Questions hound PAF's P800-M fixed-wing aircraft project bidding; DND mum

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - Questions hound last week's bidding for two brand-new units of light-lift (not medium-lift as earlier reported) fixed-wing aircraft worth P812 million for the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

The project was initially awarded to an Indonesian firm, amid questions the winner was declared lone qualified bidder despite its alleged inability to meet a crucial criterion on credit line. The Department of National Defense (DND) is keeping mum on the matter.

Last Wednesday, the project’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chaired by Undersecretary Patrick Velez declared PT Dirgantara Indonesia/Indonesian Aerospace (IAe), with its bid offer of P812,550,000, as “lone qualified bidder.”

IAe offered its aircraft product of NC-212-400 Aviocar.

Sources privy to the bidding said Dirgantara did not satisfy all the required bid documents under the Procurement Law. A source said that "during the opening of bid documents, Dirgantara was not able to present a Credit Line Certification from a local financial commercial bank in the Philippines. What it presented only is an ongoing transmittal transaction."

Given this, the source said, the BAC "should have declared failed bidding and possibly announced there and then a rebid. We also don’t know why BAC gave the Technical Working Group 7 days to evaluate Dirgantara’s documents, for what?”

A second source said the “lacking document” of Dirgantara will be covered by “a post qualification” process, adding that this is "very very irregular.”

Questions sent by mobile phone to the DND-BAC through Fernando Manalo, undersecretary for Finanace, Munitions, Installations and Materiel went unanswered at posting time.

Earlier, Manalo had said of the bidding. “Wala pa, bid is being evaluated.”

Ironically, Sikorsky Aircraft, one of those that bought bid documents, had earlier raised the question of “credit line”.

Its query:“Is a credit worthy letter from a bank acceptable? If not, what is acceptable? What is the reference to confirmation/authentication?” was officially posted at the DND-BAC website.

The DND-BAC replied to that query thus: “No, a credit worthy letter is not acceptable. Please refer to the following provisions of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act (RA) 9184 which governs the required Credit Line Certificate, to wit:

a) Section 23 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Republic Act 9184 enumerates the eligibility requirements for the procurement of goods, among which is the financial document stated in Section 23.1(a) (vi), that is, “The prospective bidder’s computation for its Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC) or a commitment from a Universal or Commercial Bank to extend a credit line in favor of the prospective bidder if awarded the contract to be bid (CLC)”.

b) Section 23.5.1.4

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“If the prospective bidder submits a CLC, the CLC must be at least equal to ten percent (10%) of the ABC to be bid. If the CLC is issued by a foreign Universal or Commercial Bank, it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank.

"It is very clear in the above-mentioned provisions of the IRR of RA 9184 that a CLC is a commitment from a Universal or Commercial Bank to extend a credit line in favor of your company should the contract to be bid out be awarded to your company, and if this will be issued by a foreign Universal or Commercial Bank, it is required that the same be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank here in the Philippines.”