DOTC okays third bidder for P3-B LTO IT contract

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DOTC okays third bidder for P3-B LTO IT contract
Initially disqualified, the agency grants Avesco-Sung Gwang's motion for reconsideration, allowing the joint venture to bid for the controversial project

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has allowed a third group to bid for the P3.4-billion ($77.57 million) Road Transportation Information Technology (IT) project.

The DOTC wants to replace the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) 13-year-old IT system to improve its capability to track stolen vehicles and prevent double registration, among others. The project being bid out now only covers the software and data center components of the P8.2-billion ($187.09 million) LTO IT project originally bid out in 2012.

Following the 2012 bidding’s failure due to the inability of bidders to qualify for the project’s broad scope, the DOTC decided to divide the project into two components to make it “more feasible” for interested groups.

On March 30, 9 groups submitted bids for the P3.4-billion project. Using the non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion mandated by the procurement law, the agency’s BAC declared 3 bidders eligible for the project, now including Avesco Marketing Corporation-Sung Gwang Company, Ltd.

Disqualified at first, the Avesco Marketing-Sung Gwang joint venture was finally declared eligible to join the bidding after the bids and awards committee (BAC) of the DOTC and LTO granted its motion for reconsideration. The joint venture was allowed to present its proof of concept for the DOTC-LTO IT project.

The two other qualified bidders include the joint venture of Kaisa Consulting Company Inc., FPT Information Systems Corporation, and NTT Data Corporation; and the tandem of Indra Sistemas S.A. and Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.

The 6 groups declared ineligible for failure to comply with various requirements of the procurement law and bidding rules were:

  • Omniprime Marketing and Heitech Padu Berhad
  • The Strategic Planning, Applied Management Konsult Inc., and Accesos Holograficos SS de CV joint venture
  • Infotech Global Pte. Ltd.-Infotech Private Limited
  • The Oberthur Technologies-Comfac Corporation
  • The NPMI-NEC
  • DVK Philippines Enterprises and Leidos Holdings, Inc. joint venture

The BAC and its Technical Working Group are now carefully studying all the proposals and submissions of the bidders to determine which are responsive to all requirements under the law and of the DOTC-LTO.

The project would result to much-improved services at the LTO beginning in the third quarter of 2015, aiming to deliver more user-friendly, convenient services to the public, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, said.

“This project aims to make dealing with the LTO more convenient and efficient for the public. Unnecessary steps will be cut out, online transactions will be enabled, and human intervention will be minimized in order to curb corruption,” Abaya said.

Controversial project

DOTC said components for the nationwide rollout, including hardware requirements, would be opened for bidding after the current contract is awarded.

DOTC is set to hold one-on-one meetings with the eligible bidders to finalize the project’s specifications after which, a pre-bid conference will be held to discuss the final technical specifications of the project.

DOTC said bid submission of technical and financial proposals is targeted for the last week of August.

The bidding for the controversial project has been postponed several times already following the expiration of LTO’s contract with Stradcom Corporation. It was delayed after the Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in May 2012.

DOTC extended the contract of Stradcom while the TRO was in place. The Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling in October 2012.

LTO awarded the contract to Stradcom in 1998, but the firm went through ownership struggle. The Commission on Audit reported P2 billion ($45.56 million) in “unauthorized” interconnectivity fees that were billed from 2007 to 2011 to the DOTC, LTO, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

In July last year, DOTC declared a failure of bidding after the financial proposals submitted by 3 companies failed to pass the post-qualification proceedings in line with the provisions of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

DOTC was forced to suspend bidding for the project scheduled on May 12 due to the TRO issued by the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court.

In an order dated April 11, Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 213 Judge Carlos Valenzuela issued a 20-day TRO preventing the respondents Abaya and LTO Chief Alfonso Tan Jr. from bidding out the project.

DOTC said it is confident that it would win the legal suit pending before the Mandaluyong City RTC seeking to enjoin government from proceeding with the project. – Rappler.com

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