House panel probes BFP after lone bidder bags P1.3B fire truck deal

MANILA, Philippines – The House committee on public order and safety on Tuesday, May 16, questioned the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for its procurement practices after it awarded a P1.3-billion fire truck contract to a lone bidder.

The contract in question was bagged by F. Cura Industries and Enplus Co. Ltd. joint venture in April 2022.

In January this year, House Resolution 724 said that F. Cura was among the joint venture entities which has allegedly been receiving “undue advantage” from BFP since 2018.

Initially, there were two bidders for this contract. However, one was disqualified during post-qualification because it failed to declare an existing contract, BFP chief Louie Puracan said. 

The disqualified bidder was Panpisco and F-One Tech joint venture. Puracan said that Panpisco failed to disclose an existing contract with F. Cura Industries. 

Under Section 24 (iv) of the Government Procurement Reform Act,  the bidder is required to declare its ongoing and completed government and private contracts. 

Abang Lingkod Representative Joseph Stephen Paduano questioned BFP’s failure to see the issues in the requirements of the contractor before the bidding. 

“Hindi niyo pwedeng mapigilan na magisip kami dito na may favored bidder kayo. Dapat sana nakita niyo na yun before the dropping of the bid documents na may problema sila para hindi na natuloy yung bidding dahil isa lang ang bidder na pwedeng mag-qualify,” he said.

(You cannot prevent us from thinking that you have a favored bidder. You should have seen the problems they have before the dropping of the bid documents so that the bidding did not push through because there is only one bidder who can qualify.)

The committee also asked BFP why there were only a few bidders for fire trucks as they noted the agency’s “restrictive procurement process.”

Puracan denied the allegation that they were favoring certain suppliers and attributed the low number of bidders to the small profit margin in supplying fire trucks and the price escalation. 

Questionable price hike

This spike in the prices of fire trucks was highlighted by ACT Teachers Representative France Castro. She said that since December 2021, the procurement price of fire trucks has risen to 26%. 

She, however questioned the increase, as she noted that were no significant changes in the technical specifications of the fire truck. 

From 2018 to early 2021, the average price of a fire truck was almost P12 million, but recently the average cost per unit has reached almost P15 million, she said. 

BFP said that the approved budget for the procurement of fire trucks was P15 million since 2016. The agency, however, said that contractors usually sell a unit of fire truck for around  P11 to P12 million. 

To “maximize” the P15 million budget, Puracan said that they decided to include personal protective equipment (PPE) in the technical specifications of fire trucks in 2021. 

This scheme of lumping the bidding for fire trucks and PPE, however, was questioned by Paduano. 

Puracan, on the other hand, said that they were allowed by the Department of Budget and Management to do this. 

Castro, meanwhile, called for immediate actions to be taken to rectify the lack of competitive bidding and examine the approved budget for fire trucks. 

Because the BFP planned to procure over 200 fire trucks this year, Castro said the bidding process has to be corrected.

The lawmaker added, that if this is not addressed, “the Philippine government and taxpayers may face additional losses of nearly P800 million which could have been used to purchase (more) fire trucks.” – Rappler.com