PRESS RELEASE TO VALUED CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS
REF.: PRESS RELEASE WORLD BANK ABOUT SAO BAC DAU
Ho Chi Minh City, June 26, 2020
Recently, in a press release on May 13, 2020 and announced on June 24, 2020 by the World Bank with the main content of banning Sao Bac Dau Technology Joint Stock Company (Sao Bac Dau) from participating in tendering for the World Bank- funded projects by within 7 years. The information in this press release is related to the two packages of BRT Hanoi (2015) and BRT Da Nang (2017) that Sao Bac Dau has submitted the bid. During the bidding process, Sao Bac Dau's staff approached his customers to influence and in the bid, there was a letter of support to the project that was considered to be forged.
The fact that Sao Bac Dau’s staff approached customers for technical support before the bidding time is inconsistent with the principles of World Bank- funded projects and it is also the fault of Sao Bac Dau in managing our staff. Regarding the letter of support to the project, Sao Bac Dau received it from a company distributing its equipment in Vietnam for UPS equipment with a value of about 0.11% of the total bid value. For this letter, Sao Bac Dau made a mistake when making no verification of the authenticity with the manufacturer. Sao Bac Dau is unsuccessful bidders in the two aforementioned packages.
The World Bank has worked closely with Sao Bac Dau in 2019-2020 to clarify the above issues, in the process of working, the World Bank acknowledged the coordination and cooperation of Sao Bac Dau and also agreed that this was not the direction of the Company’s leadership. Therefore, the World Bank has reduced the ban on participation in projects financed by the World Bank from 9 years to 7 years and will continue to decrease further if Sao Bac Dau fulfills the commitments between the two sides and according to the WBG Integrity Compliance Guidelines.
This is the first time Sao Bac Dau has committed such a violation after 24 years of establishment and business in Vietnam and is also a profound lesson for us in the course of participating in projects.
Immediately after determination of the violation, Sao Bac Dau has taken drastic remedies such as disciplining and dismissing staff involved, dissolving the units directly related to the two projects, reviewing and correcting the process to ensure the transparency and comply with the regulations in the Company's business.
At the same time, Sao Bac Dau commits that the sanction of the World Bank does not affect the Company's capacity in the implementation of agreements, arrangements and contracts, etc. agreed with the customers.
Above is the official information Sao Bac Dau respectfully send to our valued customers. We look forward to your understanding and empathy. We hopefully will continue to receive your cooperation so that we can overcome this unexpected problem and continue to bring the best service quality to our customers.