PNP disqualifies lowest bidder for guns

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The company that submitted the lowest bid for a P1.2 billion firearms procurement deal with the Philippine National Police was disqualified after it failed to comply with documentary requirements, an official said Thursday.

The bid of R. Espineli’s joint venture with the Israel Weapons Industry, the manufacturer of Jericho pistols, was declared ineligible by the technical working group of the PNP’s bids and awards committee (BAC)  after it failed to meet certain requirements, PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said.

In a briefing at Camp Crame, Cerbo said Espineli (not Espinelli as previously reported) had not complied with the requirement to submit a certificate of bid security from the Insurance Commission and another certificate authenticating the translation of foreign documents from the Philippine embassy.

“The BAC resolution is still for signature by the members today (Thursday) but the official letter to the company will also be out today,” Cerbo said.

He said the company that submitted the next lowest bid, a joint venture between Trust Trade and Glock Asia Pacific, would undergo the post-qualification process. If it passes the technical requirements, its pistols will have to undergo a 20,000-round stress test.

Espineli submitted the lowest bid of P974 million, which would have saved the government more than P220 million.

Trust Trade came second with P998 million, while Kolonwel and its partners were third with P1.06 billion. Arms Corp. of the Philippines was fourth with a bid of P1.197 billion.

Espineli’s price would have lowered the PNP’s set price of P20,000 for each pistol to just P16,254 apiece, while Trust Trade’s would lower it to P16,659.94, a difference of just slightly above P400.

The procurement, one of the biggest by the PNP in recent years, is for the purchase of almost 60,000 pistols to be used by police officers. It is seen to fill 100 percent of the PNP’s short firearms requirement.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo previously said only 63 percent of PNP officers had been provided short firearms as of 2011.

The public bidding for the deal was conducted last month through open competitive bidding procedures using ”pass/fail” criteria as specified in the implementing guidelines of the Government Procurement Act.