The chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) plans to weed out corruption in his agency by terminating employees found to be conniving with individuals who rig project auctions.
“I won’t hesitate suspending, or terminating, erring DPWH personnel who are members of the bids and awards committees [BAC] conniving with contractors or with unscrupulous individuals found to be ‘fixing’ the biddings in the department,” Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson stressed.
His statement came after he received reports on collusion in auctions at the agency’s offices around the country. A number of individuals were already suspended after being found culpable of violating the provisions of the Procurement Act.
The Cabinet official said he continues to monitor the results of tenders for his agency’s projects being undertaken by the central, regional and district engineering offices.
“From the data alone, we can conclude that some contractors are favored in some of these offices. There are also patterns wherein same contractors are joining in the bidding process where winning bidders are rotated among them,” Singson said.
Reportedly, there are “fixers” roaming around DPWH offices in the country who peddle projects and contractors by showing copies of the Special Allotment Release Orders (Saro) issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for DPWH projects. Names of individuals, Singson said, are being monitored.
“This also means that there are DPWH ‘insiders’ who are involved in this practice of ‘selling’ Saro to contractors,” the Cabinet official said.
Fixers sell copies of the Saro to contractors, promising the buyer that it will win the project in exchange of 10 percent to 15 percent of the contract.
“This shows that these fixers obviously have strong connections with DPWH officials or employees, more often than not, the BAC members,” Singson said. “These fixers even get a copy of the Saros before we officially receive them from DBM.”
The DPWH chief has already ordered a thorough investigation on these DPWH officials or employees, as well as names of alleged fixers.
“Violations of Republic Act 9184 and other procurement laws will be dealt with swiftly, as in recent situations were district engineering employees were suspended,” Singson said.
He called on contractors to participate in auctions in an open and competitive manner, whereby savings that will be derived from this process shall be used to fund other projects to benefit the public.
Singson further warned the contractors found to be involved in collusion with personalities fixing the biddings will be immediately suspended, or worse, blacklisted from future auctions of the DPWH.