Clark airport radar bidding aboveboard

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The bidding for the radar system of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here was aboveboard, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said.

The CDC added that it could even lead to savings of $1.8 million should the lowest bidder be awarded the project at a cost of only $9.1 million.

Records show that while the CDC bids and awards committee benchmarked the project at $10 million for bidding last June 3, the same project was pegged at $11 million during the former Estrada administration, CDC executive vice president Victor Jose Luciano said yesterday.

Luciano said the defunct Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) awarded the radar project during the term of former President Joseph Estrada to a company which bid $10.9 million.

The project, however, was overtaken by events, which led to Estrada’s ouster from Malacañang.

Luciano said that while the CDC was the one that conducted the bidding, it would be the Air Transportation Office (ATO) which would choose which of the two qualified bidders would be awarded the project.

"Only the ATO has the expertise to determine the technical capabilities of the bidders," he said.

While Italian firm Alenia Marconi bid higher at $9.340 million than the $9.105 million of Raytheon, a US-Canadian company, Luciano, who presided over the bidding, said the winner would not be known until an "exhaustive study" of their financial and technical capabilities is completed.

The winner is expected to be known in a month, he said.

Thales ATM of France was disqualified after the bidding committee found out that one of the documents that it submitted was not notarized as required. Its officials disclosed later that its bid was only $8.9 million.

"If we reckon the $11-million benchmark under the Estrada administration with the cost proposed by our new bidders, our savings would amount to about $1.8 million or some P95 million," he said.

Luciano vehemently denied claims that the bids were overpriced.

"The bidding was quite orderly and was witnessed by representatives from non-government organizations, Commission on Audit officials, ATO officials and respected media practitioners," he added.