DoTC opts to scrap Stradcom contract

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) has decided to replace Stradcom Corp. as the information technology (IT) systems provider of the Land Transportation Office once the company’s contract ends next year.

Recently, the controversial firm expressed its wish to renew its contract with the government—a right it enjoys under its 13-year-old concession.

Transport Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II conceded that Stradcom had the right to ask for a renewal of its contract, but “the decision solely and exclusively belongs to the department.”

Roxas said Stradcom, despite being embroiled in several controversies such as the scrapped radio frequency identification tags for vehicles, had complied with the provisions in its deal.

However, getting a new supplier would give the government an opportunity to tap better technologies that may prove to be cheaper for the public, he explained.

“We are announcing to the IT community that they should prepare for the bidding, which will be open and transparent,” Roxas said Monday in a briefing.

“Whoever wins the contract [must] put the system in place three to six months before the expiry of Stradcom’s own contract,” Roxas said, explaining that this would ensure a painless transition to the new system from the old.

The auction may take place in one or two months, he added.

Also, the DoTC would want to correct certain limitations in Stradcom’s old contract, signed in the late 1990s, Roxas said.

Under the previous contract, Stradcom will remain the owner of the computer systems, despite steep fees paid by consumers to use these facilities.

Over a span of its 10-year contract, which had been extended for three more years, Stradcom earned P10 billion in gross revenue, Roxas said.

Stradcom spokesperson Margaux Salcedo said its lawyers were “studying the corporation’s options.”