COA tells Capitol: Be cautious in chosing contractors

State auditors have asked the Cebu provincial government to be circumspect in the selection of contractors for its infrastructure project to make sure that these winning bidders are eligible to implement government-funded projects.

The Commission on Audit discovered that Capitol awarded contracts to Tuason Corporation even with the company’s failure to properly document the status of implementation of P37.9 million worth of projects awarded to them in 2015.

Said projects could not also be found in the Talisay City–based company’s Statement of Ongoing Government and Private Contracts.

Auditors said that “failure to disclose complete information of such shall be ground for bidder disqualification and blacklisting.”

“The subject contractor should have included the above-listed contractors in the Statement of Ongoing and Completed projects as this is an important criterion to determine the contractor’s financial capacity to undertake the project,” COA said.

Auditors added that “the BAC (Bids and Awards Committee) should always be careful in the evaluation of documents submitted during the public bidding to ensure that the purpose for which these are required are met.”

In his letter reply to COA, Provincial Engineer Hector Jamora admitted that they overlooked missing information on projects previously implemented by Tuason Corporation during the evaluation of the contractor’s Net Financial Contracting Capacity.

But Jamora assured COA that all of the seven projects “were already completed.”

During their review of transactions entered into the provincial government in 2016, COA found out that seven projects worth P37.9 million were undisclosed by Tuason Corporation in their Statement of All Ongoing and Completed Projects.