1. What is a state agency?

We have various understandings of the concept of a state agency . However, in a simple and common way, a state agency is an organization established by the state, or authorized by the state, to perform the functions and tasks of the state in the fields of politics, economy, society, defense, security and foreign affairs.

State agencies include administrative levels from central to local, agencies under ministries, sectors, public service units, socio-political organizations recognized and supported by the state, including agencies such as: National Assembly, Government, People’s Council, People’s Committee at all levels, Ministries, Departments, Vietnam Trade Union, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Vietnam Women's Union.…

A state agency is an administrative organization that has the function of exercising the rights and obligations of the state in a certain field, locality or certain level, established, arranged, operated and dissolved according to the provisions of the law. State agencies are responsible to the people, higher-level agencies and the state’s inspection and supervision agencies.

2. What are legal services, what are lawyer services?

Although there are many different views related to legal services, but from a common perspective, Legal services are understood as legal support including work such as legal advice, representation outside litigation, participation in litigation in civil, criminal, administrative cases and many other legal services as required by customers within the framework of the law. The law also stipulates that only lawyers are allowed to provide legal services.

From the concept of legal services mentioned above, it can be seen that the concept of Lawyer Services is another expression of providing legal services by Lawyers to clients based on a legal service contract. Lawyers will participate in litigation as a representative or protect the legal rights and interests of the parties in civil, labor, commercial, administrative cases; participate in arbitration litigation to resolve disputes; Legal advice for fields such as civil, criminal, labor…, drafting contracts, petitions at the request of individuals, organizations; Representing at the authorization of individuals, organizations to perform work related to law; Perform other legal services as prescribed by law.

3. The necessity of using legal services, lawyer services of state agencies?

Legal services, lawyer services help state agencies optimize their enforcement, management, and administration roles.

As we know, the law is an effective tool for the state to manage society; state agencies are one of the subjects representing state power, through the law to enforce and manage, govern society. Although the law is not a strange issue to state agencies, however, in practice, state agencies sometimes also fumble when using the law to perform their role, especially those areas not under the expertise, function of that state agencies.

Professional lawyers, with extensive knowledge and experience in various fields from civil, economic, commercial, administrative… will not only help state agencies understand legal regulations but also provide optimal solutions for complex legal issues. This helps state agencies have a multi-dimensional perspective and approach, from which they can make appropriate decisions, ensure their position and optimize their role and function as assigned.

Legal services, lawyer services help state agencies ensure legal safety when participating in transactions, especially in using state capital.

In addition to their management and administration duties, state agencies will also have to participate in activities of signing and implementing business investment project contracts using state capital. At this time, state agencies must comply with the conditions, procedures of the bidding work or other related regulations, in order to carry out economic activities, ensure competition, fairness, transparency, economic efficiency and accountability.

Lawyers are those who are deeply trained, therefore they have the ability to advise and support state agencies to assess and reduce legal risks, thereby preventing legal issues from arising.

Legal services, lawyer services protect state agencies from disputes.

Issuing particular decisions is one of the regular activities of state agencies, and a fact that not all people agree, are satisfied with those decisions. At this time, administrative lawsuits in which state agencies are a party, in the capacity of the defendant, will also need Legal services, lawyer services to protect rights in those disputes.

In addition, the role of lawyers protecting state agencies is especially important in international court cases.

4. What legal services do lawyers provide for state agencies?

Lawyers, with extensive legal knowledge and deep practical experience, provide many important legal services to help state agencies formulate and enforce legal regulations effectively and fairly. The legal services that lawyers provide to state agencies may include:

Legal advice: Lawyers provide advice, legal clarification, plan legal solutions for state agencies on issues from simple to complex related to the operation and tasks of state agencies. Lawyers can give an assessment of the legality of decisions and policies as well as propose appropriate legal measures.

Drafting, correcting documents: Lawyers assist state agencies in the process of drafting, reviewing and approving drafts of new regulations or amending current regulations, administrative decisions…; give in-depth opinions, evaluate from many perspectives about the feasibility and reality of the regulations.

Legal representation: Lawyers can represent state agencies in court sessions, meetings, negotiations, help protect the rights of state agencies, ensure that all decisions of state agencies are appropriate and comply with legal regulations.

