Gov’t opens bids for P50-B prison facility

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration has rolled out its 22nd Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project involving the construction and maintenance of a P50.2-billion modern prison facility at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

In an invitation to pre-qualify and bid, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said local and foreign companies may now submit applications to pre-qualify and bid for the design, financing, construction and maintenance of a modern prison facility.

The agency said invitation documents, including the project information memorandum and instructions to prospective bidders, as well as the required qualification documents, would be available starting March 6 upon the payment of a non-refundable participation fee of P1.5 million.

DOJ Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar said prospective bidders must submit their applications for pre-qualification not later than May 6.

Salazar, who is also chairs the agency’s Prequalification Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC), said the bidding would follow the two-stage or two envelope system under Republic Act 6957 as amended by RA 7718 or the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law.

He explained that interested companies would first have to be prequalified based on legal, technical and financial capacity requirements, after which prequalified bidders would be asked to submit technical and financial proposals.

Through the project, a suitable prison facility would be created to provide adequate living spaces and facilities, and address the basic needs of inmates in the existing penal facilities such as the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).

The proposed facility could accommodate 26,880 inmates, including staff housing and administrative buildings, areas for rehabilitation (sports, work and religious activity), and would be installed with high security equipment.

A number of supporting accommodation and building-related services may be outsourced as part of the PPP agreement, such as laundry, waste treatment and disposal, sewage water treatment and power generation.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said during the recent Regional Development Council meeting in San Fernando, Pampanga that the project aims to decongest the NBP that currently has over 20,000 inmates.

“It is the first major PPP project of DOJ and the Bureau of Corrections and also the first of its kind in the country,” De Lima said.

Data from the PPP Center showed the government has rolled out 22 PPP projects worth a combined P518.9 billion. The Aquino administration has so far awarded nine PPP projects worth P135.36 billion, raising over P36 billion in premium payments.

These include the Daang Hari – South Luzon expressway link road (P2 billion), PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phase 1 (P8.86 billion), the PSIP-2 (P16.28 billion), the modernization project for the Philippine Orthopedic Center (P5.98 billion), the Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway (P15.52 billion), the automated fare collection system project (P1.72 billion), the Mactan – Cebu International Airport expansion project (P17.5 billion), and the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension project (P65 billion), and the P2.5 billion Integrated Transport System (ITS) – Southwest Terminal.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), through the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, has rolled out the bidding for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of six provincial airports including Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Bacolod-Silay, Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol (Panglao) worth P128 billion.

The DOTC is also bidding out the P4 billion ITS – South Terminal as well as the operation and maintenance of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2), while the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has rolled out the P24.4 billion Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project and the P18.7 billion New Centennial Water Source - Kaliwa Dam Project.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has started the bidding process for the biggest PPP project – P123-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project that attracted major bidders including the “super consortium” composed of Ayala Land Inc., SM Prime Holdings Inc., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Megaworld Corp., as well as the rebidding of the P35.4 billion Cavite – Laguna expressway.