(UPDATED – Tuesday, Dec 26, 4:00 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation (DoTr) has clarified that the Busan Transportation Corporation (Busan) and Edison Development and Construction (Edison) were disqualified as bidders for its three railway projects.
This was contrary to earlier news reports quoting PBA partylist Representative Jericho Nograles as saying that Busan and Edison were among the qualified bidders for the projects.
Busan and Edison are the firms behind the Busan Universal Rail Inc. whose services were terminated by the DoTr as maintenance provider of the Metro Rail Transit 3.
In a statement, DoTr said the disqualification was a “consequence of the termination of BURI’s contract for the maintenance of MRT-3 due to poor performance and breach of contractual obligations, which took effect last 6 November 2017.”
Under the Uniform Guidelines for Blacklisting of Contractors, after termination of a contract due to the fault of the contractor, the erring contractor shall be barred from participating in the bidding of all government projects, the DoTr said.
As noted in various news reports, Busan and Edison reportedly submitted bids for the following railway projects: DOTr’s Systematic Rail Replacement Project for MRT-3, LRTA’s Maintenance Contract for LRT-2, and LRTA’s Restoration of Four Train Sets Project also for LRT-2.
“Busan and Edison’s submission of a bid for a project does not mean that they are qualified,” the department said.
“While Busan and Edison may have submitted the legal, technical, and financial documents required under R.A. 9184 (which is evaluated on a “presence” or “absence” criteria), Busan and Edison have not been declared qualified for the projects, which is done in the Post-Qualification stage of a procurement process,” DoTr added.
It said that the three projects are currently in the post-qualification stage.
