The lowest bidder in the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) project submitted a request for reconsideration after it was post-disqualified by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
The letter was submitted on Monday by the joint venture of A.M. Oreta Co. and Inc. and Cebu-based WTG Construction and Development Corp.
Reporters were not allowed to read the full contents of the letter.
Sought for comment, BAC chariman Engr. Jose Marie Poblete said the BAC would still deliberate on the request of the contractors.
“We will be setting a meeting, hopefully within this week to discuss this,” he said.
Willy Go, general manager of WTG confirmed sending their letter on Monday but declined to elaborate.
Part of the dcoument cited three grounds for the contractors to request that their bid be considered responsive.
They said the post-disqualification was “improper, unauthorized and not in accordance” with Republic Act 9184.
They said the bidding and supporting documents they submitted are “complete, genuine, authentic and duly executed.”
The contractors also said their failure to disclose all of their ongoing and completed contracts was due to an “honest and excusable mistake.”
Poblete, the BAC chairman, said the committee will write to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to inform him that they will continue with the post-qualification for the second lowest bidder which is the joint venture of Manila-based MCEI-SCDI Construction.
He said under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9184, the BAC can already proceed with post-qualification for the second lowest bidder.
But Poblete said they will just work first on the request for reconsideration.
The BAC disqualified WTG and AM Oreta after finding out that the Manila-based contractor did not undertake a similar hospital construction contract within the last five years which is part of the criteria to qualify as a bidder.
The BAC cited “misrepesentation” and “falsification” of documents, findings it said were not controverted or explained by the contractors.
The BAC also learned from the Dept. of Public Works and Highways that WTG has 12 ongoing projects in Central Visayas instead of three as declared by the firm in its bid papers.