The Department of Transportation on Monday defended the contracts for the railway sector which were procured through the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM).
Senator Nancy Binay inquired about the procurement activity that the DOTr conducted with the PS-DBM during the Senate hearing on the agency’s proposed P150.7 billion budget for next year.
According to DOTr Undersecretary for Finance Giovanni Lopez, the DOTr had sought PS-DBM’s assistance for some of its infrastructure projects in the rail sector, as well as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
Timothy John Batan, the undersecretary for railways, defended the DOTr’s procurement effort with PS-DBM, saying the agency had not released any funds to the procuring entity since 2017.
In 2017, Batan said the department signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the PS-DBM which designated the latter as a mere “procurement agent.”
This meant that the DOTr does not obligate nor disburse funds to the PS-DBM.
Batan added that the DOTr was the body that issues the Notice of Award, signs the contract, and approves the Notice to Proceed.
Apart from this, the DOTr sought prior concurrence from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as well as World Bank (WB) for the bidding documents, bid responses, bid evaluation result, among others.
“Ngayon po para sa sektor ng riles, lahat po ng kontrata namin na ADB, JICA, China-funded ay procured po sa PS-DBM at isa po sa kagandahan niyan lahat po ng bidding documents namin kahit responses po namin sa mga bidders, bid evaluation report, at pati po ang aming award ng kontrata, lahat po ay may prior concurrence,” he said.
(For the railway sector, all of our contracts, which were backed by ADB, JICA, and were China-funded, were procured through PS-DBM. But the good thing is all the bidding documents even the responses of the bidders, bid evaluation report, and the awarding of contracts had their prior concurrence.)
“Inaaprubahan po ng ADB at ng JICA para po masigurado na tapat po siya sa kanilang mga procurement guidelines,” he added.
(The ADB and JICA approved these documents to ensure that these were all in line with their procurement guidelines.)
So far, there are 23 contracts that the DOTr has already entered into with the PS-DBM.
“Ilan po ito sa mga pinakamabilis nilang procurement considering the size and complexity ng kontrata po namng pino-procure,” Batan said.
(These are considered as fast procurements given the size and complexity of the contracts which we procured.)
The only pending contract between the DOTr and the PS-DBM was the supply, delivery, installation, testing, and commissioning of the Terrestrial Trunk Radio (TESTRA) System which was procured in 2015, or before the MOA was signed. The said contract was worth P60.5 million.
“Kaya hindi pa completed ang kontrata na yan ay dahil po meron po siyang maintenance component na ongoing pa po kaya hindi pa sarado ang kontrata sa PS-DBM,” he said.
(The reason behind the non-completion was the maintenance component which was still ongoing.)
“Pero again ito po ay para doon sa dating pamamaraan nung 2015, hindi na namin ito ginagawa ngayon sa kahit anong kontrata sa sektor ng riles,” he emphasized.
(But again, this was procured using the previous system with PS-DBM in 2015. We are no longer entering contracts using that procedure in the railway sector.)
— DVM, GMA News
DOTr defends railway sector contracts procured through PS-DBM
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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