Roxas scores move to stop P8-billion LTO-IT bidding

MANILA, Philippines - Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II lambasted a move by a group of businessmen to stop the DOTC’s effort to bid out an P8 billion contract for a new LTO information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and database systems provider.

Roxas said that the reported case filed by a group led by businessman Bonifacio Sumbilla which staged a failed takeover of LTO information technology provider Stradcom Corporation in 2010, was an apparent effort to delay the bidding.

Roxas said that the filing of the case before the courts by the Sumbilla group would not succeed in stopping the DOTC bidding.

The case was a petition for declaratory judgement questioning the validity of DOTC Special Order No. 2011-18 which was issued by Roxas and starts the process for the conduct of a public bidding for a new LTO ICT infrastructure and systems contract with an alloted budget of P8 billion.

The Sumbilla group, in their petition, questioned the legality of the DOTC special bidding for a new LTO ICT contract, saying the DOTC has no authority to conduct the bid, arguing that it should be conducted by the LTO, which the petitioner said was the actual procuring agency that would use the infrastructure and IT services.

“The LTO is part of the DOTC, it is a sectoral agency of the DOTC,” Roxas said.

“So this issue they raised that the bidding should be conducted by this or that agency is dilatory or just a distraction,” Roxas said.

Roxas vowed that the DOTC bidding for a new LTO IT contractor would be a clean one.

“Walang aregluhan dito. Malinis ito, bakbakan ito. (Kung) may produkto kayo, maganda ang presyo nyo, umupo kayo sa bidding,” Roxas said.

Stradcom Corporation, led by its president Cezar Quiambao, had earlier assured Roxas and undersecretary for Legal and Administration Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, that the Sumbilla group had no authority to file the case and even present themselves as representatives, much more officials of Stradcom.

“For the record, Stradcom Corporation, as duly represented by the undersigned as its lawful incumbent and judicially declared president, has not authorized the filing of the said case, and absolutely disowns the same, and we will accordingly take the necessary legal actions on this petition,” Quiambao said.

It will be recalled that the Sumbilla group staged a failed takeover of Stradcom’s central operations center inside the LTO central office compound in Quezon City last December 2010.

The failed takeover caused Stradcom to file an administrative case against LTO chief, assistant secretary Virginia Torres.

Torres was later meted a 90-day preventive suspension by the Department of Justice which conducted a probe on the Stradcom complaint, and found her guilty of gross neglect and abuse of her position in helping the Sumbilla group’s security guards gain entry into the Stradcom’s operations center inside the LTO central office in Quezon City.

Quiambao has dismissed the claim of Sumbilla over Stradcom saying they had no legal basis to present themselves as part owners, much more controlling owners of the IT firm.

The DOTC has reset the deadline of submission for bids in the bidding from May 16 to June 6.

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has already approved the DOTC project to set up a new information and communications infrastructure and database systems for the LTO, setting a P11.7-billion budget ceiling.

The approval last March of the NEDA Investment Coordinating Committee has cleared the way for the DOTC to hold a public bidding to get a contractor to set up the computer infrastructure for the LTO.

Roxas earlier said the new IT system was expected to handle about 18 million transactions annually, or about 126 million over the entire seven years the system would be used.The bidding for a new ICT solutions provider would be conducted in anticipation of the February 2013 expiration of the current computerization contractor Stradcom Corporation.

DOTC recently decided not to renew the build-operate-own contract of Stradcom, opting to bid out a totally new contract which will involve the set up of a new IT systems and database for the LTO.

DOTC said bidders for the LTO component of the DOTC Road Transportation IT Infrastructure Project should be able to design, build, finance, operate, service, and maintain the new ICT system that would be used in about 300 LTO offices across the Philippines.

The bidding is open to all bidders - whether domestic or foreign firms - with proven track record of implementing and maintaining wide scale ICT systems.

The new system should also be capable of web-based, kiosk, and desktop transactions, allowing for more convenient applications.

The automation program would have two phases. The first phase includes motor vehicle registration system including manufacturers, assemblers, importers, dealers accreditation and reporting system drivers’ licensing system; and revenue collection system.

Law enforcement and traffic adjudication system; transportation information system; geographical information system ; executive information system form part of the project is second phase.

DOTC targets to have the basic ICT System to be ready and operational by January 2013.