Cebu Airport bid DOTC probes alleged conflict of interest

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is looking into the alleged conflict of interest raised against two bidders of the P17.5 billion Mactan Cebu International Airport capacity expansion project.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a text message that the Filinvest-Changi Airports consortium raised the alleged conflict of interest between the best bidder Megawide Construction Corp. – GMR Airports of India and the group of First Philippine Holdings – Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad.

“It was raised in a letter by Filinvest-Changi Airports. We will process and resolve the issue,” Abaya said.

Michael Arthur Sagcal, DOTC spokesperson, said the agency’s bids and awards committee (BAC) is already looking into the matter delaying the issuance of the Notice of Award to the best bidder.

“The bidding rules define and discuss conflicts of interest, so the BAC will look into the issue to determine whether it has any merit,” he said.

To ensure a level playing field and a competitive bidding process, the bidding rules state that bidders must not have any conflict of interest.

The bidding process requires a post qualification review period after the opening of the financial bids to verify the information, representations and statements made by the highest bidder in its submissions.

The two groups are being accused of conflict of interest as the bidding rules prohibits a board member or partner of a bidder from being involved in any capacity with another bidder in the public private partnership (PPP) project.

GMR and Malaysia Airports are partners in several projects. Malaysia Airports manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia: five international, 16 domestic and 18 short take-off and landing ports.