ICT Office eyes negotiated procurement

A component of the Free Wi-Fi Internet in Public Places project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is running into some hurdles.

This developed after two scheduled bids for around 850 municipalities “failed technically” in the absence of bidders.

Under the management of DOST’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Office, the free WiFi (wireless fidelity) project is worth P1.408 billion.

As a result, the DOST-ICT Office is now eyeing “negotiated procurement” to bring free broadband internet through Wi-Fi to around 850 fourth, fifth, and sixth class municipalities, Roy Espiritu, head of the Public Affairs Unit of the ICT Office, said.

“We already had two biddings, and they were a failure technically because there were no tenders for the 850 or so poor municipalities,” he told the Manila Bulletin.