Davide given discretion: No PB authority for P250M deal

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Board has not given authority to Governor Hilario Davide III to sign a contract with the winning bidder of the controversial P250-million equipment deal.

The board instead returned all the bidding documents and gave the executive department the discretion on whether or not to award the contract to the highest bidder.   

Board Member Grecilda Sanchez, chairperson of the Ad Hoc committee reviewing the bidding documents, said the executive department will have to make the final decision.

“It’s up to the executive department. It’s their call because we can’t dictate them kung mo-declare ba sila’g failure of bidding or unsa’y ilang buhaton ato. But as far as our (PB) job is concern, we presented them our findings,” Sanchez told reporters.

In its review of the bidding documents, the PB’s Ad Hoc committee earlier found some discrepancies in the bidding procedures undertaken by the Bids and Awards Committee.

The committee pointed out, among others, the error in the computation of the engine power for a roller model offered by Civic Merchandising, Inc, one of the bidders.

BAC disqualified Civic for failure to comply with the specifications because the company offered 74 hp instead of the minimum 100 hp. However, the Ad Hoc Committee found out that Civic’s offer at 99 kilowatts engine power was actually equivalent to 132.7 hp, more than the power required by BAC.

The technical working group of the BAC admitted that it erred in the conversion by using multiplication instead of division. BAC Chairman Mark Tolentino explained during the PB’s session yesterday that they have already taken into account the error when Civic pointed it out in its motion for reconsideration.

However, the company was still disqualified because it allegedly fell short of the required operating weight of the roller.

Tolentino along with other BAC officials were invited to appear before the PB to air their side before the body could act on the Ad Hoc Committee’s findings, which was eventually adopted by the body.

Conequip Philippines Inc. was declared as the winning bidder, besting RDAK, which offered the lowest price at P235 million, and Civic with P237 million bid. BAC post-disqualified RDAK and Civic for failing to comply with the specification requirements.

The Ad Hoc Committee also questioned the post-disqualification procedures of the BAC. It stated that even before RDAK and Civic received the notice of post-disqualification and could file their motion for reconsideration, the BAC had already recommended the awarding of contract to Conequip.

“The timeline observed by the BAC in the post-disqualification procedure appears to be in violation of the post qualification procedure stated in Section 27 of the Government Procurement Manual for Local Government Units,” reads part of the committee’s findings.

Sanchez further clarified that she and her colleagues are not opposing the purchase of the equipment as they are deemed important in expediting infrastructure projects, but she said they are just doing their job in reviewing the bidding procedures. (FREEMAN)