Still No LTO IT Contract
Manila Bulletin – Thu, Jan 10, 2013
MANILA Philippines --- A month
before the government's contract with Stradcom Corporation (Stradcom) for the
information technology and interconnectivity needs of the Land Transportation
Office (LTO) expires, the Department of Transportation and Communications
(DoTC) has not awarded the R8.2-billion project to a new provider.
With Stradcom's contract set to
expire on February 11, the DoTC Bids and Awards Committee has not yet named a
winning bidder for the Road Transportation IT Infrastructure project despite
the submission and opening of bids held last November 27.
DoTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya
said the contract has not been awarded yet since "we just received answers
from two bidders regarding clarifications."
But Abaya said DoTC would
"definitely" award the contract before February 11.
LTO executive director Alfonso Tan
has confirmed that there is no development yet on the contract, but refused to
discuss further details including the formal extension of Stradcom's contract
by four months to assist the new IT provider of LTO.
Stradcom chief Cezar Quiambao also
would not confirm or deny if the DoTC or LTO has formally extended their
service contract.
Abaya was earlier quoted as saying
that the contract awarding was targeted before 2012 ended, but added that
Stradcom's contract may be extended by four months after its expiry due to the
delay in the bidding of the LTO IT project.
"When the contract expires in
February, chances are there will be no entity that could roll out their new
system. There were others who said they have the capability to place interim
solutions but this entail added work and added cost," he said.
Abaya said the winning contractor
for the LTO IT project should be able to roll out its IT infrastructure by
June, 2013 and that the new IT system should be able to interconnect 226
district, licensing and extension offices of the LTO nationwide.
The delay in the awarding raises concern
on the government's contingency measures in the event that there is no new IT
provider for the LTO by February 11.
The delay may be the consequence of
the "manipulation" of DoTC officials in the bidding of the contract
to favor Stradcom in the end as alleged by Leon Estrella Peralta of the
Anti-Trapo Movement of the Philippines, Inc.
Peralta alleged that Lotilla,
Undersecretary for Planning Rene Limcaoco, Assistant Secretaries Ildefonso
Patdu Jr., Dante Lantin and Catherine Jennifer Gonzales, and Tan were pushing
for an extension of Stradcom's contract by causing a failure of bidding and
make it impossible for a new IT provider to take over when the firm's contract
expires next month.
But Lotilla said the graft charges
against them are "without basis," adding that the DoTC bids and
awards committee is still evaluating the bid submissions.
Digitext Asia Corp. submitted the
lowest bid of R3.8 billion, Fritz and Macziol Asia, submitted a R5.3 billion
bid, and Eurolink, R5.8 billion. The financial bids submitted by Kaisa and
Ceragon were not opened because of lack of technical requirements.
Please follow these links:
http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-324046079/still-no-lto-it-contract
