Winning bidder chides BOC chief Lina for dropping data system contract 

The winning bidder for an integrated customs processing system is admonishing Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina for canceling the P650-million contract, two weeks after assuming his post at the bureau.

 

The winning bidder, a joint venture of Omniprime Marketing Inc. and Intrasoft International Inc., bagged the contract for the project last April 13 after a seven-month bidding process for the system. Ten days later, on April 23, the contract was finalized and scheduled to be signed at the end of the same month.

 

However, two weeks after taking over the helm of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from resigned Commissioner John Sevilla in April , Lina issued a notice to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) canceling the contract for the Integrated Electronic Customs Processing System (i-ECPS).

 

“Curiously, one of the five losing bidders in the project, E-Konek, is a company where Lina has a 96.48 percent stake,” lawyer Harry Roque, counsel for the winning bidder, said in a press conference in Manila.

 

The lawyer said Lina’s decision to cancel the contract “reeks of the foul smell of a clear conflict of interest.”

 

Roque said E-Konek is run by Lina’s business partner, Guillermo Parayno Jr., who also happens to be a former Customs Commissioner.

 

Aside from E-Konek, also losing out to the joint venture was Web Fontaine, the company behind the current systems used by the Bureau of Customs. Roque claimed Web Fontaine "has beneficial business relations with E-Konek."

Cheaper, efficient system

 

In response to the allegations, Lina, on Monday, denied the contract in favor of the Omniprime- Intrasoft consortium was canceled because E-Konek lost the bid.

 

"To stamp out any lingering doubts that this is the case, E-Konek will not participate in any further bid for this project, given my public commitment that there will be no conflict of interest during my stint at the Bureau of Customs," said Lina.

 

Lina said the contract was canceled so the bureau may be able to look for other customs data systems that are more efficient, cost-effective, and advantageous to the government.

 

"We understand that there are existing systems that can fulfill the needs of the bureau, which are potentially at least 50 percent cheaper than this amount," said Lina.

 

Subsequently, Lina announced he intends to re-bid the project with an eye on the Automated System for Customs Data, which he said was endorsed by the World Bank.

 

One week after being appointed to the BOC, Lina said he and his family would be divesting in the companies that directly do business with the Customs Bureau. He also resigned from firms where he is chairman and director in companies under the Lina group. 

 

Roque filed a motion for reconsideration to overturn BOC decision, saying the contract was cancelled with no “justifiable and reasonable” basis.

 

“As a matter of fact, Commissioner Lina’s supposed need to merely review the project constitute a most unjust and unreasonable ground to abandon the project,” said Roque in a five-page motion. 

 

“On the contrary, the cancellation constitutes a capricious and arbitrary basis, and amounts to an outright grave abuse of discretion. If at all, the reason invoked for the cancellation of the project proves that there is the utter absence of pre-existing factual and legal bases to abruptly cancel the contract.”

National Single Window

 

Lina cited Section 41 (c) of Republic Act No. 9184 of the Procurement Law, particularly on the "Reservation Clause," which allows an agency head to reject bids if awarding the contract would not "redound to the benefit of the government as defined in the Implementing Rules and Regulations.”

 

The i-ECPS, along with the National Single Window (NSW), is considered as the solution to rampant smuggling in the Philippines, Roque noted.

 

It is a central database that tracks all Customs procedures nationwide in real time, and aims to be a fully electronic, paperless and human contact-free system of recording and monitoring Customs-related transactions. 

 

The NSW, on the other hand, uses international standards in consolidating relevant services from all government agencies involved in Customs procedures.

 

ASEAN member-states have agreed on a common window system to fast-track cargo clearance as part of the move towards regional integration. 

 

Lina said the Philippines is committed to work towards delivering its ASEAN commitments, noting that 37 of the 40 permitting and oversight agencies are already connected to the NSW system at varying levels.

 

Of the 37 agencies, 11 are completely connected, nine are connected but only partially use the system, and 10 oversight agencies have viewing capacity. – VS, GMA News