No winning bidder yet for equipment deal - NIA

MANILA, Philippines - The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said yesterday that it has yet to award the contract to a bidder for the purchase of P1.4-billion heavy equipment for drainage and canals nationwide.

NIA Administrator Carlos Salazar said although the bids were opened last Jan. 19, with Transport Equipment Corp. and Civic Merchandising Inc. emerging as the eligible bidders, the agency’s bids and awards committee (BAC) has not awarded the deal to anyone.

Salazar, reacting to a claim by Sen. Mar Roxas that the bidding “was utterly flawed, rigged and overpriced,” said in a statement that NIA adheres to the procurement law and has not awarded the contract to the two eligible bidders.

He stressed that the BAC has not yet completed evaluating the bids and going through the post-qualification process. He added that there is no assurance that the eligible bidders will get the contract, particularly if they lack the proper documents.

He explained that the BAC applied “the non-discretionary ‘pass/fail’ criteria” to determine each bidder’s eligibility, and losing bidders Maxima Machineries Inc. and the International heavy Equipment Corp. failed to submit certain requirements under the government procurement law, Republic Act 9184.

“Thus, the BAC has no other recourse but to disqualify them,” the NIA chief said.

“Stringent bidding requirements were made to protect the interest of the government and the public. Certainly, the agency cannot be faulted if certain groups or individuals would not meet the strict criteria because the same was done to ensure that NIA can get the best equipment available from the best supplier in the market,” Salazar said.