DepEd drops bid of TV host’s firm from P654-M project

Paolo Bediones —INQUIRER PHOTO

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Department of Education (DepEd) has disqualified a joint venture led by TV host Paolo Bediones from a P654-million online learning project following the withdrawal of about 50 consultants and talents, an official said on Friday.

The joint venture of Radenta Technologies Inc. and Bediones’ Ei2 Tech Inc. was disqualified after their bid was found to be “unresponsive” or “noncompliant” due to the withdrawals of needed personnel, Undersecretary Alain Pascua, head of DepEd’s procurement management service, told the Inquirer in a text message on Friday.

In a Jan. 29 letter, the complainants told Pascua that they wanted their names and curriculum vitae to be stricken off the bid made by the joint venture as these were used without their knowledge and consent.

Not disqualified

The complainants said their signatures were falsely dated to make it appear that they signed on Nov. 4 or Nov. 29 last year.

Pascua said the names and CVs were submitted for the project that involved the distribution and archiving of TV and radio-based lessons for DepEd TV and DepEd Radio.

Asked for clarification, Pascua said the Radenta-Ei2 joint venture was “not blacklisted” and still could join in the next bids for the DepEd.The agency’s bids and awards committee (BAC) informed the joint venture of the postdisqualification through a Feb. 10 letter and resolution, he said.

No justification

According to the DepEd BAC, the Radenta-Ei2 joint venture recognized the withdrawal of personnel, but it did not reply to the allegation of falsification of documents.

The joint venture also “failed to justify the withdrawal of key personnel from Ei2 Tech Inc. production team,” the DepEd BAC added.

The personnel were part of a previous DepEd project for which they are supposedly claiming P42 million in salaries before October 2021 from Bediones.

Bediones did not respond to text messages and repeated calls when the Inquirer tried to reach him for comment on Friday.

Delays confirmed

In a phone interview on Feb. 1, Bediones said his legal team was “waiting to see what cases will be filed so these people can be identified and then we can let the courts decide.”

In a Jan. 14 memorandum that Bediones issued to people working for his company, he confirmed the delay in the payments and committed to pay.

Because of the withdrawal of the professionals, who are mostly from Central Luzon, the venture failed to get the minimum score of 70 points to pass the technical evaluation. It only garnered 64 percent, DepEd records showed.

The bidding also exceeded the 30-day postqualification process for consulting services, Pascua said. —TONETTE OREJAS

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