MANILA-BASED LBP Services Corp. stood as the lowest responsive bidder for the P259.6 million contract to supply the Cebu Provincial Government with 803 medical and non-medical personnel.
The Capitol may start outsourcing the services by the third week of September 2019, once the firm completes the post-qualification evaluation of the lowest complying bidder.
Some documents that will be reviewed include financial statements, business permits and labor-related documents of LBP Services, according to Provincial General Services Office officer-in-charge and Bids and Awards Committee vice chairman Bernard Calderon.
“The post-qualification evaluation is ongoing. After that, we will recommend the (issuance of a notice of) award. Once that is settled, we will have to ask for authority from the Provincial Board to let the governor (Gwendolyn Garcia) sign the contract (on behalf of the Province). Hopefully, we can have the contract signing in the third week of September,” Calderon said on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The Capitol’s outsourcing project has a total approved budget of P259.6 million, covering 12 months’ worth of services.
Of the amount, the Capitol has set aside P176.6 million and P82.9 million to cover the services of medical and non-medical personnel, respectively.
The move came after the governor had announced that her administration would outsource the Capitol’s employees to cut costs and downsize the “overstaffed” health institutions in Cebu Province.
Although LBP Services is based in Manila, it also has an office in Mandaue City. It was one of four private companies that had initially signified interest in providing the Capitol with outsourced medical and clerical workers.
During the pre-bid conference last July 29, Cebu-based Maayo Medical Clinic Corp. and LBP Services had expressed interest in providing the Province with 443 medical personnel for its 16 provincial and district hospitals.
However, Maayo Medical was disqualified from the bidding last Aug. 20 after it failed to submit a certification from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.
Calderon said the firm had asked for a three-day extension through a motion for reconsideration, but it was still unable to comply with the requirement.
As for the clerical workers, LBP Services was the only firm that pushed through with the bidding proper.
Clerical service providers Perfect Clean General Services and Extra Ordinaire Janitorial and Manpower Services had backed out of the price challenge despite expressing interest during the pre-bid conference. Perfect Clean’s office is located in Talisay City, while Extra Ordinaire’s head office is in Parañaque City.
During Garcia’s earlier stint as governor, the Capitol sourced its clerical manpower from LBP Services. RTF