[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’ANOTHER DPWH HOCUS-POCUS? | Contractors suspect ‘rigged’ bidding’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=”]
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
BAROTAC VIEJO, Iloilo – “The way the bidding was conducted, it could have been rigged in favor of preferred contractors.”
This was the observation of a relatively new contractor who participated in the bidding of 18 projects done at the office of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 3rd District Engineering Office in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo on April 27 which was covered by five Iloilo City-based media men, including this writer of Panay News, Tara Yap of the Manila Bulletin, Joel Franco of Radio Mindanao Network, Vicente Foz of Panay Monitor, and Jhey-r Villalba of Visayan Chronicle.
“We are suspicious,” our source said, “because the same favored contractors always win the awards, indicating their collusion with the bids and awards committee [BAC].”
The five-man BAC had Assistant District Engineer Renato Cogullo as chairman.
“The BAC never runs out of excuses to disqualify a bidder on the flimsiest reason,” another informant said, alleging that previously valid standard bidding forms were no longer honored during the opening of bids on the pretext that they had been amended.
The complainants, who had requested anonymity for fear of repercussion, deplored that the opening of bids was done in such a way that changes could be made in bid documents without the participating bidders looking.
While conceding that the dropping of bids for 18 infrastructure projects went smoothly Thursday morning, the opening of a portion of more than 100 sealed bid documents in the afternoon was not as transparent in the eyes of the media and of participating contractors or their representatives.
The projects being bid out consisted of roads and bridges within the 5th District of Iloilo, costing from P2.9 million to P38.5 million.
It was already 3 p.m. when the BAC started opening the sealed bids within only two hours before the close of office at 5 p.m. That done, Cogullo announced its suspension, “to be resumed tomorrow.” Nobody objected.
In those two hours, no announcement was made as regards the names and the figures stated in the bids being opened. The witnesses could only watch from a distance, hence unaware of whose bids and which projects were at stake.
The only name of contractors announced were those of either ineligible or disqualified bidders who had allegedly not complied with rules and regulations. Two bidding documents of a single bidder, for instance, were returned because the envelopes had not been sealed.
Another “surprise” was the declaration of an old-time bidder “ineligible,” prompting the BAC to junk the bidder’s sealed envelopes.
It was only on the second day (Friday) that the opening of bids resumed and the winning bidders announced. They were mostly the “usual winners.”
But what if, during the night, the figures in the bidding documents were freely altered or changed in the absence of witnesses?
“Many ‘mysteries’ could have happened that night, all aimed at manipulating the results in favor of favored bidders,” one of our informants opined.
District Engineer George Suy and Assistant District Engineer Renato Cogullo, meanwhile, told the visiting media that they had always hewed to the Terms of Procurement specified in Republic Act 9184.
“We always start by publishing invitations to bid, both in newspaper and in the Philgeps website,” Suy said. “Any contractor may bid within the announced deadline.”
He said that the district office does not have final say on acceptance of dropped bids. The “machine” at the central DPWH office in Manila, he added, could declare a bidder “ineligible,” referring to computerized reading of a bidder’s eligibility.
Suy and Cogullo admitted, however, that where contractors connive by agreeing among themselves as to who would win the award, their office would not be in a position to discover. This practice makes all participants “happy” because the losers would get a share of the winner’s profit.
The interview with Suy and Cogullo may be viewed on the Facebook page of photojournalist Jhey-r Villalba./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
