Gov’t eyes weeding out lowest bidders with little capital

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III (Presidential Photographers Division)

The government is eyeing to tweak the procurement process to mandate contractors to finish half of the work before payments are made, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.

“We have to get contractors who can carry out projects without any advances from us… So at least we know they have money to finish the projects,” Dominguez told reporters last week.

Specifically, Dominguez said “What we are going to do now is we are going to make a very low deposit for mobilization, then we’ll say the first time that you [the contractors] can bill us is when you finish 50 percent of the work.”

“We have to pay some mobilization fund—that’s normal, but we will try to eliminate the potential bidders who are just there to get a low bid,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez earlier expressed disappointment when repairs of offices at the Department of Finance lagged behind schedule, as the contractors hired during the watch of former finance secretary Cesar V. Purisima took over a year to finish them despite a four-month timetable to do so.

The Finance chief said the contracts for repairs of DOF offices started during Purisima’s time were awarded to the lowest bidders.

“You have to stand the delay because you are in there already and you cannot get out, so they trap us into those things and I don’t want that to happen again,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said the introduction of a performance bond in the procurement process will not entail any amendment on procurement laws, as such will be included in the contracts’ terms of reference. CBB