Glitch stalls bid: Panel finds inconsistencies in documents

The provincial government’s Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) faced another hurdle in the process of selecting the agency that will provide security services in the Cebu Provincial Capitol after inconsistencies were found in documents submitted by the bidders.

The PBAC on Wednesday completed a post-qualification report on the three prospective bidders, but discrepancies were found after the panel ran the bidding data sheets against a set checklist.
The committee’s checklist requires bidders to have a statement of completed and ongoing government or private contracts, said PBAC chairman Orvi Ortega.

“They also should have undertaken a largest single contract in the past with a value of at least 50 percent of our approved budget for contract (ABC),” added Ortega.

Ortega said that one of the aspirants, Blackpearl Security Agency, currently has a contract with a hotel in Mactan island valued at around P21 million, which is more than half of the province’s ABC amounting to more than P37 million.

“The evaluator saw that Blackpearl qualified since it was more than 50 percent of the ABC so he gave it a ‘pass’ evaluation on the checklist as far as this requirement is concerned,” said Ortega.
However, in the province’s Bid Data Sheet (BDS) given to the bidders, an item says that prospective bidders should have undertaken a contract valued at 25 percent of the ABC.

Despite this observation, the special technical working group assigned to check the bidders’ documents recommended that Blackpearl Security Agency be declared as the highest-rated bidder.

Ortega said that after extensive deliberation, the PBAC decided to elevate the issue to the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) under the Department of Budget Management (DBM).

The GPPB is a policy-making body under the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) tasked to set policies in the implementation of Republic Act 9184 and also gives an opinion on the conduct of bidding.

Ortega said that the PBAC will have to wait for the decision of the GPPB before awarding the contract to the winning bidder, causing yet another delay in the bidding process.

Ortega said the provincial government could not afford a disruption in its security services.
He said that during times of urgency, the law provides that the government may arrange for emergency procurement.

“While waiting for the GPPB, we need to answer the need (for security guards),” he said.

Gov. Hilario Davide III said that the province will have to keep Blackpearl as a temporary security services provider even without a contract while waiting for the final pronouncement of the GPPB.