DOTC, LTO bidding out P450-M supply contract

The Department of Transportation and Communications and Land Transportation Office (LTO) have rolled out a P450.45-million supply contract for the delivery of at least five million drivers’ license cards to address a recent shortage.

In a statement, the DOTC said that bids should be submitted by April 20, and the plan was to stabilize supply by the third quarter of 2015.

Jason Salvador, LTO spokesman, said the intention was to get a “better supplier” given deficiencies by current provider Amalgamated Motors Philippines Inc., which is now the subject of heavy criticism. Salvador said the company would still be allowed to join the current bid.

With the shortage in Amalgamated Motors license card supply, the LTO has resorted to issuing temporary driver’s licenses with a 150-day validity period, with the expectation that Amalgamated Motors would be able to provide license cards within that period.

In view of the continued shortage, however, the LTO removed the 150-day limit until the shortage is addressed, by way of Memorandum Circular No. AVT-2015-1925 dated March 20, 2015.

The bid for each piece of license card should not exceed P 90.09, a published notice from the DOTC and LTO showed. The winning supplier will be required to deliver the goods within 30 calendar days from issuance of the Notice to Proceed (NTP), which is targeted in July 2015.

Given past experiences, the DOTC said it “hopes that this time around, the project will not be stopped by judicial orders.”

Amalgamated Motors was earlier awarded a five-year contract way back in 1984. Upon its expiration in 1989, government extended the arrangement on a yearly basis until 2006. Since 2006, there has been no contractual relationship, but government has continued paying Amalgamated Motors on a quantum merit basis, or in sums equivalent to the goods delivered.

Seeing the need for a proper contract as a matter of good governance, the DOTC and the LTO sought to bid the project out in December 2010. This, however, was prevented by an injunction order issued by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City in February 2011.

Another injunction order was again issued by the same court in June 2012, in a case the same company filed against the DOTC to question the bid. The Court of Appeals eventually caused the lifting of both injunctive writs.

In 2014, the Commission on Audit (COA) also disallowed further payments to Amalgamated Motors absent a valid contract procured under applicable rules. This bolstered the DOTC and LTO’s position that the project should be bid out, contrary to potential attempts to stop the project through court issuances.