USTDA Launches Value-Based Procurement Training for Vietnamese Delegation

(USTDA) ARLINGTON, VA. – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency welcomed 15 senior Vietnamese government officials to the United States for a two-week orientation visit on value-based procurement. The visit represents the second phase of the Procurement Assistance Program with Vietnam under USTDA’s Global Procurement Initiative: Understanding Best Value (GPI). Under the Program, USTDA is providing training and technical assistance to assist the Government of Vietnam in implementing a recently revised law focused on achieving greater value for money in public procurements.

The delegation, led by Vice Minister Ðào Quang Thu of Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, will receive advanced training in life-cycle cost analysis and other procurement subjects from technical specialists, including the George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Law Program. To examine case studies of value and quality-based procurement at the U.S. federal, state, and local levels, the visiting officials will travel to Washington, DC; New York City and Albany, New York; and Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

“In order to implement the Procurement Law, in August 2014 USTDA has organized three training programs in Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City,” said Director General Le Van Tang of Vietnam’s Public Procurement Agency. “The procurement delegation is currently in the U.S. to continue the USTDA Procurement Assistance Program.”

The first phase of the Procurement Assistance Program provided over 180 public procurement officials with in-country training in value-based procurement. By promoting strategic, long-term infrastructure investments, the Program aims to increase international competition and facilitate improved development outcomes in Vietnam.