DOTC mulls negotiated, emergency bids: Still no takers for P2.4-B MRT deal

By KATHRYN MAE P. TUBADEZA, GMA News

Published January 20, 2015 3:09pm

Even with less stringent terms, there were still no takers for the MRT-3's P2.4-billion maintenance contract, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said Tuesday.

"No one procured the documents so obviously no one submitted a bid," Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in an interview.

The agency were supposed to open the bids for the three-year deal on Tuesday morning.

"The BAC is convening and basically will declare a failure of bid and likewise task MRT-3 to do a quick review on why did that happen," Abaya said.

According to Abaya, the agency will have three options namely, to go on a third regular bid, a negotiated bid, or an emergency bid.

"Clear sa procurement law na if you have two failed bids, you could enter into negotiation with a sufficient number of bidders," he said.

Emergency bid, on the other hand, allows the government "to go one one one."

He, however, said that the objective is still to get a new maintenance provider.

"Clearly we want them replaced… we're not happy with the month-to-month thing," he said.

The first auction in 2014 was also declared a failure after no one offered a bid.

"Linuwagan na namin konti to entice bidders to come in... but despite that they didn't come in, it's hard to speculate why," Abaya said.

Abaya said the key performance indices were adjusted.

"Dati pag peak hour, dapat 20 trains ang linalabas, pag off peak dapat 15… marami silang apprehension, so binaba 'yun to 12 you only get penalize when trains drop below 12 during off peak and peak hours," Abaya said.

The agency also adjusted the number of times the service provider will be fined.

"Dati, penalty per hour, now we made it once lang for five hours," Abaya said.

The current firm that is working on MRT operations maintenance is Autre Porte Technique Global Inc. The contract with APT Global is being renewed monthly until a permanent maintenance firm is found. —NB, GMA News

Tags: metrorailtransit, dotc