Stanford grad defends winning bid on database project

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-Australian Jaime Deverall thought his dream to help migrant Filipino workers came true when he won the bidding to provide a new online service system for the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong in February.

Deverall, who studied Computer Science and graduated magna cum laude from Stanford University last June, found himself under probe by labor officials who had approved his digitization system for alleged improprieties in the awarding of the project.

On Aug. 25, Labor and Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered an investigation and created a fact-finding team to look into the issue upon the prodding of the Lilac Center for Public Interest.

The allegations: there was no bidding and prior consultation, there were onerous provisions in the contract, including possible violations of data privacy, and conflict of interest, among others.

Department of Labor and Employment said the POLO in Hong Kong terminated the services of current system provider EmployEasy Ltd. in favor of Deverall’s Polaris Tools Ltd. where he is chief executive officer.

Labor attaché Jalilo dela Torre cited the need to improve the system as reason to find a new provider.

Deverall told The STAR on Friday that his capability should not be questioned despite his young age of 22 because of his track record. He pointed out he was wrongly identified as a 23-year-old CEO whose company was only incorporated on Feb. 19, or two weeks before it was awarded the contract, with only 10,000 shares worth 100 Hong Kong dollars.

According to Deverall, there were four bidders, including the old provider, which responded to POLO’s request for proposal (RFP) issued in December 2018.

“We presented our proposed system for POLO in January 2019 in front of a panel of five POLO officers and one agency representative. The POLO officers were former labor attache Jalilo dela Torre, officer-in-charge Antonio Villafuerte, assistant labor attache Angelica Sunga, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration officer Joszoa Villa and welfare officer Marivic Clarin. The agency representative was Allan Smith, the owner of Arrow Employment Services,” Deverall said.

“During our presentation, all members of the panel were given time to ask questions about our proposed system. I can only assume that the other bidders presented in front of this same panel and that their bids were subjected to the same thorough review as ours. In fact, our presentation (including question and answer) was over two hours long and after the presentation we received follow up questions about our system from members of the panel,” he added.

When they were notified that they won the bid in February, Deverall said they explicitly incorporated in Hong Kong to form a legal entity for the purposes of signing the contract with POLO.

“Hence the proximity of our date of incorporation (Feb. 19, 2019) with the date of the contract signing (March 7, 2019),” Deverall explained.

“Note that our team met all the requirements listed on the RFP at the time of bidding and that the bidding was conducted under Hong Kong law. While Polaris Tools is young as a legal entity, we have extensive software engineering and executive experience. Our team is composed of Stanford computer scientists, lawyers and professors at the University of Hong Kong and we had been a team for over a year before the bidding,” Deverall said.

“Given the transparency and evident meritocratic nature of the bidding process, I must admit that I am a little surprised that it is now being investigated by DOLE,” he added.

As regards the alleged conflict of interest of one his partners, Deverall clarified David Bishop had resigned from employment agencies last year before helping them with the project for free.

As a lawyer and professor of business ethics at the University of Hong Kong, Bishop said his only “intention is to help OFWs.”

“Accordingly, I cannot benefit financially from the POLO-Polaris transaction. Our goal is to build the best system possible,” Bishop said.

He said Migrasia Global Solutions, where he now belongs, is a non-profit social enterprise currently seeking to become a tax-exempt charity.

Deverall, on the other hand, lamented the plight of Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

“As a Filipino-Australian raised in Hong Kong, I would always hear heart-wrenching stories about the mistreatment of OFWs in Hong Kong from our family’s (household staff), Manang Lila. I would get so angry hearing and witnessing how OFWs in Hong Kong are treated like second-class citizens,” he said. 

Deverall stressed they are ready to comply with the country’s data privacy law and gave assurance that not a single centavo has been paid by POLO for their services that may fall under the law on procurement.

“Employment agencies are the ones who will pay for every contract. There is no reason for us to have a big capital because this project entails mostly human labor,” Deverall noted.

He said the allegations against them implied they committed something wrong to bag the project.

“How can I possibly do that?” Deverall remarked.

At his age, Deverall pointed out he does not wield any influence.

“Our new system will aid POLO to more effectively ensure the safety of OFWs in Hong Kong as well as reduce the exorbitant waiting times that our OFWs face at POLO during their single day off. Our system increases safety for OFWs because it digitizes the currently paper-based agency and employer watchlists. Our digital watchlists will be used to keep employers and employment agencies accountable for their actions,” Deverall said.

He said 60 employment agencies in Hong Kong have expressed support for the company and the new system.