CONTRACTORS who participated in the bidding for the P1.188-billion reconstruction and restoration of the  Ayuntamiento Building in Intramuros, Manila, on Thursday asked Malacañang to order the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) to order the rebidding of the said project to save money for the government.

Five contractors bidded for the project in July, and, of the five contractors, only Hilmarcs Construction Corp. was able to comply with the eligibility documents.

However, the bidding committee allowed the other four contractors—A.M. Oreta and Co. Inc., Young Builders Corp., DDT Konstract Inc. and DMCI—to participate in bidding even if their prequalification documents were incomplete.

In allowing the four contractors to prequalify, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) and the Technical Working Group (TWG) of BTr invoke their “right to waive any formalities of documents as substantial compliance with the requirements under the Eligibility Documents and Eligibility Data Sheet in a manner most advantageous to the Procuring Entity-Government and to promote fair competition among bidders.”

Documents obtained from the BTr disclosed that the result of the bidding is as follows:

Hilmarcs Construction Corp. has a bid of P919 million or P269 million lower than the agency approved estimate(AAE);

A.M. Oreta, P1.052 billion or P136 million lower than AAE;

Young Builders Corp., P1.180 billion or P8 million less than the AAE;

DDT Konstract Inc., P1.182 billion or P6 million lower than AAE; and

DMCI, P1.185 billion or P3 million lower than AAE.

Based on the same documents, Hilmarcs, as the winning bidder, submitted all the required detailed estimates necessary in determining the reasonableness of the bid and that the submitted detailed cost estimates are clear and complete enough to allow the BAC-TWG to evaluate its bid. Although some of these estimates were not presented in the form that was prescribed by the BAC, it is only because they relied on BAC’s earlier application and extension of liberty to four other named contractors and “by allowing substantial compliance” as an acceptable standard in the submission and evaluation of bids.

Because the BAC-TWG applied the principles of liberty and “substantial compliance” to bidders that otherwise would have been disqualified, the same principles should also be applied to Hilmarcs and A.M. Oreta, the contractors said.

The contractors claimed that as of press time the top three lowest bidders—Hilmarcs, AM Oreta and Young Builders—were disqualified on grounds that they failed to submit some documents that they said cannot in anyway affect the qualification of the contractors.

They added that Malacañang should not allow this to happen, adding that the least the Palace can do is to order the rebidding of the project and not allow the “favored” but losing contractor to undertake the implementation of the project because it will be disadvantageous to the government.

Established in 1977 mainly as a general construction company, Hilmarc is currently among the Philippines’ Top 1,000 Corporations.

Its projects include buildings built for the Sandiganbayan, Batasan Complex, Makati University, Makati City Hall, Calamba City Hall, Iloilo Capitol Building, National Telecommunications Commission, Philippine Volcanology and Seismology, National Computer Center, and Philippine National Oil Co.

A. M. Oreta, on the other hand, is now in its 62nd year of continous operation.

The company specializes in large vertical projects such as high-rise commercial and residential buildings, hotels, airports, shopping centers, schools, hospitals and other similar buildings.

It also undertakes large-scale horizontal and infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, railways, hydropower plants, dams, tunnels and irrigation systems, water treatment and sewerage facilities, industrial process structures and manufacturing plants, site works and estate developments, airports and seaports, tourist resorts and recreational centers, among others.