FOR the second time, the bidding for the P84.4-million, four-story steel parking area at the Capitol compound failed to secure a qualified contractor, an official of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) disclosed on Thursday, March 7.
Jone Siegfred Sepe, BAC vice chairman and head of the Provincial General Services Office (PGSO), said that with two successive biddings failed, they will resort to negotiated procurement for the project to push through.
Sepe said that when they conducted a post-qualification process on Tuanson Construction, one of those interested to bid on the project, they found that there was negative slippage or delays in some of its completed projects of around 15 percent. This prompted the BAC to reject Tuanson.
Negative slippage occurs when a contractor delays work on a particular project, which affects its completion target, Sepe told reporters.
Tuanson Construction, which is based in Talisay City, was the lone qualified bidder for the project, after posting a single calculated and responsive bid of P83.9 million.
Tuanson’s bid was P500,000 lower than the approved budget contract of the project worth P84.4 million.
Negative slippage was also why the first bidding on the project failed, Sepe said.
Sepe said opting for negotiated procurement will make the transaction faster, since interested bidders will only bring their financial documents and their Philippine Goverment Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) registration during the proceedings.
Negotiated procurement is different from a public bidding wherein a contractor is required to submit its legal, technical and financial documents once the bidding process opens.
But with the BAC now set to conduct negotiated procurement, Sepe hopes that the project will not be derailed, especially wtih the election ban is approaching. Once the bidding documents are brought back to the Provincial Engineering Office within the week or next week, the BAC will start publishing the invitation for negotiated procurement.
Sepe said the proceedings are open to interested contractors, provided they are not blacklisted and they can submit the technical, legal and financial requirements needed for the project.
Sepe added that even Tuanson Construction can participate in the negotiated procurement process, provided that it is able to iron out the delays in some of its projects.