Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was criticized by the second lowest bidder of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) project of trying to “pressure” the bids and awards committee to play favorites.
In a letter to the mayor, the Manila-based SCDI-MCEI Joint Venture protested the loss of its chance to be considered for the project’s P300 million Phase 1.
It questioned the mayor’s Dec. 18, 2014 memo declaring a failure of bidding and order to revamp the composition of the BAC.
“We vehemently object to your Memorandum, the same being highly illegal and irregular, being totally devoid of any factual and/or legal basis and is clearly and obviously intended to unduly influence or exert undue pressure on the BAC members and/or officials of the city government of Cebu to take an action which favors or tends to favor a particular bidder,” wrote Architect Henry Steve Olonan, the authorized managing officer of the SCDI-MCEI Joint Venture in a letter dated January 15.
Olonan said the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) should be “unfettered” by any pressure or influence and urged the mayor to recall or revoke Memorandum No. 20142435.
He said the memo “plainly and clearly appears on its face that its intended effect shall cause not only our joint venture but also the people of Cebu City undue damage or injury.”
SCDI-MCEI Joint venture submitted the second lowest calculated bid price of P281 million last year.
The lowest bidder, WTG Construction in joint venture of A.M. Oreta and Co. submitted a bid of P275 million, but was later post-disqualified by the BAC for alleged “misrepresentation”.
The controversial November 2014 decision prompted Mayor Rama to scrap the bids committee even as the BAC was post-qualifying the next candidate, SCDI-MCEI.
Olonan said the mayor’s memo “intrudes into or usurps” the function of the BAC to declare a failure of bidding, and that none of the four grounds to declare a failure under the law exist.
Mayor Rama was still in Manila yesterday but had already tasked the legal office to reply to the letter.
“We will be drafting a reply although we haven’t discussed this with the mayor yet,” City Attorney Jerone Castillo told reporters.
He said Mayor Rama also hasn’t yet signed the memorandum forming a special BAC for the CCMC hospital project.
NO GROUNDS
Olonan representing the second lowest bidder cited section 35 of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act which states that the BAC is mandated to declare a failure of bidding under four circumstances:
(1) when no bids are received;
(2) all prospective bidders are declared ineligible;
(3) all bids fail to comply with all the bid requirements or fail post-qualification or;
(4) the bidder with the lowest calculated responsive bid/highest rated responsive bid refuses, without justifiable cause, to accept the award of contract and no award is made in accordance with Section 41 of the law and its Implementing Rules and Regulations
“We strongly and categorically assert that not one of the grounds mentioned above exists as to justify a lawful declaration by the BAC of failure in bidding and thereafter conduct a new bidding for procurement of the contract for the above-mentioned project,” Olonan wrote.
Mayor Rama’s Dec. 18, 2014 memo said a failure of bidding was declared for the P300 million first phase of the construction of the new CCMC to ensure the State policy of “good governance” and was in line with his “right as head of the Procuring Entity” under section 41 of the Government Procurement Reform Law or RA 9184.
Rama cited the need “to address the issues raised” about the initial bidding for Phase 1 and “to avoid or preclude any suspicion of favoritism and anomalies.”
He didn’t give details. A rebidding of the project was ordered.
Last week, the mayor announced the creation of a new BAC for infrastructure and said he was also creating a special BAC solely for the CCMC project.
Based on a recommendation of City Attorney Castillo, the CCMC bids committee would have the same members as before except for Councilor Mary Ann De los Santos because she was an elected official and not a plantilla personnel.
De los Santos was earlier outspoken about why the BAC post-disqualified WTG Construction-A.M. Oreta on the basis of falsified documents and misrepresentation.
A rebidded contract would have a potential P600 million value contract after the mayor said bigger funding would be tapped for wider scope of work.
When the mayor declared a failure of bidding, the BAC headed by City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete was still in the middle of post-qualifying the second lowest bidder, the joint venture of SCDI-MCEI.
Olonan said the company received in November 26 last year a letter from the BAC secretariat informing them that they will already post-qualify their joint venture.
On December 16, they received another letter from the BAC’s technical working group asking for additional documents for the evaluation of their bid.
Olanon said they were already expecting the BAC to recommend the award of the contract to them.
“However, we were dismayed, nay shocked when on January 14, we came across the Internet copy of your Memorandum Order No. 20142435 dated 18 December 20014 addressed to the BAC,” Olonan wrote.
He warned that unduly influencing the BAC can be penalized by six years and one day to 15 years in prison under the Government Procurement Law.
They also said the mayor could be liable for violation of the anti-graft law under section 3 of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“Our right to be awarded the contract for your project is a property right which we cannot be deprived of without due process and only in the manner and under the grounds prescribed by existing law,” said Olonan.
A copy of the letter was addressed to City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete, who was the chairman of the BAC which reviewed their bids.
City Castillo has recommended retaining all members, except Councilor Mary Ann de los Reyes, whom he said was not qualified because she was an elected official.
The other members are Poblete, Jose Daluz III, Dominic Dino, Daisy Villa, and city budget officer Marietta Gumia.
He said city assessor Ferdinand Cañete, a member of the old BAC, said he doesn’t want to be part of the new BAC anymore since he’s “sickly” and just got out of the hospital.
Castillo said he may take his seat if Cañete refuses, based on earlier talks with the mayor.
With Councilor delos Santos about to get kicked out of the BAC as representative of the end-user, the mayor has to appoint a replacement – either CCMC chief of hospital for operations Dr. Gloria Duterte or CCMC director for administration Rey Cris Panugaling.
Castillo said he’s recommending Duterte, who is familiar with hospital operations and has valuable input for the CCMC’s construction.