ILOILO – All contractors are welcome to participate in the bidding for proposed infrastructure projects of the local government unit (LGU) of Pavia, according to Rommel Jamerlan, chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
He explained the delay in the sale of bid documents for contractors who intended to join the bidding process for three proposed projects:
* construction of a motor pool in Barangay Tigum – P3 million Approved Budget for Contract (ABC)
* concreting of Railway Access Road in Barangay Cabugao Sur – P13.4 million ABC
* construction of Centennial Building in Poblacion – P5 million ABC
On Thursday, Aug. 5, 10 contractors trooped to the BAC after several failed tries.
“That’s true… medyo nabudlayan gid man ang aton prospective bidders sa tatlo ka dalagku nga projects kay sa kamatuoran gid man, ang isa ka miembro sang aton BAC secretariat na-isolate bangod nga ang iya utod nag-positive sa COVID (coronavirus disease 2019). So, gin-test naman ‘to so hopefully kon maggwa nga negative makabalik man sia,” Jamerlan told Panay News on Friday.
This employee was the in-charge in checking and releasing bid documents together with more or less three others.
However, as a precautionary measure, the co-employees were also advised to undergo home quarantine starting Aug. 2 pending the test result of the former.
As of this writing, the swab test result of the concerned employee is yet to be released.
Operations at the BAC Secretariat Office are expected to return to normal by Monday.
Jamerlan said about seven contractors came by the BAC office on Wednesday and Thursday. They explained to the contractors why the BAC could not receive their bid documents as there was no one who would look into their documents like the Special Power of Attorney (SPA) and Company Identification Card.
Besides, Jamerlan said, other important details were lacking on some documents submitted by the contractors. He said they advised the concerned contractors to resubmit them.
George Gorriceta, who serves as assistant executive of Mayor Laurence Anthony Gorriceta, also offered an explanation.
“So we have to find legal ways, naghulat kami sang legal counsel namon how to handle all this kay indi man kami puede nga mag-release lang nga ma-release kay basi man mag-fail or basi kami man maigo sa finding sang audit sang COA (Commission on Audit),” the assistant executive said.
The BAC sought consultation from the legal counsel of the LGU. They then decided to call the members of the Technical Working Group Committee (TWGC), who were isolating that time, to report to their office on Aug. 5 in order to the check and process the bid documents.
“Indi nga waay ma-asikaso ah kay ginhulat pa namon ang advice sang legal counsel. So, kahapon gin-amat-amat namon check ang ila dokumento to prove that they worked for the company or construction company. So, kon kulang indi gid kami makahatag sa ila sang bid documents but it’s not nga hindi kami magbaligya,” added Gorriceta.
“Kahapon may contractor nga nag-present sang SPA pero kulang kinahanglan nga nakabutang nga nagakuha sila sang project sa ‘Municipality of Pavia’, ang ila ginbutang ‘Pavia’ lang. If they can pass like sa iban nga ginbutang gid ang Municipality of Pavia ginbaligyaan gid namon,” Gorriceta said.
In fact on Aug. 5, Gorriceta said, there were three contractors called by the BAC to sell the bid documents, but Friday (Aug. 6) afternoon came and they were yet to appear in the town hall.
Prior to these three, Gorriceta said the BAC has sold bid documents to three contractors last week. He noted that these contractors were early and their documents were complete.
It was also two weeks ago, according to Gorriceta, their office posted online (PhilGEPS) the bidding for the three projects.
He also noted that some of the complainants have attended the said pre-bidding.
“Two week ago nag pre-bid kami, nagkadto man sila. Actually sang pre-bid ara man sila, gintudluan man sila mapasa sang amo sini,” added Gorriceta.
It also learned that this was the first time the BAC experienced a delay in the sale of bid documents.
They are also hoping that this won’t happen again.
‘OPEN TO ALL’
Jamerlan reiterated that anyone is welcome to join any bidding for infrastructure projects in the LGU.
He added that they were not favoring any contractors.
“Kami ‘ya ari kami sa BAC nagasunod kami, nagahalong kag nagasunod sa provision sa procurement law, open kami, open gid ‘ya. The more nga damo may maintra, mas competitive ang bidding process,” Jamerlan said.
“Ano na lang, kumpletuhon ang ginapasa nga requirements, kon ano gina-ayo namon sunu man sa procurement law para ka-join,” he added.
Jamerlan also appealed to the contractors not to wait for the “rush hour” before submitting the documents.
He apologized to the contractors who may have experienced inconvenience.
“Apologies lang sa inconvenience kahapon…Welcome gid kamo gihapon, comply ta lang complete nga requirements… Subong pasensya gamay kay ti ang miembro or secretariat office gina-contact trace,” said Jamerlan./PN
