Era of rigged bidding in DPWH over, say officials

Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson: ‘No more business as usual’. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—”The days of rigged biddings, collusions between contractors and bid officials, and negotiated contracts are over,” said an insider of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The source recently told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that for many years, dummy construction firms belonging to two congressmen from Cebu and Mt. Province cornered hundreds of millions of pesos worth of public works contracts.

The official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of his revelation, likewise did not name the lawmakers, saying that the irregularities were “history.”

Beth Pillorin, DPWH public information officer, confirmed the first official’s disclosure, stressing though that “negotiated contracts and irregular transactions have been eliminated since Secretary (Rogelio) Singson took over.”

Pillorin said that “with fully transparent biddings, the DPWH can achieve more than 20 percent savings from its budgetary allocations. These savings can be utilized in additional government infrastructure projects.”

In the last two years, the department has saved more than P1 billion “as it institutionalized reforms in the bidding process, which is a work in progress.”

Of the 2,515 DPWH projects lined up for this year, the agency has “bid out a total of 2,374 projects, or 94 percent,” according to Pillorin.

“The projects are worth P162 billion, about 65 percent of which has been obligated. Of the total, P64 billion has been disbursed,” she said.

Citing the large volume of public works projects, Singson has directed DPWH field offices to “fast-track the agency’s transparent bidding process.”

He has repeatedly warned DPWH regional and district engineers, among other agency personnel, against engaging in irregularities in project biddings.

“Biddings should be competitive. There should be no collusions, no favors, no riggings and no negotiated contracts,” Singson said.

The DPWH head said “any department official found to have colluded with contractors or any person involved in the bidding and awarding of contracts shall be dealt with accordingly.”

“I am warning them. No more business as usual in the DPWH,” he added.

He also asked contractors, as well as power brokers and politicians, not to interfere in the bidding and awarding of projects.

At the same time, Singson appealed to non-government groups and other civil society organizations nationwide to “help monitor and ensure that DPWH projects are bid out properly and competitively in line with the ‘daang matuwid’ crusade of President Aquino.”

Earlier, the DPWH canceled 19 negotiated contracts funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

“After conducting open, competitive and transparent biddings of the projects worth P4 billion, the government saved at least P1.5 billion that can be utilized in new projects,” said Singson.

In a statement, Singson said that DPWH reforms “have opened opportunities for transparency and speedy transactions in the department.”

He cited, among other things, the simplification of the bidding process “from more than 20 documentary requirements to only five.”

Bidding documents and projects-related information can be downloaded from the DPWH website (www.dpwh.gov.ph), he said.