DOTC finalizing bid terms for LTO IT proj

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is finalizing the terms of reference (TOR) for the rebidding of the P8.2 billion road information technology infrastructure project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the agency together with LTO are finalizing the TOR and intends to publish the new terms within the year.

“We are awaiting the finalization of TOR and we hope to publish that within the year,” Abaya said.

Bidding for the multi-billion peso has failed twice.

Abaya said the agency declared a failure of bidding last July after the financial proposals submitted by the three bidders failed to meet the agency’s requirement.

All the three bidders including Digitext Asia Corp., Fritz and Macziol Asia, and Eurolink Network failed to pass the post-qualification proceedings 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 Stardcom 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).