E-Trans urges gov’t to open its bid

The E-Trans consortium, one of the bidders for the automated fare collection system (ACFS) project offered by the state under a public-private partnership framework, has appealed to the government to open its financial proposal for the LRT-MRT single ticketing system.

The request comes on the heels of the announcement by the ACFS’ implementing agency, the Department of Transportation and Communications, that it will consider only the bids of the SM and Ayala-Metro Pacific consortia.

Conrad Tolentino, lawyer for the E-Trans consortium, said in a statement: “E-Trans feels that the DOTC’s consideration of only these two bidders withholds crucial information from taxpayers and the intended beneficiaries of the AFCS—the 1 million commuters who use the system every day.”

E-Trans is a consortium of information technology and financial companies, and is a partner of Kentkart, a leading provider of AFCS services in countries across Europe and the Middle East.

This consortium led by Tera Investments includes Gotianun-led Eastwest Banking Corp. and has financial backing from JKTC Equities.

The DOTC did not open E-Trans’ financial bid after the department rated its technical proposal as “failed.”

E-Trans claimed that there was a lack of procedural transparency behind this rejection.

E-Trans has raised with the bids and awards committee (BAC) its concerns over the application of unwritten rules in the DOTC’s assessment of technical qualifications, as well as the waiving of other rules that resulted in the qualification of the final two bidders, Tolentino said.

He said the “opacity” of procedures had left unopened E-Trans’ financial proposal, which the consortium believes will positively impact the project’s financial and operational sustainability.

“Such opacity begs the question as to whether artificial barriers to entry were placed on small but dynamic new players to benefit the usual big fish,” Tolentino added. “In this case, we believe the small fish offer more to the Filipino people, and the DOTC should open E-Trans’ financial proposal, especially since the department has yet to address concerns we have raised regarding their process.”

E-Trans also sent a number of letters to the BAC inquiring about the details of the DOTC’s rules in determining the date of submission of bids, the determination of the final version of the agreement that would govern the AFCS, as well as whether the National Economic and Development Authority approved the project structure as required by law.

“As far as we know, none of these queries have been answered by the DOTC,” Tolentino said. “We hope the DOTC will open E-Trans’ financial proposal in the interest of fairness and transparency, and so that the public may know whether the people’s best interests are being served.”