The joint venture between Switzerland-based Sicpa SA and SGS Philippines Inc. has passed its technical evaluation, thus edging closer to getting a contract meant to help the government address oil smuggling.
In an Aug. 3 announcement, Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service’s (DBM-PS) bids and awards committee chair Jaime M. Navarrete Jr. said the opening of Sicpa and SGS’s financial proposal to implement a nationwide fuel marking system will be on Aug. 17.
Navarrete earlier said the financial bid would be opened only if Sicpa-SGS’s technical proposal passed a post-qualification procedure.
The Sicpa-SGS joint venture remained the lone bidder for the marking system. Texas-based Authentix Inc. backed out and did not submit a bid.
Authentix was SGS’s partner when a similar system was implemented at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone by former Bureau of Customs Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales.
Despite Authentix’s move, the bidding process was allowed to continue. The implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act allow a single qualified proposal.
Department of Finance and BOC officials earlier said they wanted to implement the fuel marking system before yearend, as mandated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, in order to arrest oil smuggling.
The DBM-PS and the BOC had set the price ceiling for the fuel marking at P0.08 per liter over a five-year period.
The company to be chosen by the government is expected to supply and inject fuel markers in all taxable oil products, except Jet A-1, Avgas, crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas; implement and manage a fuel testing program, including fuel analysis and data management, nationwide; train and ensure technology transfer to BOC and Bureau of Internal Revenue personnel.
The company must have a track record in implementing fuel markings here or abroad, qualified personnel, and a workload relative to capacity.
The government will pay the contract cost for the first year up to P1.96 billion in case of overperformance in the actual volume of fuel marked.
For 2018, 21.9 billion liters of fuel are expected to enter the country’s 25 ports and sub-ports.
By 2022, the projected fuel volume would increase to 26.6 billion liters.