Losing bidder says it should have gotten fire bureau’s gear deal

One of the losing bidders for a contract to supply fire-fighting equipment to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has questioned the decision of the BFP to declare a failure of the bidding after the winner, Kolonwel Trading Inc., was disqualified.

The losing firm 911 Alarm said it was curious that BFP officer in charge Samuel Perez had “ruled the bidding a failure when there was still an eligible bidder, which, in this case, was our company.”

911 noted that its bid “was almost the same” as Kolonwel’s which was

P243 million. Kolonwel, which entered into a joint venture with a foreign partner, InSeung Apparel, for the contract, was disqualified by the BFP for failing to comply with documentary requirements.

In a letter to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Marcial P. Lichauco Jr., president and general manager of 911 Alarm, also denied the company had skirted bidding rules when it questioned the award of the contract to Kolonwel, setting the stage for the latter’s disqualification.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the government, through the Department of Budget and Management, would bid out the contract again after  Kolonwel was disqualified.

The contract involved the supply of 4,197 sets of fire-fighting helmets, gloves, coats, boots and trousers to the BFP.

“The contract in question actually consisted of four separate biddings and we were one of the bidders in two of them, namely, for fire coats and trousers and for helmets,” Lichauco said.

He denied that the losing bidders, 911 Alarm and Panpisco Technologies Inc., did not go through the prescribed protest mechanism—as claimed by Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño—but simply wrote complaint letters to Perez after the BFP bids and awards committee (BAC) had already declared the winning bidder.

Lichauco said Kolonwel did not in fact turn in the lowest bid, but Panpisco Technologies, which was in a joint venture with Sancheong Co. Ltd.

“The Panpisco joint venture, however, was presumably disqualified in the postqualification stage by the BFP bids and awards committee since the joint venture of Kolonwel as the second lowest bidder subsequently went through a postqualification,” he said.