THREE centavos might not sound like much, but it disqualified a bidder of a P4.9-million drainage-improvement project in Quezon City.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) disqualified Armal Construction Supply and Services Inc. after discovering on December 21 that its surety bond was short of
three centavos.
MMDA-BAC, presided by its vice chairman lawyer Victor Pablo Trinidad, announced the disqualification, stressing the surety bidder’s bond is one of the eligibility requirements for the bidding process and is set at 5 percent of the approved budget for the project.
The budget set by the MMDA for the project was P4,989,079.60, with 5-percent equivalent to P249,453.98. Unfortunately for Armal, its surety bidder’s bond was only P249,453.95, resulting to its disqualification.
Trinidad said disqualifying a bidder which is only three centavos short of the surety bond showed the “MMDA is transparent and strictly compliant to the criteria imposed under the procurement law and its implementing rules and regulations.”
“The MMDA is guided by the basic principles of government procurement: transparency, competitiveness, good governance and accountability. As they say, the law may be harshm but it is the law,” Trinidad said.
‘The two other bidders who participated in the bidding process were PJ Construction & Supply and Tuchar Construction Inc. The winning bidder was PJ Construction with a bid price of P4,746,941.27 against Tuchar’s P4,804,072.44.
The BAC said Armal has the right to file a motion for reconsideration provided that it has sufficient basis.
The drainage-improvement project is set to be implemented along Apo Street and its vicinity in District 1, Quezon City by 2018.