Airport execs still yearning for hi-tech CCTV system

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) officials remain hopeful that the country’s premier airport will have the much-touted technologically advanced closed circuit television (CCTV) system within President Aquino’s term.

“It (the process of procuring the CCTV system) should be expedited,” MIAA senior assistant general manager Vicente Guerzon Jr. said, stressing the need to replace the existing antiquated surveillance equipment at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) which have been in place since the 1990s.

But with the procurement process still hanging, Guerzon said there is a chance that the system will not be installed until after Aquino’s successor assumes the presidency. By then, MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado will no longer head the airport authority.

According to the MIAA official, they are still conducting the post-qualification evaluation of the second lowest bidder for the P486-million supply, installation and commissioning of the CCTV system at the Naia complex.

“The MIAA board of directors is still evaluating the motion for reconsideration filed by the second-lowest bidder,” Guerzon told the

Inquirer. Should the motion be denied, the bidder still has the option under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act to protest and appeal the decision.

Should the bidder qualify, he is given 240 calendar days or approximately eight months from the date the notice of award is issued, to complete the project.

The CCTV system project will not only upgrade Naia’s surveillance system but will also nearly double the number of security cameras to 719, leaving no blind spot in the entire airport complex. There are currently only 422 security cameras scattered in the four terminals.

Based on the specifications for the new CCTV system, the system should have an analytical function which includes facial recognition and visual enhancement, and an intrusion detection function which reads heat signatures. Security cameras will also be installed in the Naia terminals 1, 2 and 4, including the parking areas, vehicular entry checkpoints, perimeters and the Airport Police Department headquarters.

The P486-million project involves the setup of a surveillance system for terminals 1, 2, and 4 and independent monitoring hubs for each terminal which will then be hooked up to a command operations center.

Initially there were 41 bidders for the CCTV system installation last year but before the MIAA could open bids, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) issued a safety advisory warning against wireless connectivity.

The CAAP said that setting up a wireless CCTV system at the airport will interfere with aviation electronics and navigational equipment which prompted the bids and awards committee to change the terms of reference for the project to involve instead fiber optic connectivity.

A subsequent prebidding conference was held in December 2014, but bids were opened only in February this year to give interested bidders sufficient time to obtain the necessary documentary requirements for eligibility.

In the February bidding, there were 11 interested firms but the number was cut down to three when some of the bidders were either late or failed to show up.

The lowest calculated bidder was disqualified in the post-qualification evaluation on a legal question although it met technical and financial requirements. The company was allowed to appeal the decision of the bids and awards committee but its plea for reconsideration was denied on April 21 and it no longer filed a protest.

Should the second-lowest bidder be likewise disqualified and no longer appeals the decision, Guerzon said, there is still a third-lowest bidder that will undergo post-qualification assessment. In case no bidder qualifies, MIAA will announce and open a second bidding for the project.