The Department of Transportation Commission, DOTC announced that the bidders did not show for the maintenance contract for the MRT3. Interested bidders include DMCI Holdings Incorporated, Miescorrail Incorporated of the Manila Electric Company, Busan Metro of Korea, the joint venture of Mosa - Inekon of Czech Republic, and SMRT International Pte. Ltd.
The government bidding was originally set last October 13 and the latest October 28. This failure of bid tarnished the DOTC image as inefficient for the ongoing contract that they didn’t monitor properly for whatever issues with the interested parties.
We must remember that the MRT3 train system showed signs of deterioration and malfunction when Sumitomo Corporation was replaced by another maintenance provider which paved the way for the train operations to suffer badly because the maintenance provider cannot decipher the ongoing problems with the MRT3 train system. It needs an expert maintenance provider like Sumitomo Corporation. At present, the DOTC has a one-year contract with Autre by Porte Technique Global Incorporated (APT) and its local partner, Global Incorporated. It will be renewed monthly until new maintenance provider’s awarded for the bidding process.
The maintenance contractor, APT is currently facing penalties worth P27.1 million ($606,114) for the glitches that occurred when a train derailed at the Taft Avenue station in Pasay City on August 13.
This scenario is not only bad for DOTC financial setback but gives negative effect for the train system maintenance and operation. Most likely, accident may happen again and the riding public will put the blame to the government.
While there’s a failure for the last bid because some of the concerns raised by prospective bidders were the amount of penalties to be imposed by the government on the maintenance contractor for certain violations, plus the key performance indicators (KPIs) to be delivered. The government is now reviewing the terms of reference of the three-year maintenance contract due to the issues raised by prospective bidders and is set to republish the new terms and conditions by next month to pave the way for the rebidding.
Nonetheless, the DOTC must try their very best to augment the issues raised by the bidders. Comes next month and the rebidding will surely materialize if the bidders conform to the new rules set by the DOTC.
What will happen if the bidders won’t show up again? Let’s wait and see what the DOTC will do. It’s the case of thinking in advance for The Department of Transportation and Communications DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya to focus his strategy to MRT3 problems than early campaigning for Mar Roxas for 2016 election.
What in-store for the DOTC in planning the development of MRT3 when bidders are adamant to bid because of the penalties to be imposed by the government on the maintenance contractor for certain violations, and the key performance indicators to be delivered diligently.
It’s certain that the bidders are very careful with this bidding process and to think that they are businessmen too. So, the government must change their rules and procedures for bidders to comprehend realistically.
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