THE bid and award for the operation and management (O&M) contract of the existing Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT 1) along the Rizal-Taft avenue corridor and Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) along Edsa had been deferred at a later date to give incoming Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Mar Roxas time to assume his new post and review the proposals of 16 bidders vying to bag the contract.
The bidders were formally informed on Tuesday through a bid bulletin issued by the special bids and awards committee (SBAC) to move at a later date the bid and award for the P14 billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. No specific future date was revealed on the resumption of the bidding process in the bulletin.
When sought for comment, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president Ramon Ang, in a text message, said the SBAC’s decision was “okay with us to give [incoming] Secretary Roxas more time.” Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc., a unit of SMC, is one of the 16 bidders.
Roxas will assume the DOTC portfolio on July 1 following the resignation of Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus.
Metro Pacific Investment Corp. chairman Manuel Pangilinan whose unit Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. is also one of the bidders who like, SMC, had likewise paid the prequalification requirement amounting to half a million pesos agreed that Roxas should be given more time to review and evaluate the bid proposals.
The SBAC, in a meeting on June 17, decided to postpone the opening of bids, slated on July 11, to an undetermined date, according Transportation Undersecretary Glicerio Sicat, a member of the seven-man bids and awards committee headed by Transportation Undersecretary Ruben Reinoso Jr.
Sicat and Reinoso were appointed to the DOTC last year, following de Jesus’s appointment by President Aquino. With de Jesus’s resignation, however, Sicat and Reinoso are also expected to make a beeline for the exit. “The incoming secretary will have to replace two members of the committee. He also has the prerogative to replace the entire composition of the committee. Granting that he would have appointed new members by July 1, Secretary Roxas and the new committee members would have to study this. As such, we could not meet the July 11 opening of the bids,” said Hernando Cabrera, the head of the technical working group and spokesman of the Light Rail Transit Authority.
Sicat said the deferment of the opening of the bids was requested by Reps. Roger Mercado and Erico Basilio Fabian, chairmen of the committee on transportation, and committee on government enterprises and privatization, respectively, “for the reason that the joint committee believes that the incoming DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas should be given adequate time to review and evaluate the implications of the proposed outsourcing of the O&M of the LRT 1 and MRT 3 .”
Other bidders are Mitsubishi Corp., Autre Porte Technique (APT) Global Inc., England’s Serco Group Plc., Marubeni Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Spain’s Construcciones Y Auxiliar de Ferrocarilles SA; Italy’s Finmeccanica SPA, Ayala Corp., Ecorail Transport Services, Inc., Abratique & Associates Philippines Inc., DM Consunji, Inc., Jorgman Planning and Development Corp., Kempal United Corp., and Gracia Y Carided Ministry Foundation.
All are vying for the contract to operate and manage LRT Line 1 and MRT 3 for four years, with an option to extend by one more year. The bid contract for the LRT 1 and the MRT 3 cost P7.7 billion and P6.3 billion, respectively.
Following the expiry of the O&M period, the LRT Line 1 Cavite (South) extension-project contractor is expected to assume overall responsibility for the integrated LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3 systems. This auction is dubbed as Mr. Aquino’s first PPP Program.
Mitsubishi Corp. already asked the government to extend the deadline for the bid submission until December this year.
Bidders are allowed to form a joint venture or consortium provided that one of its members submitted a formal expression of interest together with a P10,000 non refundable fee. A track record in running an electric mass rail system and an audited financial statement through the Bureau of Internal Revenue are among the bidders’ prequalification requirements.
