Capacity Conditions and Construction Practising Certificates under Decree 212/2026/ND-CP: What Enterprises Must Prepare

To participate lawfully in Vietnam’s construction market, an enterprise needs more than capital and manpower: it must demonstrate its capability through the certification system prescribed by law. Construction activity capacity conditions are precisely the technical and legal gateway determining who is permitted to carry out surveying, design, execution or supervision, and within what scope and scale. For domestic enterprises expanding into new fields, and particularly for foreign investors newly entering the market, correctly understanding the capacity-condition framework is an indispensable first step.

From 1 July 2026, together with the entry into force of the 2025 Law on Construction (Law No. 135/2025/QH15), Decree 212/2026/ND-CP issued on 17 June 2026 becomes the central instrument governing construction activity capacity conditions, practising certificates, and the national database system on construction activity. The Decree introduces a number of changes with a direct bearing on how enterprises prepare bid dossiers and organise their personnel. This article analyses the core matters enterprises need to prepare for.

Mục 01Distinguishing the practising certificate from the capacity certificate

Two concepts that are frequently confused should first be clarified. A construction activity practising certificate is a document attesting to the capability of an individual, tied to the professional qualifications and experience of each engineer, architect, or project manager/lead. The capacity conditions of an organisation, on the other hand — typically evidenced by a capacity certificate — assess the overall capability of the legal entity on the basis of its team of certificate-holding individuals, its experience in carrying out comparable works, and its equipment and financial conditions. An enterprise seeking to take contracts in a higher class must necessarily have a sufficient number of individuals holding the corresponding practising certificates.

This tiered structure explains why an enterprise cannot simply procure equipment and then take on any work it wishes. If its key personnel do not hold practising certificates matching the relevant field and class, the enterprise will fail the capacity conditions and may be eliminated at the very stage of bid dossier evaluation. In practice, this is one of the most common reasons why contractors — including well-resourced foreign contractors — are eliminated from tender packages in Vietnam: their personnel records do not align with the certification requirements under Vietnamese law.

Mục 02How long is a practising certificate valid, and how is it administered?

A notable new feature of Decree 212/2026/ND-CP is the standardisation of the validity period and the method of administering practising certificates. Under the new rules, a practising certificate is valid for 10 years and is administered through a practising certificate code number. Attaching a unique code number to each certificate enables regulators, project owners and procuring entities to look up and verify a certificate’s validity rapidly in the electronic environment, rather than relying on paper originals that are readily forged.

For enterprises, this change is both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity lies in the transparency of personnel capability verification, reducing the risk of relying on invalid certificates when recruiting or entering into cooperation. The challenge is that, with all information digitised and cross-checked, the practice of declaring “phantom” personnel in bid dossiers becomes far easier to detect. Enterprises should re-examine their entire team to ensure that the individuals declared genuinely hold valid certificates in the correct field.

Mục 03The national database on construction activity: impact on procurement

Decree 212/2026/ND-CP does not merely prescribe capacity conditions; it also builds the foundation for an information system and national database on construction activity. This is a shift from manual to electronic administration, in which information on practising certificates, contractor capability and certification is digitised and centralised. The Decree is accompanied by appendices setting out in detail the professional disciplines and fields for which practising certificates are issued, the fields and scope of construction activity, the standard forms, and the issuing-authority codes.

The greatest practical impact of this system lies in the preparation of bid invitation dossiers and the evaluation of bid dossiers. Where capability information can be looked up online, the procuring entity has a basis for immediately verifying a contractor’s capability representations; conversely, the contractor must ensure that its own data on the system is accurately updated. A bid dossier declaring capability beyond what the recorded data supports may be treated as fraud, with serious consequences such as elimination from the tender or a period of debarment from bidding. For FDI enterprises, proactively registering and updating capability data on the system from the outset is a precondition for entering the market on a properly credentialed basis.

Mục 04What should enterprises prepare in order to satisfy the capacity conditions?

To ensure they qualify to operate in the desired field and class, enterprises should conduct a comprehensive review. That exercise centres on the following three groups of matters:

• Review key personnel, cross-checking each individual’s practising certificate against the field and class of works the enterprise intends to contract for, and supplementing or renewing certificates where necessary.
• Compile and update the experience record of comparable works already performed, as this is an important basis for demonstrating the organisation’s capability when bidding for large-scale packages.

Beyond those two documentary matters, the enterprise must also ensure that its capability data is registered and accurately reflected on the national database system. This is a technical-cum-legal exercise requiring coordination between the human resources, procurement and legal advisory functions. Errors at this stage typically do not surface immediately; they emerge at the most sensitive possible moment — when the bid dossier is submitted — causing the enterprise to lose the opportunity needlessly.

Mục 05Frequently asked questions

Must foreign contractors obtain a capacity certificate in the same way as domestic contractors? When carrying out construction activity in Vietnam, foreign contractors must comply with the capacity conditions under Vietnamese law and complete the construction activity licensing procedure prescribed specifically for foreign contractors. Satisfying the capacity conditions and having personnel holding appropriate certificates is mandatory; foreign contractors therefore commonly form a partnership (consortium) with a domestic contractor in order to meet this requirement.

Do practising certificates issued before 1 July 2026 remain valid? As a general matter, certificates validly issued before the new decree takes effect continue to be valid until the expiry date stated on the certificate, unless the law provides otherwise by way of transitional provisions. Enterprises should examine the transitional provisions and the remaining validity of each certificate carefully in order to plan renewals appropriately.

Mục 06How HTIC Law Firm assists enterprises on construction capacity conditions

As the system for administering construction capability undergoes comprehensive digitalisation, errors in certificates and capability records may cost an enterprise a tender opportunity or expose it to enforcement risk for fraud. HTIC Law Firm assists both domestic and FDI enterprises in reviewing capacity conditions, advises on procedures relating to practising certificates and the operations of foreign contractors, and helps control the validity of bid dossiers. See HTIC’s construction lawyer services for support from the very stage of building the legal capability to enter the market.

Contact HTIC Law Firm — Hotline +84 379 044 299.