Bids body junks Pamocor’s appeal

P77.8M CONTRACT

Cebu City Hall’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) has denied the appeal filed by Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor) on its bid to win the P77.8 million garbage hauling contract of the city.

BAC Chairman Ronaldo Malacora said they did not find enough merit on the motion for reconsideration filed by Pamocor and its partner Geo Transport and Construction Inc. over the committee’s earlier decision to disqualify them despite their giving the lowest bid of the project.

“The committee was not satisfied by their motion for reconsideration. They were not able to present any new evidence. That is why the BAC decided to deny their appeal,” said Malacora who also heads the General Services Office (GSO).

Among the reasons cited by the BAC in disqualifying Pamocor and Geo Transport was the lack of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for their transfer station in Barangay Pulangbato.

They were also disqualified since it was found out that Geo Transport was not registered with the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Philgeps).

In their appeal, Malacora said the joint venture reasoned that based on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, it is okay if only one of the two contractors is registered with Philgeps if they are in a joint venture.

But Malacora said there is a revised IRR for the RA 9184 which requires that both contractors need Philgeps registration even if they are in a joint venture.

As to the transfer station, the contractor explained that it was not specified in the bidding requirements that the transfer station they have to use must have an ECC from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“But the contention of our lawyers is that when you talk about a transfer station, that is already a legal term. Under RA 9003 (or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), there are requirements before opening a transfer station and that includes having an ECC,” Malacora said.

He said though that Pamocor and Geo Transport have one more legal remedy. They can elevate their appeal to the head of the procuring entity which is the city mayor.

But in the meantime, the BAC’s technical working group (TWG) has already started the post-qualification process for the second lowest bidder which is Jomara Konstruckt Corp.

He said they hope that by next week, the BAC TWG will already have a report on their review of Jomara’s bid.

Jomara gave a slightly higher bid of P1,350 per ton of garbage hauled compared to Pamocor and Geo Transport’s P1,344 per ton.
The P77.8 million garbage hauling contract is good for the next three to four months.