The government pushed back the scheduled bidding of the P50.2-billion regional prison facilities project to second quarter next year .

In a bid bulletin, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said the bid submission was moved to April 27, 2017from Nov. 24, 2016 to give pre-qualified bidders more time to work on their bid proposals .

The first of its kind in the country, the regional prison facilities project will be auctioned off through public-private partnership (PPP) and is the first PPP project of the DOJ and the BuCor.

The government has pre-qualified three companies for the project: Mega Structure consortium San Miguel Holdings Corp. and DM Consunji, Inc.

The modern prison facility will be constructed in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija. It is proposed to accommodate 26, 880 inmates including staff housing and administrative buildings, areas for rehabilitation (sports, work and religious activity), and will be installed with high security equipment.

The project will be implemented using a build-transfer-maintain contractual arrangement.

The private sector partner will be responsible for the financing, detailed design and construction, and maintenance of the prison facility for cooperation period of 20-years.

16 November 2016