LTO still studying IT service market

MANILA, Philippines - The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has not yet formally started the bidding process for a new IT service and is merely studying the market by publishing the bidding requirements, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said yesterday.

In a phone interview, DOTC spokesperson Nick Conti said the information for interested bidders released last week is not part of the bidding process.

“The request for information is not yet part of the bidding process. We are studying who in the market can participate in the bidding,” Conti said.

National Economic and Development Authority director general Cayetano Paderanga also confirmed yesterday that no formal proposal for the bidding has been filed yet before the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), one of the five inter-agency committees that act as a recommendatory body to the NEDA Board.

“There is no formal proposal yet to the ICC,” said Paderanga. “Most probably, they are trying to get a market reading.”

Paderanga recognized that the contract of LTO with its current IT service provider Stradcom is still in effect but said that preparations for a new bidding usually entail a lot of time.

“Just preparing for a project could last six months,” he said.

Based on the information given out by the DOTC, the deadline for the submission of proposals has been extended to Jan. 27.

The winning bidder would build and operate for seven years LTO’s information system that will process the registration of motor vehicles, drivers’ licenses, back-end transactions, and other processes.

Stradcom earlier welcomed the conduct of bidding for a new contractor but said that the LTO should honor the existing contract which is effective until February 2013 and settle withheld payments totaling P2 billion which represents collections for services it has rendered since 2010.