Ayala, MPIC submit best bid for smart-card project

Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. are the frontrunners in a P1.72-billion deal to operate a smart-card system for Metro Manila’s elevated trains after their consortium outbid by a “hairline” the next best offer by the SM Group of billionaire Henry Sy.

The transportation department on Monday proceeded with the opening of three financial offers, or those of Ayala and Metro Pacific-led AF Consortium, SM Group and Comworks-Berjaya after disqualifying two others over weekend. E-Trans Solutions Joint Venture and the Megawide-Suyen-Eurolink Consortium, which the DOTC noted had failed to meet the technical requirements, said yesterday they would pursue appeals.

The final winner for the project, also known as the Automated Fare Collection System, could be known by Dec. 23 or Dec. 24, DOTC spokesperson Michael Sagcal said, as it would take the Department of Transportation and Communications about two weeks to review the financial proposals.

The AFCS aims to provide a “tap and go” system for the Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 by the third quarter of 2015. It is the first public private partnership deal to be bid out successfully by the DOTC.

AF Consortium submitted the best offer via a “negative bid” of P1,088,103,900 against SM’s negative bid of P1.088 billion—a difference of P103,900 or 0.01 percent.

A negative bid represents a premium that will be paid to the government to operate the system over the 10-year concession period.

Comworks-Berjaya, meanwhile, submitted a positive bid of P2.05 billion, meaning the amount was effectively a subsidy.

Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla noted that the opening of financial proposals “is not the final judgment” and that the DOTC would review the financial offers relative to the complete proposals of other groups.

Nevertheless, AF Consortium was treating Monday’s process like an early win.

“It’s still subject to post-qualification but I think we will qualify. We have a strong consortium,” Metro Pacific president Jose Ma. Lim told reporters after the offers were opened.

He noted that their group was aiming to implement a system similar to the Octopus smart-card used in Hong Kong.

“Clearly it shows an appreciation of the retail potential of the micropayments market. We were only able to bid as aggressively as we did because of the size and potential of that market,” he added.

“This is the most exciting [bidding process] we’ve seen. We are just happy to be the one on top right now,” Ayala Managing director John Eric Francia added yesterday. “It goes to show how much potential this platform has to offer.”