People often ask which BIM certificate is worth having. The question has to be split in two first, because Vietnamese uses one everyday word for two very different documents.
A practice certificate is a legal instrument, defined in law, and only a body the law empowers may issue it. A certificate of completion is a document from an organisation, an association or a training provider confirming that you finished a programme.
The distinction is not about wording. It decides whether the document in your hand is a legal condition for practising, and what your company has to put in a tender submission.
This article answers three questions. Under current law, what is a construction practice certificate and who issues it? Is any BIM certificate mandatory? And when bidding for a project that applies BIM, how does a company prove capability?
Practice certificates under current law
Practice certificates for construction activity are set out in the Construction Law and detailed in Decree 212/2026/ND-CP of 17 June 2026, in force from 1 July 2026.
Three things are worth knowing.
Who issues them. Under Article 31, the authority to issue practice certificates rests with the provincial People's Committee, which may delegate it further. The Ministry of Construction retains the power to revoke certificates issued improperly. No university, research institute or training centre can issue this document.
Which fields they cover. Appendix I lists four: construction survey, urban and rural planning, construction design, and construction supervision. Each carries its own requirements for qualifications and experience.
Not everything needs one. The decree names activities that require no practice certificate. Preliminary design within a pre-feasibility study, for instance. Or design and supervision of finishing works that do not affect the load-bearing structure.
One change many people have missed: the two familiar practice certificates for cost estimating and project management are no longer on the list. What does a quantity surveyor do? covers that change and what replaces it as proof of capability.
Why there is no BIM practice certificate
The answer sits in the text itself. We read Decree 212/2026 in full, including all four appendices: nowhere does it mention BIM or building information modelling. The list of fields for practice certificates holds only the four named above.
In other words, no BIM practice certificate exists in Vietnam. No state body issues one, so nobody can require you to hold one. Programmes such as BIM Manager or BIM Coordinator therefore award certificates of completion, not practice certificates.
That does not conflict with BIM being mandatory. Decree 217/2026 requires new works of grade II and above to apply BIM. The obligation sits on the work and on the client, not on any individual's paperwork.
So what are the documents commonly called "BIM certificates"? All of them are certificates of completion, in three groups by issuer.
From software vendors. Chiefly Autodesk's certification programme: Autodesk Certified Professional for Revit by discipline, and Autodesk Certified User for students. Taken on a computer at an authorised test centre. It attests skill with the software, and says nothing about running a BIM project.
From international bodies. Most notably the buildingSMART programme, from the organisation behind IFC and openBIM, built on the ISO 19650 standards. This group attests understanding of process rather than of a particular tool, and carries weight when working with foreign consultants.
From domestic training providers. Universities, research institutes and centres. The Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering issues a certificate of course completion, in the name of the Institute and Hanoi University of Civil Engineering. The value of this group depends on the issuer's standing and on the programme itself.
What a tender for a BIM project actually needs
This is the part firms care about most, so it is worth stating plainly.
Current law does not require any BIM certificate in order to bid for works that apply BIM. No document imposes such a condition, for the simple reason that no such certificate exists.
In practice, though, companies preparing a bid routinely add two things to demonstrate BIM capability to the client.
First, training certificates for their people: staff who have completed BIM Manager, BIM Coordinator or software courses, listed with the role each will hold.
Second, comparable works already delivered with BIM: contracts, acceptance records, models handed over, with a description of the BIM scope actually performed.
Neither is a legal requirement. Both are evidence, with one clear purpose: convincing the client that the bidder can genuinely do BIM, and thereby improving the chance of winning.
Ranked by weight in an evaluator's eyes, project experience comes first and training certificates second. A team with three completed BIM projects is more persuasive than a team holding only certificates. But a team just starting out, with no projects yet, has nothing else to offer, and there the training certificates matter a great deal.
Which one an individual should pursue
It depends on the goal, in roughly this order.
Working for a domestic firm. What you have built is examined first: models, drawing sets produced from them, your role on the project. A training certificate is a plus and helps a CV past the first filter, particularly before you have any projects.
Foreign-funded projects or international consultants. An international certificate against ISO 19650 carries more weight, because the other side immediately recognises the process you know.
Hands-on modelling work. Vendor certification suits modelling roles and matters less for management ones.
If you want a practice certificate. Where your work falls within the four fields in Decree 212/2026, that is the certificate to pursue, applying to the provincial People's Committee. BIM is a skill that supports that work; it does not replace the certificate.
What the Institute's certificates look like
The section above is clear that the law does not require a BIM certificate to bid. But every client reads evidence of capability, and for a team without many BIM projects behind it, the training certificate is the only thing there is to submit.
These are the certificates the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering issues to learners who complete a course.
Three things make these certificates hold up inside a capability file.
The issuer is a public university. The certificate carries the names of Hanoi University of Civil Engineering and the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering, the Institute's seal and the director's signature. That is what separates it from a certificate issued by a private training shop: the client can verify who issued it.
It is bilingual, Vietnamese and English, on one sheet. It works for a domestic bid and for submission to a foreign client or consultant without a certified translation.
It names the programme, the dates and the grade. Whoever evaluates the file can see immediately which part of the work the person was trained in, rather than a generic line.
Where the certificate sits in a bid
In a bid, training certificates belong in the section on the capability and experience of key personnel, alongside the personnel list, the role each will hold on the project and a description of their experience. This is the part the client uses to judge whether the contractor can actually do BIM.
The usual arrangement is one page per BIM staff member: a copy of the certificate, the role intended on this package (BIM Manager, BIM Coordinator, modellers for each discipline), and the projects they have worked on. A team that can show all three roles on paper reads far better than one where a few people happen to know the software.
To be clear, none of this is a legal condition, and no certificate substitutes for project experience. But where two contractors are level on experience, a personnel file with proper training behind it is what creates the difference.
Where to start
It depends on your situation.
An individual moving into BIM. Take BIM Manager if you are heading for the process-management role, or BIM Coordinator if you will coordinate models between disciplines. If the software itself is not yet solid, start with Revit Architecture, Revit Structure or Revit MEP for your own discipline. How BIM Manager differs from BIM Coordinator compares the two roles.
A company preparing a BIM capability file. The in-house BIM Manager programme trains a whole team on the company's own project documents. Each participant finishes with a certificate, which is exactly the set of documents the personnel section of a bid needs.
Frequently asked questions
How do the two kinds of certificate differ?
A practice certificate is a legal instrument issued by a body the law empowers, and it is a condition for practising. A certificate of completion is a document from an organisation or training provider confirming that you finished a programme.
Is there a BIM practice certificate?
No. Decree 212/2026 provides for four fields: survey, planning, design and construction supervision. BIM is not among them.
Can we bid for a BIM project without a BIM certificate?
Yes. The law imposes no such condition. Firms demonstrate BIM capability through trained personnel and through comparable works already delivered with BIM.
What does the Institute issue?
A certificate of course completion, in the name of the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering – Hanoi University of Civil Engineering. No training provider can issue a practice certificate.
Does Autodesk certification carry legal weight in Vietnam?
Not as a condition for practising. It certifies competence with the software, which is useful in a personal CV and in international tender submissions.