House probe on BFP bidding sought

MANILA, Philippines - Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño has asked the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation into the recent bidding conducted by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for P243 million worth of fire fighting equipment.

In Resolution 2104, Casiño said the House should look into the delay in the awarding of the contract to the winning bidder and “why the contract was arbitrarily withheld then finally scrapped by BFP officer in charge Samuel Perez upon the behest of two regular BFP suppliers.”

Casiño said it was “downright irregular, if not dubious” for Perez to have delayed the awarding of the contract. It was “more dubious for him to have arbitrarily declared a failure of bidding on technical grounds belatedly raised in mere letters to him by two losing bidders who happen to be regular suppliers of the BFP,” he added.

“Under the procurement law, the entire procurement process should be conducted within three months. In this particular case, it took a year for the BAC to complete the process due to what appears to be afterthought requirements brought to the BFP’s attention by losing bidders Panpisco Technologies, Inc. and 911 Alarm, both long-time suppliers of the BFP,” he said.

Casiño said the two losing bidders did not avail of the protest mechanism as prescribed by the Procurement Law but raised their concerns through mere letters to Perez.

“BFP OIC Perez, upon receiving the letters of Panpisco Technologies Inc. and 911 Alarm, arbitrarily and without benefit of due process withheld the awarding of the contract to winning bidder Kolonwel Trading and later on declared a failure of bidding two months after the BAC issued its resolution in favor of Kolonwel,” he added.

The winning bidder has filed a complaint against the BFP official.