work investor, manager or user is responsible for comply with the regulations on operation and maintenance of construction work during the operation of work.

4. The investor shall carry out the inspection and grant acceptance for the warranty of the construction contractor and the equipment supplying contractor.

5. Certification of completion of construction work warranty:

a) When the warranty duration expire, the construction contractor and the equipment supplying contractor shall draw up a report on completion of warranty task and send it to the investor. The investor is responsible for granting certificate of completion of construction work warranty to the investor;

b) The owner, the manager or the user of construction work is also responsible for granting certificate of completion of construction work to the construction contractor and the equipment supplying contractor at the request of the investor.

6. The construction surveying contractor, the engineering contractor, the construction contractor, the equipment supplying contractor and other relevant contractor are responsible for the quality of the construction parts they carry even when the warranty duration expires.