THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) has moved again the qualification round for the P298-million public-private partnership (PPP) deal to upgrade the information technology (IT) system of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), citing the unavailability of its officials.
“Please be informed that in view of the Senate plenary hearing on Nov. 23 which requires the attendance of the majority of the members of this committee, the submission and opening of the qualification documents is moved to November 24, 2:00 PM,” LTFRB Chairman Winston M. Ginez, who also serves as the vice-chairman of the Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee, wrote in General Bid Bulletin No. 07-2015 dated Nov. 13.
“The 2016 budget of DoTC and all its attached agencies will be submitted for deliberation by the Senate in its plenary session on November 23,” he explained in a mobile phone reply over the weekend.
The qualification exercise was originally to be held on Oct. 30 but was postponed to provide interested parties “sufficient time” to prepare their bids.
The preliminary auction timetable for the Road Transport IT Infrastructure Project (Phase II) indicates that financial bidding documents will be issued in January, bid proposals will be submitted and opened in February, and the notice of award will be issued in March.
The project has attracted at least 20 companies: Accenture, Inc.; Exakt, Inc.; Indra Philippines; Infotech Group; Oracle Corp.; Pilipinas Micro-Matrix Technology, Inc.; Sopra Steria; Syntel, Inc.; Tech Mahindra Ltd.; Voyager Solutions; Wipro Philippines; International Business Machines Corp.; Stradcom Corp.; IL&FS Technologies Philippines, Inc.; Dagang Net Technologies Sdn Bhd; Hewlett-Packard Philippines; Redshift Global Technologies Corp.; Trends & Technologies, Inc.; Questronix Corp. and e-PLDT.
“Computerization efforts will help clean up existing data of the LTFRB, enhance data collection and processing,” the PPP Center said in July.
The proposed concession period is 11.5 years, including 1.5 years for the installation, development of applications, and set up, according to the invitation to bid.
Ten PPP deals have been awarded since the program was launched in 2010: the P1.72-billion Automatic Fare Collection System, the P2.01-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Link Road Project, the P2.50-billion Southwest Integrated Transport System Project, the P8.69-billion Modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center project, the P15.86-billion second phase of the NAIA Expressway Project, the P16.43-billion first phase of the PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP), PSIP’s P3.86-billion second phase, the P17.52-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building, the P55.51-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway, and the P64.9-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension and Operation & Maintenance project.
15 November 2015
By Daphne J. Magturo
