The Transportation department admitted on Thursday that there is a shortage of license cards in various Land Transportation Office (LTO) branches around the country, a situation which forced the regulator to lift the 150-day limit on temporary licenses.
In an e-mailed statement, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said it is taking action to address this problem, earmarking P450 million to stabilize the supply by the third quarter of 2015.
Prospective bidders may begin purchasing bid documents, as bid submission and opening is set on April 20. The bid for each piece of license card should not exceed P90.09.
The winning supplier will be required to deliver the goods within 30 calendar days from the issuance of the notice to proceed, which is targeted in July 2015. “Given the urgent need for license-card supplies, the DOTC hopes that, this time around, the project will not be stopped by judicial orders,” the statement read.
The current supplier, Amalgamated Motors Philippines Inc. (Ampi), was awarded a five-year contract in 1984. Upon the contract’s expiration in 1989, the government extended the arrangement on a yearly basis until 2006.
Since 2006, there has been no contractual relationship, but the government has continued paying Ampi on a “quantum merit” basis, or in sums equivalent to the goods delivered.
“Seeing the need for a proper contract as a matter of good governance, the DOTC and the LTO sought to bid the project out in December 2010. This, however, was prevented by an injunction order issued by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City in February 2011,” the statement read. Another injunction order was issued by the same court in June 2012 based on a case Ampi filed against the transport department to question the bid.
The Court of Appeals eventually caused the lifting of both injunctive writs.
In 2014 the Commission on Audit also disallowed further payments to Ampi, sans a valid contract procured under applicable rules. This bolstered the DOTC and the LTO’s position that the project should be bid out, contrary to potential attempts to stop the project through court issuances.
“With the shortage in Ampi’s license-card supply, the LTO was left with no choice, but to issue temporary driver’s licenses with a 150-day validity period, with the expectation that Ampi would be able to provide license cards within that period,” the statement read.
“In view of the continued shortage, however, the LTO removed the 150-day limit until the shortage is addressed, by way of Memorandum Circular AVT-2015-1925 dated March 20, 2015.”