Japanese firm only qualified bidder for 1st e-trike tender

Only one bidder out of five interested parties qualified to submit an offer for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) e-trike project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos told reporters that the DOE will evaluate the financial bid of Japan’s Uzushio Electric Co., Ltd., which was represented by Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines Inc.

Uzushio was the only company that passed the technical evaluation, Marcos said. Thus, only the company’s financial bid documents were opened and presented during the bidding on Thursday.

The Japanese firm’s offer for 3,000 units consisted of two parts: P364,172,000 for “related services in the Philippines” including delivery of units and $34,608,000 for “all other goods and services.”

Marcos said the firm’s bid will still be evaluated and that the price may still be adjusted. The contract may be awarded this year.

Marcos said the losing firms can still participate in future bidding. A total of 20,000 units should be procured within 2015, he said.

The four other companies that submitted proposals are China’s Mulan Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd. as represented by Star8 Philippines, Inc., Taiwan’s TECO Electric & Machinery Co. Ltd., local firm Camec JCB Corp., and the joint venture of Invenic Inc. and China’s Jiang Su Hansen Motor Co. Ltd.

The DOE-ADB program involves the procurement of a total of 100,000 units.

A bulk e-trike contract was supposed to be awarded in 2013 but the government decided to change the bid requirements since there was a need to expand the scope of beneficiaries.

The initial 3,000 units will be distributed in the National Capital Region and the Calabarzon and Mimaropa areas.

Local government units are the beneficiaries of this ADB-funded project.

The project has been riddled with delays since its much-hyped launch in 2011, when 20 e-trikes were deployed to Mandaluyong City for a pilot rollout.

In mid-2014, the target beneficiaries for the e-trikes were found to be lacking the seal of good housekeeping from the Department of Interior and Local Government required by e-trike fund administrator, Land Bank of the Philippines.

The seal of good housekeeping recognizes LGUs with good performance in governance, local legislation, development planning, resource generation and allocation, and loan repayments.

The e-trike project aims to promote sustainable transport, address the increasing carbon emissions in major cities, and reduce oil dependence of the local transport sector.