5 firms eye bid for P1.76-B military protection equipment

MANILA, Philippines - Five firms have expressed interest to bid for the contract to supply protection equipment to the military worth P1.76 billion.

The five companies that bought bid documents for the project were Hanwha Corp., MKU PVT Ltd., Plasan-Opcentec Inc., HK Tactical Defense System Inc., and Stone of David Tactical Equipment Co.

It is still uncertain if all the five companies would join the actual bidding for the project, which seeks to ensure the safety of soldiers in the field.

The Department of National Defense (DND) held a pre-bid conference on the project last Thursday in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Members of the DND Bids and Awards Committee, military officials and representatives of prospective bidders attended the conference.

A pre-bid conference allows prospective suppliers to raise questions to officials of the agency that will undertake the project.

The project involves the acquisition of 44,080 sets of new protection equipment for the Army and Marines.

The equipment will be acquired through competitive bidding in accordance with the provisions of the procurement law.

The deadline for the submission of bids is on Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. The bids will be opened on the same day at the DND office in Camp Aguinaldo.

A prospective bidder should have completed within 10 years from the date of submission and receipt of bids a contract similar to the project.

Interested parties may buy bidding documents worth P75,000 from the Bids and Awards Secretariat.

The documents may also be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System provided that the bidder will pay the fees before the submission of bids.