BIZ BUZZ: AllCard fighting uphill battle

Is someone in the Department of Transportation (DOTr) making it difficult for at least one lowest bidder to win a lucrative contract?

That seems to be the situation with AllCard Inc. which, we’re told, submitted the lowest calculated bid for preprinted driver’s license cards.

According to our source, someone in the DOTr is leaning toward a rival bidder which supposedly entered the bidding with a proposed cost of P42 per driver’s license card as opposed to AllCard’s P33.88 apiece.

Biz Buzz learned that, last month, AllCard received a so-called Notice of Lowest Calculated Bid from the DOTr saying: “Based on the detailed evaluation conducted by the centralized bids and awards committee through the technical working group, it was determined that you have submitted the lowest calculated bid for the project.”

But lo and behold. Two weeks later, AllCard received another letter saying that it had been disqualified for incurring delays in another project, this time with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

AllCard had, in fact, informed DOTr earlier of that alleged BSP project delay, saying it was disputing BSP’s findings. The supposed delay for BSP’s ID project was caused by a shortage of raw materials from another supplier which the central bank had chosen.

Around this time, a flurry of news items were suddenly published alleging problems with the AllCard bid.

So now the AllCard guys are wondering: Are they being squeezed on a minor technical issue just because someone at DOTr doesn’t like them? Who is in the driver’s seat for this contentious bidding? Will the project be rebid under fairer circumstances? Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

From water to tollways

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) chair Manuel Pangilinan has named Rogelio “Babes” Singson as the new CEO and president of the tollway company following the retirement of Rodrigo Franco.

Singson is now tasked to “continue and further amplify the group of companies’ customer-centric approach in serving the customers of its six expressways in the Philippines and manage its businesses in the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region,” MPTC said in a statement on Wednesday.

Singson previously served as the president and CEO of Metro Pacific Water Investments Corp. He was also part of other MVP Group companies such as Maynilad, Light Rail Manila Corp. and Meralco Powergen Corp.

The new MPTC chief was also the Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary from 2010 to 2016.

Franco, before retiring, worked for over 20 years in MPTC. “Under his leadership, the company experienced remarkable growth in terms of kilometers, vehicle entries and revenues in both local and international business scenes,” the company said.

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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