Group questions bidder in license plate project

MANILA, Philippines— A consumer watchdog on Monday questioned one of the two bidders for the P3.8-billion Vehicle License Plate Standardization Project of the Department of Transportation and Communications-Land Transportation Office.

In a statement sent to reporters, Jake Silo, spokesperson for Action for Consumerism and Transparency for Nation Building (Action), said the Netherlands-based company J. Knieriem B.V. (JKG) submitted false financial documents to be able to compete for the project.

Silo said JKG’s U.K. website showed that it has personnel complement of more or less 25 employees only.

A research of its financial status also showed that JKG is one of the seven wholly owned subsidiaries of the Holding company H3 BV with a negative Net Income of €-215.068 or Php11,613,672.00, based on its 2011 Consolidated Financial Statement.

A closer look at J. Knieriem B.V.’s Annual Financial Statement for the years 2008 to 2011 also revealed that the company’s Current Assets for these four-year period are less than impressive, with only €5.069.093 (Php273,731,022.00), €6.865.652 (Php370,745,208.00), €7.920.510 (427,707,540.00) and €4.747.993 (Php256,391,622.00),in total current assets for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Silo said if this is the case, how can it comply with the minimum requirement for a single largest contract equivalent to 25 percent of a contract similar to what it is bidding.

Silo added that with a handful of workers, how can the license plates where the required production is almost 5 million plates per year be delivered on time.

“Unless the DOTC-LTO Bids and Awards Committee learns from what previously happened in its awards of the License Plates Production Project in 2012, the Filipino motoring public will most likely be headed to experience the same agonizing waiting period for their vehicle’s license plates for the next five more years,” Silo added.