Treasury’s P50-M ‘white elephant’ project uncovered
A P50-million back up facility for the computer systems of the Bureau of the Treasury — meant to safeguard the government’s debt management operations and the database of all the country’s bond market creditors — has been tagged as a “white elephant” for having been set up in a remote location devoid of crucial high-speed telecommunications facilities.
In a press statement, the Department of Finance said it uncovered the questionable project “left behind by the past administration” that calls for a state-of-the-art disaster recovery site to back up BTr’s operations in Manila from a city in the Visayas.
This location — undisclosed for security purposes — where the site was built is one where major telecommunications providers have not yet installed high-speed broadband connectivity networks to support the system’s critical requirements.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Treasury officials said at a recent DOF executive committee meeting that they only learned of the project when the IT vendor informed them that it was ready to turn over the disaster recovery site to the agency.
The project calls for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of various information and communications technology equipment, including the supply of labor, services and materials.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said that the backup site’s remote location “is not ideal for the Treasury’s critical systems” and telecommunications facilities such as high-speed fiber cables have not yet been set up by either PLDT or Globe Telecom in the area, defeating the purpose of setting up the cutting-edge ICT facilities in the backup data center.
The project was started in August 16 last year, before De Leon was named National Treasurer and less than two months after President Duterte assumed office. Its turnover or end date was originally set last February 12, but was moved to July 15.
“I want you to get to the bottom of this and find out who was behind this project,” Dominguez said upon learning of the multimillion-peso structure.
De Leon said no funds have also been allocated for the maintenance and operation of the backup facility under the 2017 budget.
“We also have no budget under the 2017 General Appropriations Act to maintain and operate the [site] as our current maintenance costs for the Ayuntamiento’s unified communications system is only about P28 million annually,” De Leon said.
The BTr’s main office is located at the Ayuntamiento de Manila building in Intramuros.
De Leon said they also found out that the backup facility was too costly to operate and maintain because it needs to run at full capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and requires security personnel to guard the property.
She likewise pointed out that the BTr has no technical capability to run the data center.
Dominguez instructed De Leon to find ways to put the project to good use and to hire a private service provider to ensure that the DR runs efficiently.
The backup facility consists of a structure that houses precision air conditioning units, a cold aisle containment system, uninterruptible power supply, an FM200 fire suppression system, access raised floor, tempered glass enclosures, acoustic ceilings, wall claddings, generator sets, variable refrigerant flow indoor units, a CCTV system, door access system that includes scanners, and temperature, humidity and water leak detection systems.
De Leon said the vendor currently operates and maintains the equipment until it is fully turned over to the BTr.
The contract amount for the facility is P49,804,900.
According to the BTr, 80 percent of the contract amount was already disbursed to the project supplier Multi-Fold Links Inc. JE
