RED FLAGS IN LOWEST BID
Will private observers be invited as watchdogs?
It is a must that the private sector be active in every stage.. for accountability and transparency.
A large billboard shows the proposed Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) on the site where it will rise in N. Bacalso Avenue. The complete project is estimated to cost P1.5 billion. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Under scrutiny, bid documents showed glaring signs that something was wrong with the lowest bid for Phase 1 of the new Cebu City Medical Center.
A trip to Manila exposed a false claim about which contractor finished a hospital project.
The letterhead of a medical foundation in Quezon City was misused to reflect the wrong address of the building.
The Cebu contractor in the bid was found to be handling not just three ongoing projects, but 12 in Central Visayas alone.
These were some of the glaring defects discovered by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of Cebu city which passed a resolution to post-disqualify the bid of the joint venture of Manila-based A.M. Oreta & Co. Inc. and Cebu contractor WTG Construction and Development Joint Venture.
The lowest bid for P274. 9 million was rejected as “non-responsive”.
Although Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama blew his top when the BAC’s decision on Oct. 31 was first reported in Cebu Daily News, (he said it was “premature”), the mayor finally signed his approval of the BAC resolution on Nov. 13.
A copy was sent and received by the joint venture contractors for them to comment within three days. The period ends tomorrow.
SECOND LOWEST BIDDER
Even if the contractors seek an appeal, the BAC is duty-bound to evaluate the second lowest bidder, under the Government Procurement Reform Act or Republic Act 9184.
BAC chairman Jose Marie Poblete was reluctant to comment on the decision.
“We will just wait for the motion for reconsideration period to lapse to give a chance to the contractor. After that, we will instruct the Technical Working Group to start post-qualification of the second lowest bidder,” he told CDN.
The second lowest bidder is Manila-based SCDI-MCEI joint venture with a bid of P281 million. Four bids were submitted in the opening of bids on Sept. 30.
The resolution of the seven-member BAC was direct. It said the bidder “failed to controvert” the findings, or justify and explain to the BAC the “misrepresentations and/or inconsistencies of its statement” and documents submitted.
Based on BAC Resolution No. 2014-09-041, the joint venture failed to comply with two major eligibility requirements – (1) the bidder must have completed a single contract of a hospital project worth P300 million in the last five years and (2) a statement of the bidder’s ongoing projects.
PRIVATE OBSERVERS
Post-qualification is the crucial stage where the BAC determines whether a bidder satisfies all requirements and conditions in the bidding documents.
Cebu Daily News noted that “observers” from the private sector were invited in the earlier stages of the bidding process, but were absent in this phase.
Under the Government Procurement Act, the BAC “shall, in all stages of the procurement process, invite, in addition to the representative of the COA, at least two observers” in order “to enhance the transparency of the process.
The observers from the private sector are supposed to be invited in writing.
The BAC secretariat said they sent out invitations to various groups, but that no one showed up.
CDN asked three of those on the list if they would be ready to participate as additional citizen watchdogs.
Dr. Shawn Espina of CARE CCMC, said “Yes,we will be active in every stage of the bidding and the building itself. It is a must that the private sector does this for accountability and transparency.”
“But we depend on the BAC secretariat to inform us. Sometimes they don’t issue invitations.”
Fr. Carmelo Diola of Dilaab, whose group was in the list of groups supposedly invited said, “ No, we categorically deny having received any invitation to do BAC work on the CCMC project. I’ve asked my staff if they received one, but no on has. Even if we received an invitation, we would have turned it down since we have no capability for it.”
Radio dyLA station manager Jun Tagalog, president of the KBP Cebu chapter, whose group was listed, said he doesn’t recall receiving an invitation from the BAC.
“But yes, I’d like to to attend it now that it has become controversial. But if I don’t receive an invitation, I won’t attend,” said Tagalog.
DISCOVERY
The discovery of “discrepancies” in the bid documents put the heat on BAC members, who voted 3 to 2 in favor of the disqualification.
Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, the chairman Poblete and City Assessor Ferdinand Canete voted to declare the lowest bid “unresponsive”.
Two other members Jose Daluz and Dominic Dino, HRD department head, voted to declare the bid “responsive” and to be post qualified.
Two other members were absent during the Oct. 31 meeting – City Health Officer Dr. Daisy Villa and City Budget Officer Marietta Gumia.
After reports surfaced of the Oct. 31 voting, the BAC members were called to a meeting by the mayor who expressed his dismay over what he called a “premature” announcement.
It was delos Santos who flew to Manila to check out the Manila contractors statement that it completed the five-storey Far Eastern University Nicanor Reyes Sr. Medical Foundation Medical Center building on Dec. 15, 2009.
She was surprised to find a bronze marker on the wall of the medical center showing that it was completed nine years earlier on Nov. 8, 2000 with former president Corazon Aquino as the guest of honor.
De los Santos was appointed to the BAC by Mayor Rama and as head of the CCMC ad hoc committee.
The BAC and CCMC Technical Working Group were also able to secure certifications from the medical foundation that another contractor R. C.
Barreto Construction served as their general contractor, which finished the medical building with renovations and expansion work in West Fairview, Quezon City.
A.M. Oreta Construction completed the main building by the year 2000, after which R.C. Barreto “served as our sole contractor” until their services ended in 2011, said the foundation’s chairman and CEO Nicanor Reyes III.
What the lowest bidder submitted was a photocopy of a Certification of Final Acceptance.
It carried the letterhead of the FEU-NRMF which presented a wrong address as “Dr. Nicanor Reyes Street, Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines.”
In a letter to Joseph Abellar, who heads the TWG, FEU-NRMF Chief Finance Officer Redentor Pagtalunan clarified that their agreement with A.M. Oreta and APMSI, which was designated their construction manager, was finished in January 10, 2000.
“From January 10, 2000, we have contracted another contractor and project consultant for FEU-NRMF renovations and expansions,” Pagtalunan said.
Quezon City Building Official Engr. Isagani Versoza Jr. also certified a Certificate of Occupancy was issued to the FEU-NRMF Medical Complex at Regalado Ave. in September 8, 2003.
A check was made of the bidder’s list where the Cebu contractor said they had only three ongoing projects.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 however confirmed that the bidder “has 12 ongoing projects under their agency for Region 7 alone,” said the BAC report.
The list mostly includes road and bridge projects undertaken by WTG Construction, including roads in Cebu City and dredging work in Mandaue City.
The old CCMC was declared unfit for occupancy after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu and Bohol on October 15, 2013.
The old building in N.Bacalso Ave. corner Panganiban St. was demolished last February 24, 2014. The total cost of the project is pegged at P1.5 billion.
WTG and AM Oreta gave the lowest bid of P274,975,904.10 during the bidding for the first phase of the CCMC reconstruction last September 30.
Under Section 55 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, a disqualified bidder may request for reconsideration within three calendar days for any decision of the BAC at any stage of the procurement process.
And if the BAC denies the protest, the party can still file another motion for reconsideration, within seven days from the BAC’s denial, to the head of the procuring entity which in this case is Mayor Michael Rama.
“Immediately after the BAC has notified the first bidder of its post-disqualification, and notwithstanding any pending request for reconsideration thereof, the BAC shall initiate and complete the same post-qualification process on the bidder with the second Lowest Calculated Bid,” according to Section 35 of the implementing rules./With Eileen G. Mangubat
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