Protecting rights in disputes: Lawyers participate in protecting rights for state agencies, resolving legal disputes that state agencies may face. This includes resolving disputes between state agencies and individuals, non-state organizations, or other related parties in a fair manner and according to legal procedures.

Training, disseminating, supplementing legal knowledge: Lawyers often participate as speakers in education and training programs to enhance the legal knowledge of staff and employees of state agencies. This helps state agencies improve their ability, understanding and application in law.

The diversity of legal fields needs professionalism and deep knowledge. Professional lawyers can provide accurate and detailed advice on special legal issues, helping state agencies have a comprehensive view and understand the impacts that may arise from their decisions.

5. Why do state agencies need to use legal services, lawyer services?

In the constantly developing society today, the support from lawyers and the use of legal services by state agencies are becoming increasingly necessary. This comes from some reasons that state agencies cannot ignore, including the complexity, diversity and frequent changes of the legal system, along with many challenges that these agencies often face.

One of the key tasks of state agencies is to ensure accuracy and compliance with the law, because state agencies are agencies representing state power, if they are not standard, they will cause many consequences. Social relations are becoming more diverse, leading to the legal system becoming increasingly complex and constantly changing, requiring state agencies to maintain deep and continuous understanding of new legal issues.

Phong & Partners, with experience in providing legal services to many state agencies, realizes some reasons why state agencies need to use legal services, lawyer services as follows:

State agencies need the expertise and practical experience of lawyers: Normally, the specialized staffs can solve very well the legal issues of the agency that are regularly repeated. Therefore, for important legal issues that state agencies have not encountered and have no experience in handling, agency leaders often choose a service provider with expertise and practical experience in that field to solve the problem to ensure the best results.

State agencies need a basis to objectively assess the issue: When a specialized staff solves a legal important issue, for many reasons, their research results may lack objectivity or comprehensiveness. This can lead to many conflicting opinions on how to solve a problem. Therefore, in this case, the leaders of state agencies choose legal services, lawyer services to have a more objective view before making a decision.

State agencies need a comprehensive view before deciding: Specialized staffs often perceive legal issues, especially disputes, from the perspective of insiders. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate many aspects to be able to predict risks and choose the most appropriate solution. Therefore, using legal services and lawyer services is the choice of many state agencies.

State agencies need a professional unit to be responsible: Legally, the leaders of state agencies must be fully responsible for important legal decisions they make. Therefore, when signing a contract with a legal service provider, lawyer service, the state agency has implemented the transfer of this legal responsibility to the service provider. If the violation leads to damage, the legal service provider, lawyer service must be responsible for compensation according to the provisions of the law.

6. How is the practice of using legal services of state agencies in some developed countries?

Not many people know that lawyers are one of the core parts of foreign governments and Government Lawyers are also one of the “dream jobs” of many people pursuing law.

According to the latest report from Statista Research Department on July 3, 2023, in 2022, the industry with the highest lawyer recruitment rate in the United States is legal services with nearly 435,000 lawyers, and the industry with the next highest number of lawyers is local government, with a total of about 60,000 people. These are very large numbers, reflecting the importance, the necessity of lawyers for the operation of state agencies.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333579/industries-most-lawyers/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20industry%20with,total%20number%20was%20approximately%2060%2C000

State agencies often require support from lawyers to ensure compliance with legal regulations and facilitate a transparent and fair decision-making process. The development of society and economy often comes with a complex legal system, and lawyers play an important role in helping state agencies understand and adapt to these changes.

Lawyers are often invited to advise on new legal regulations and policies, contribute professional opinions, and help state agencies understand more about legal issues. They also play an important role in ensuring compliance and transparency in the performance of tasks.

Thus, the practice of using legal services by state agencies in developed countries focuses on close cooperation, dispute resolution negotiations, advice on legal regulations and policies, ensuring compliance and transparency, as well as adapting to an increasingly complex legal environment.

7. What is the trend of using legal services, lawyer services of state agencies in Vietnam?

We can see that, in state agencies, there will be specialized staff, trained and specialized in law, usually the person directly handling and advising the agency’s leaders on the decisions issued by state agencies. Therefore, until now, it is really rare to see state agencies using legal services, lawyer services.

