DOTC pushes back deadline for LTO-IT bidding

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has pushed back anew the deadline for the submission of bids for the P3.44 billion Land Transportation Office (LTO) information technology (IT) system project.

Transportation Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco said they are moving the deadline for the submission of bids for the IT system project to May 12 instead of April 11 to give bidders more time to submit their documents.

“Upon the request of numerous bidders and in order to provide bidders ample time to study the bidding documents and prepare a competitive tender, the submission and opening of bid proposals is now May 12 instead of April 11,” he said.

This is the fourth time the deadline for the submission and opening of bid proposals has been deferred. From the original deadline of Feb. 18, it was postponed to March 19, then to April 8, April 11, and now May 12.

A total of 35 companies including Stradcom Corp., IBM Philippines, Innove Communications Inc., HTC Corp., HP Company, Datarail Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Computer Sciences Corp. of America, Eurolink Inc., Oberthur Technologies, Cyberlink Corp., Microgenesis Corp., Eastern Business Global Solution, Total Information Management Corp., LRA Pacific Management Consulting Inc., New City Industrial Creative Co. Ltd, Indra Systems Inc., Netpoleon Phils. Inc., and Jibe Technology Inc. attended the pre-bid conference held at the DOTC headquarters last Jan. 21.

Other interested firms include Fritz & Macziol Asia Inc., ESGS Inc., GeniSystem Solutions Inc., Avesco Marketing, Multifold Links Inc., Rural Net Inc., Questronix Corp., EBI Solutions, Integrated Computer Solutions, Roll Base Co., Network Performance Inc, The Value System Phils. Inc., CEC International Co. Ltd., ASI Co., Omniprime Corp., Comfac Corp., and Cyber Research Corp.

The DOTC said the bidders could form joint ventures through the creation of a new company with partners or to form an unicorporated company by presenting a joint venture agreement or an intent to form a joint venture agreement.

The first stage of the project involves the customization, development, integration, procurement, supply, delivery, installation, implementation, service and maintenance of the information and communications technology system of the agency.

The DOTC has decided to slash the cost of the LTO-IT system project to P3.44 billion instead of P8.2 billion after two failed biddings. The project would instead be undertaken in two stages.

The DOTC declared a failure of bidding last July after the financial proposals submitted by the three bidders - Digitext Asia Corp., Fritz and Macziol Asia, and Eurolink Network – failed to pass the post-qualification proceedings in line with the provisions of Republic Act 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.