DOTC to rebid LTO’s P8.2-B IT project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is set to rebid the P8.2-billion road information technology infrastructure project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for the second time after the financial proposals submitted by the three bidders failed to meet the agency’s requirement.

DOTC spokesman Michael Arthur Sagcal said the agency is set to rebid the project after the three bidders including Digitext Asia Corp., Fritz and Macziol Asia, and Eurolink Network failed to pass the post-qualification proceedings.

Sagcal explained that the agency’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) has declared a failed bidding due to the failure of the three bidders to hurdle the post qualification process in line with the provisions of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

Last Nov. 26, the DOTC conducted the bidding for the multi-billion peso project after five out of the nine companies that purchased bid documents participated in the open and transparent procurement process.

Digitext Asia submitted the lowest bid of P3.8 billion followed by Fritz and Macziol Asia with P5.3 billion, and Eurolink Network with P5.8 billion.The bids submitted by Kaisa Consulting and Ceragon Network were not opened because of lack of technical requirements.

The four other companies which purchased bidding documents but did not participate in the bidding were Stradcom Smartmatic, Oberthur Technologies and Indra Sistemas SA.

The DOTC had set the bidding process for the new LTO-IT system in time for the Feb. 10 expiration of the contract of Stradcom Corp. but the bidding for a new P8.2-billion LTO-IT system was delayed by several months when a Quezon City court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

The DOTC was only able to proceed with the bidding after the Court of Appeals favored the argument of the DOTC setting aside the TRO issued by the lower court.

Due to the delay, DOTC undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla earlier said the agency decided to extend the contract of Stradcom while the evaluation process for the procurement of a new contractor is still underway. 

Lotilla said the contract extension would ensure the continuity and non-disruption of services to the public and is allowed under emergency interim contract negotiated pursuant to RA 9184.

“After assessing the current situation, we have decided to procure the services of Stradcom for eight months in order not to disrupt the automated system now being used by LTO and avoid reverting into manual operation. However, this contract can be terminated sooner at the discretion of the DOTC depending on how soon the new system provider can take over,” Lotilla said earlier.

The previous LTO IT system, which has been running for 13 years, is no longer responsive to current land transportation regulation requirements. Once the new LTO-IT system is in place, it will make it easier for authorities to recover stolen vehicles, trace smuggled vehicles, prevent double registration and monitor unregistered vehicles.

Aside from correcting the flaws of the current system, it will result in LTO earning approximately an additional P2 billion a year since all computer fees will accrue to the government.