However, the trend of using legal services and lawyer services of state agencies in Vietnam is increasing, due to the benefits that legal services and lawyer services bring. This is a new, open-minded trend, reflecting the recognition of the importance of compliance with the law and the protection of the rights of state agencies. State agencies often prioritize cooperation with lawyers and legal experts to ensure that all regulations and policies are implemented correctly and transparently. This trend not only relates to advice on legal regulations but also extends to the protection of rights in disputes. According to statistics at the National Online Bidding System https://muasamcong.mpi.gov.vn, there are more than 200 bidding packages in the field of consulting/non-consulting registered in the form of online bidding when searching with the keyword “legal” and more than 20 bidding packages with the keyword “legal advice”. The value of the bidding packages varies from a few tens of millions to a few tens of billions depending on each specific legal issue.

The cooperation between state agencies and lawyers in Vietnam is often expressed through activities such as advising on new legal regulations, legal representation, participating in negotiations or protecting rights at court to resolve administrative disputes. The professionalism and deep knowledge of lawyers play an important role in ensuring the effectiveness and transparency of the performance of state agency tasks.

8. What are the legal regulations on contractor selection, bidding for the bidding packages “Providing legal services, lawyer services” of state agencies?

In Vietnam, state agencies have also had many specific regulations on contractor selection, bidding for the bidding packages “Providing legal services, lawyer services”

The bidding package “Providing legal services, lawyer services” can be understood as a part or all of the legal services, lawyer services provided by a Law Office, Law Company with full capacity, experience, selected by state agencies in need through the contractor selection process according to legal regulations.

• Thus, the selection of contractors, bidding for the bidding packages “Providing legal services, lawyer services” of state agencies first needs to comply with the provisions of the law on bidding, specifically at the Bidding Law 2023, and decrees, circulars, related guiding decisions.
• Forms of contractor selection such as open bidding, direct appointment, price negotiation… will be applied by investors (state agencies in need of legal services, lawyer services) suitable for each bidding package “Providing legal services, lawyer services”.
• The method of contractor selection is specifically regulated in Articles 30, 31, 32, 33 of the Bidding Law 2023 with 04 forms including: one-stage one-envelope method, one-stage two-envelope method, two-stage one-envelope method, two-stage two-envelope method.
• Regarding the contractor selection process, the Bidding Law 2023 has clearly regulated from the corresponding Article for each method of contractor selection, accordingly, the contractor selection process can be modeled as follows:
  • Step 1: Develop, approve the contractor selection plan.
  • Step 2: Prepare for contractor selection
  • Step 3: Organize contractor selection
  • Step 4: Evaluate bid documents
  • Step 5: Contract negotiation
  • Step 6: Submit, appraise, approve, publicly announce the results of contractor selection
  • Step 7: Finalize, sign and manage the implementation of the contract.
• The application of technology to bidding activities is becoming more and more popular. Therefore, many investors and contractors choose the method “Online bidding” through the national online bidding system, website: https://muasamcong.mpi.gov.vn/ . The system helps contractors find bidding opportunities; optimize the preparation and bidding work, manage all bidding activities…; help investors find investment opportunities, bidding, optimize the preparation and bidding work, manage all bidding activities…
• In addition, in Decision No. 17/2019/QD-TTg, the list of bidding packages, procurement content aimed at maintaining regular operations was applied in the form of contractor selection in special cases, including the bidding package selecting a lawyer to provide legal services to protect the rights and interests of the Government or Vietnamese state agencies at foreign or international arbitration bodies when Vietnam is the defendant in international lawsuits. This bidding package is implemented according to the following procedure:
  • Step 1: The agency in charge of resolving the lawsuit builds criteria, terms of work assignment, control mechanism of law practice organizations, lawyers, determines the list (not less than 03) of law practice organizations, lawyers expected to be hired, only select into the list of prestigious law practice organizations, lawyers, many experiences, prioritize law practice organizations, lawyers who have participated in litigation and won many international lawsuits;
  • Step 2: The agency in charge of resolving the lawsuit organizes the negotiation of legal service contracts with the law practice organization, lawyer who has the most advantage based on the criteria, terms of work assignment and control mechanism of law practice organizations, lawyers in the lawsuit;
  • Step 3: The agency in charge of resolving the lawsuit approves the results of selecting the law practice organization, lawyer;
  • Step 4: The agency in charge of resolving the lawsuit finalizes, signs a legal service contract with the law practice organization, lawyer.

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