DOTC starts ‘emergency’ procurement of MRT-3 maintenance contract

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has received the green light to pursue an alternative procurement process for the long-term maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3.

 

"We're targeting to award the contract within the year, and to have the new maintenance provider begin its services in January next year,” said DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya in a statement released on Wednesday.

 

The Government Procurement Policy Board has approved a negotiated mode of procurement for the P2.2-billion maintenance contract on August 20 in recognition of the urgent need to address the railway's maintenance requirements. 

 

Republic Act 9184 or the Procurement Reform Act allows the government to directly negotiate with a contractor in case of an emergency and after two failed biddings. In such instances, the government can cancel the bid securities required against the participants.

 

In requesting for an alternative procurement method, the DOTC cited the immediate need for a three-year maintenance provider, as well as the overhaul of train coaches and the replacement of the MRT signaling system to address obsolescence and problems of wear-and-tear.

 

The agency said “several established, well-reputed international expert groups in the railway maintenance industry were invited to effectively eliminate the possibility of non- or under-qualified firms from participating in the bid.”

 

The DOTC resorted to a negotiated mode of procurement after the agency failed to attract bidders for the three-year maintenance contract in October 2014 and last January. 

 

For the meantime, the government has awarded six-month maintenance contracts for each of the train system's seven components. The contracts will expire in January 2016. – Keith Richard Mariano/VS, GMA News