DOTC Set to Postqualify Bids FOR for 2 Key MRT-3 Projects

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is about to conduct bid evaluation and post-qualification exercises for two (2) key projects for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 System, namely: the P 712-Million MRT-3 System Temporary Maintenance Provider Project & Delivery of MRT-3 Magnetic Ticket Project.
After opening the eligibility documents of three (3) groups which vied for the one-year Maintenance project on 3 June 2013, the DOTC’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) found only one proponent, Autre Porte Technique (or “APT”) Global, Inc., to have qualified for the next stages of the bidding process.


“APT Global submitted a bid in the amount of around P 685 Million. Financial proposals of the two other interested groups were no longer opened after they were found to be ineligible,” said DOTC spokesperson Migs Sagcal.

The disqualified groups were Asiaphil Manufacturing Industries, Inc. in Joint Venture with Korea Railroad, which did not comply with sealing and marking requirements of Republic Act No. 9184 (the Procurement Law); and Commbuilders & Technology Philippines Corporation, which failed to submit a certificate of satisfactory performance.

“Unfortunately, it once more came down to two groups’ failure to comply with the bid requirements. Time and again, we have said that the DOTC-BAC can do nothing but to follow the Procurement Law, which prohibits it from exercising discretion” Sagcal added.

As for the magnetic ticket supply project, only the current MRT-3 contractor submitted a proposal during the bid opening conducted on Thursday last week, 30 May 2013. The Transport agency disclosed that Banner Plasticard, Inc. offered to supply and deliver 4,252,000 magnetic tickets to the DOTC-MRT3 in the amount of P 25-Million.

The financial proposals of the eligible bidders for both projects will now undergo detailed evaluation, after which their bids will be subjected to post-qualification exercises.

The relatively short duration of these projects – one (1) year for the Maintenance contract and thirty (30) days for the Ticket Supply contract – is partly due to the eventual buyout of the owner of the MRT-3 facilities pursuant to Executive Order No. 126 issued by President Benigno S. Aquino III last March, as well as the transition to an Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS), now being bid out by the DOTC as a Public-Private Partnership Project, by the first quarter of 2015.