Temporary facilities of the Cebu City Medical Center now occupy the former building of Citom. (CDN File Photo)
Cebu City officials are rushing to bid out and build a new public hospital before their permit issued by the Department of Health expires in July.
City Engr. Jose Marie Poblete, who chairs the Bids and Awards committee for the hospital project, said they aim to finish the revised program of works and estimates (POWE) this month.
Then a rebidding for the Cebu City Medical Center can be done by May or early June, and construction can start by July, he said.
The project cost will be revised from its original budget of P300 million to P600 million.
Even if the permit expires, Poblete said he was assured by DOH representatives of help to get an extension.
Higher amount
Guidelines for the qualifications of bidders were previously eased by scrapping a requirement for a bidder to have completed a similar hospital project of similar cost within the last five hears.
“In the previous bidding, we set a higher standard. Considering that we’re going with a higher amount now, maybe no one would qualify anymore. That’s why we went with the minimum requirements provided under law,” Poblete told Cebu Daily News.
More stringent requirements were followed during the first bidding since it involved a lower amount of P300 million, he said.
“We have ways to determine (if a bidder is qualified). During the post—qualification, we can look into whether the previous bidders who will be participating again, have grounds to be disqualified,” Poblete explained.
READ: 2nd bidder for CCMC says Mayor ‘unfair’
Asked if the lowest bidder, WTG Construction and its Manila partner AM Oreta, which was disqualfied in the first bidding, would be qualified if it participated again, Poblete declined to comment.
He said it’s “hypothetical” and “premature” to talk about it since the BAC hasn’t started the actual rebidding.
The former BAC post-disqualified the joint venture which gave the lowest bid of P275 million.
The bidder was set aside after the BAC discovered in the post-qualification stage evidence of misrepresention and falsification of documents in order to pass the criteria.
With the new rebidding guidelines, city attorney Jerone Castillo earlier said all contractors could submit bids even if they were disqualified before since “it’s an open and competitive bidding.”
Premature
Councilor Mary Ann Delos Santos, who heads the CCMC ad hoc committee, said she has “reservations and fear” with the new rules.
Delos was dropped from the BAC when it was reorganized by Mayor Michael Rama after he declared a failure of bidding for the CCMC project last December.
READ: Delos Santos out of CCMC bids committee
“It is important that prospective contractors must prove themselves not only legally, technically and financially capable. They must show that they can greatly improve the likelihood of success for the project completion,” she said in an interview..
Though she said it’s “futile” to intervene in the rebidding guidelines, De Los Santos said she would still convene the ad hoc committee to discuss the issue.