DOTC rejects deadline extension for integrated metro transport study

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has turned down the request to extend the deadline of the submission for bids for a consultancy contract to conduct a survey that would help develop a public transportation improvement plan for Metro Manila and the adjoining provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan.

DOTC Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla issued Special Bid Bulletin 01-2013 denying the request of the five shortlisted bidders for the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integrated Study (MMUTIS) Update and Capacity Enhancement Project (MUCEP) to extend the April 2 deadline for the submission and opening of bids.

“The request is denied. The submission and opening of bids for this project will be on April 2,” he stressed.

Lotilla, who chairs the agency’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), likewise said the DOTC has also rejected the request of the bidders to extend the six-month project duration.

“The project duration will not be extended further. The contract shall be completed within six months from the date of notice to proceed,” he stated in the bulletin dated March 26.

The companies shortlisted for the project include Sustainable Development Solutions, the tandem of Woodfields Consultants Inc. and GHD Pty Ltd., TCGI Engineers, Urban Integrated Consultants Inc. and Syconsult Inc.

The budget for the contract amounting to P41.05 million would be sourced from the agency’s 2012 Transport Studies Fund. Bids that would be received in excess of the approved budget for contract would automatically be rejected at the opening of the financial proposals.

The project includes a household interview survey aimed at obtaining information from residents in the survey area to better understand the actual socio-economic conditions and travel characteristics or passenger trip patterns of respondents.

The survey, which would also consider the opinion on transport development of the respondents, would be used to support the ongoing update of the database of the 1996 MMUTIS.

The DOTC is rebidding the contract after a failed bidding last November. Companies that were shortlisted in the bidding last year included Sustainable Development Solutions, Woodfields Consultants Inc. and GHD Pty Ltd, TCGI Engineers, and Lichel Technologies Inc.

The DOTC said the transportation database for Metro Manila developed MMUTIS in 1996 and has to be updated to support the development of traffic forecasts to be used in developing a public transportation plan for Metro Manila and adjoining provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan.

A study published by the National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS) revealed that the cost of traffic congestion in Metro Manila alone amounted to P137.5 billion in 2011. This brought to P1.5 trillion the losses over the past 11 years due to traffic congestion, excluding the P4.5 billion losses from fuel consumption.

The financial losses are mostly on productivity as transport of goods and services are delayed due to bad traffic. The study only covered traffic congestion losses of five occupations, particularly government officials, professionals, technicians, clerical workers and service workers.

The Aquino administration is pursuing projects that would help decongest the metropolis of heavy traffic to bring down losses and at the same time reduce the transportation cost particularly for the poor.