DND to review P3.4-B bid for 8 attack helicopters

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of National Defense (DND) will soon review an offer from an Anglo-Italian firm to supply eight attack helicopters for the Air Force for P3.44 billion.

AugustaWestland, the lone bidder for the attack helicopter acquisition project, offered to supply the eight helicopters for P3,441,415,000.

The offer is P45,000 lower than the P3,441,460,000 approved budget for the helicopters. A financial bid can be accepted as long as it falls within budget.

DND data seen by The STAR showed that the bid price is lower than helicopters purchased by other countries.

The bid translates to 7.532 million euros per unit (about P430.15 million), lower than the package price per unit of the helicopters acquired by the Bulgarian police (7.547 million euros) and the Bangladesh navy (8.6 million euros).

While the opening of bids was held last July 24, the DND did not immediately accept the bid in order to gather more information about the price of the air assets.

“We opted to use the seven-day period for doing a bid evaluation and due diligence. We compared it and this is the best price available,” Defense Assistant Secretary Patrick Velez told The STAR.

AugustaWestland, a company owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica, will undergo post-qualification this month to determine if its offer satisfies the specifications set by the Air Force.

DND Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said the post qualification phase would be held on the third week of August. A bidder should meet the post qualification requirements and should be given a notice of award before it can be declared the winner.

Benjamin de Guzman of the Coalition Against Corruption said he was satisfied with the way the DND conducted the bidding process.

“The bidding was professionally done. If all of the biddings were like this, I think we’ll get the best price and best deals,” said De Guzman, who served as an observer of the bidding.