Gov’t disallows participation of firms with pending cases in public biddings

Firms with pending cases against the government will no longer be allowed to participate in bidding of projects, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

In a memorandum dated June 26, Reinier Paul Yebra, Undersecretary for legal affairs and procurement at the DOTr, said the move to disallow firms with pending cases against the government is in line with Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act for a streamlined bidding process.

In order to prevent opportunities for corruption in government, Yebra said it is the responsibility of the DOTr to ensure all prospective bidders are properly screened.

As such, all prospective bidders are required to submit a certification under oath indicating that they have no pending case/s against the government.

The certification will be included in the bid data sheet of bidding documents required by the DOTr for all its projects.

“Failure of a bidder to comply with the requirement or submission of a false certification shall constitute a ground for automatic disqualification,” Yebra said.

Disqualification of prospective bidders with pending cases against the government is one of the reforms instituted by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade as part of efforts to promote good governance and transparency in bidding and procurement processes.

“Prospective bidders who want to do business with government must have a clean record, and must have a history of good dealings with the government,” Tugade said.

Earlier, the DOTr started the implementation of reforms in the procurement process of the agency.

In particular, the agency started live streaming of bidding processes of all projects last year.

Bidders seeking to work with the DOTr are required to file their bids and other correspondences via e-mail for faster, convenient and secure bidding.