Duterte: Lowest bid means low quality, corruption
The lowest bid often means the lowest quality.
President Duterte is not in favour of tapping contractors who would offer the “lowest bid,” noting how many multimillion-peso projects suffer from low quality due to corruption.
“In the Philippines, I hope it will not be repeated again during my time because I will not allow it,” he said. In a meeting with The
STAR editors and reporters on Wednesday, a day after he visited the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Medical Center along V. Luna Road in Quezon City, the President promised to allocate P500 million for a state-of-the art building for the hospital.
“I’d like to talk to the ombudsman. I am not a believer in lowest bidder. That’s where corruption is. I would rather go for the quality of the product. Lowest bid would mean lowest quality,” Duterte said.
During the elections, Duterte cited how a P100-million project would be reduced to only P50 million or P60 million, with the rest of the money going to the pockets of congressmen and other local officials in bribes.
He also slammed the “stupid” need to get clearances from mayors and barangay captains for projects funded by the national government.
In his speech at the AFP hospital on Tuesday, Duterte called on the Commission on Audit to go easy on the lowest bid policy, although the provision is covered under the country’s procurement laws known as the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003.
The President reiterated that he would not allow the procurement of armaments from China because they are “low quality.”
He also criticized the purchase of substandard police patrol vehicles during the past administration.
The Government Procurement Reform Act is supposed to ensure greater transparency in the government’s procurement process to plug loopholes for corruption.
It mandates that all government procurement be done through competitive bidding, with government contracts awarded to the qualified lowest bidder, except when seen as not favorable to the government. In such cases, the law allows other modes of procurement.