Lone consortium pre-qualifies for call center project

The Commission on Higher Education’s bids and awards committee went on to pre-qualify the lone consortium allowed to participate in the bidding for the P300-million call center laboratory development project despite its failure to comply with “basic eligibility requirements.”

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that three of the four companies making up the consortium that bagged the P300-million contract, namely E-Services Global Solutions Inc. (ESGS), Drishti Philippines Inc. (DPI), and the Information Transmission Computer Control Inc. (ITCC), had dubious backgrounds.

In the pre-qualification meeting held on Nov. 6, 2006, it was learned that ESGS was found to have no tax identification number (TIN) and financial statements audited by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), had failed to submit a statement of ongoing and completed projects, and was found to have been issued a certificate of registration by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 30, 2006 or exactly one week before the pre-qualification meeting.

ESGS, it will be recalled, is the lead company in the four company consortium – ESGS, DPI, ITCC, and Hillmarc’s Construction – that is now undertaking the project.

DPI, on the other hand, was found to have received its certificate of incorporation from the SEC only on Aug. 4, 2006.

In an evaluation conducted on ITCC, it was learned that inspectors of the CHED-BAC’s technical working group found that the entity had no “physical office” and was only operating out of a private residence.

“Upon visit to the office of ITCC, one of the firms in the joint venture, they found out that it has no physical office but only a house where their business is being conducted,” said Engineer Edgar Cepe of the BAC’s TWG on information technology (IT) in his report to the CHED BAC last Feb. 5.

Being newly established companies, the three companies should have been disqualified from the bidding due to a legal requirement for bidders in huge government projects to have at least five years experience in such projects, sources told The STAR.

However, it was learned that despite the deficiencies of the three firms, the CHED-BAC headed by the agency’s deputy executive director, Atty. Julito Vitriolo, went on to pre-qualify the consortium, enabling it to be the sole participant in a public bidding conducted late December 2006. 

Vitriolo, for his part, said that the bidding process they conducted for the project was legal and aboveboard.

In an interview, Vitriolo claimed that the ESGS-led consortium had met the legal requirements for contractors of such government projects.

“They passed the eligibility requirements,” he said.

Vitriolo also dismissed the reported deficiencies of the companies, saying the members of the BAC had better knowledge about the bidding that they conducted since they were the ones who conducted it.

“What makes them think they know better than us? They were not even there,” Vitriolo said.

It will be recalled that Secretary Romulo Neri, acting chairman of CHED, has already ordered an investigation into the process conducted by the CHED-BAC to award the project to the consortium.