PCSO to rule on appeal of disqualified bidder

MANILA, Philippines — The fate of the appeal filed by a thrice-disqualified bidder for the P6.15-billion Philippine Lottery System (PLS) project is now in the hands of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)’s special bids and awards committee (SBAC).

“The matter is still with SBAC. Let us wait for the action of the SBAC,” Royina Garma, PCSO general manager and vice chairperson of the board, told reporters yesterday.

Last Wednesday, the PCSO-SBAC disqualified the bid of the joint venture group of Genlot Game Technology Co. Ltd.-Digi-Specs IT Corp.-Philippine United Technic Corp. due to the absence of the required original and notarized board secretary’s certificate and board resolution giving authority to Ryan Wong to represent the group before the PCSO.

Wong, who was present at the proceedings, effectively admitted to the failure of submitting the original notarized board secretary’s certificate, but contended it was not a compulsory submission as per the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) and that the nine photocopies submitted were enough.

Wong and the group’s counsel has since appealed their “failed” bid for the contract for PCSO’s new lotto machines and system.

The proceedings were broadcast in real-time by the PCSO via Facebook Live on their official Facebook page.

The PCSO-SBAC had reconvened “under protest,” amid their opposition to a June 24 resolution of the PCSO board of directors, chaired by retired police general Anselmo Simeon Pinili, reversing the second disqualification of the Genlot consortium and resume the reopening and evaluation of their bid documents.

The PCSO-SBAC had clarified that they were reopening the bid documents of Genlot under protest at the start of proceedings.

Five of the SBAC members – Josefina Sarsonas-Aguas, lawyer Raymond Samarita, engineer Ariel de Ocampo, engineer Omar Bagui and lawyer Leah Christine Jimenez – had earlier tendered their “irrevocable resignation” to the PCSO board of directors after the latter ordered them to reverse their second disqualification of the Genlot consortium last May 31.

“This irrevocable resignation is to ensure and maintain the continuity, transparency, and integrity of the procurement activities for the 2021 PCSO Lottery Project (SBAC Contract No. 2021-01) and in addition, to uphold the cold neutrality of an impartial Bids and Awards Committee by ensuring and preserving the appearance of fairness, objectivity and independence in the conduct of bid activities,” the five SBAC members reportedly said in their resignation letter.

The second disqualification of the Genlot consortium came after the SBAC found the mayor’s permit of a member of the consortium, identified as PUTC, to be expired during the time of the opening of bids last April 21.

The first time Genlot consortium was disqualified was during the opening of the bids submission last April 21 because its documents lacked English translations certified by the Philippine embassy.

The SBAC had subsequently reversed the first disqualification upon instruction of the PCSO board of directors but with serious misgivings and also a verbal declaration of resignation from the SBAC, which they were persuaded not to pursue.

The second resignation, it was learned, came after the SBAC members were summoned to a meeting by the PCSO board where the SBAC members felt “marginalized” and unfairly and unjustifiably reprimanded or scolded by the board chairman and members.