Non-compliant bid

This refers to the disqualification of IP Converge Data Services, Inc. (IPC) in the bidding of the Data Center Infrastructure and Management project of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) which was discussed in the column Hidden Agenda of Ms. Mary Ann Ll. Reyes  published in The Philippine STAR  on  Nov. 20 , 2013.

As chairman of the Information Technology-Bids and Awards Committee (IT-BAC), I would like to clarify that IPC was disqualified from the award of the contract for its failure to meet the minimum hardware requirements of the project notwithstanding the low bid it submitted. Its disqualification had nothing to do with the proof of concept or any other issues but solely on the non-compliance of its submitted bill of materials (BOM) with the terms of reference of the project. 

IPC actually attempted to resubmit a revised BOM but IT-BAC had to conform with the rules on bid modification  as provided for under  Section 26.1 (Modification and Withdrawal of Bids) of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 9481 (Government  Procurement Law) which states that “a bidder may modify its bid, provided that this is done before the deadline for the submission and receipt of bids... Bid modifications received after the applicable deadline shall not be considered and shall be returned to the bidder unopened.”

Furthermore, the bidding process has to continue under Section 34.5 of RA 9481 which  states that for the procurement of goods and infrastructure projects,  “immediately after the BAC has notified the first bidder of its post-disqualification, and notwithstanding any pending request for reconsideration thereof, the BAC shall initiate and complete the same post-qualification process on the bidder with the second Lowest Calculated Bid. If the second bidder passes the post-qualification, and provided that the request for reconsideration of the first bidder has been denied, the second bidder shall be post-qualified as the bidder with the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid, and the head of the procuring entity concerned shall award the contract to it.”

It is thus  clear that the GSIS IT-BAC consistently complied with the provisions of the law in carrying out the procurement of the project in question.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to shed light on the issues raised by Ms. Reyes in her column.

Very truly yours,

EDUARDO V. FERNANDEZ

Vice President and Chairman, IT-BAC GSIS