Fifteenth Congress

Second Regular Session

House Bill No. 4973

introduced by Honorable Karlo A.B, Nograles

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill secks to provide for safety nets against arbitrary selection of
final bidders for goods, infrastructure projects and consulting services during
the preliminary examination of bids, amending for the purpose Republic Act
(RA) No. 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform
Act.”

RA 9184 has some very serious flaws and omissions which make it
difficult for the government to be cost-effective.

As proposed, the arbitrary “pass/fail” scheme to determine the presence
of the required documents during the preliminary examination of the technical
components of the bids under Section 30 is deleted. Instead, to temper any tinge
of arbitrariness, all bids are ranked from the highest to lowest after the
preliminary examination of the technical components.

The case of the lone bidder, as allowed by under Section 36, for the
procurement of goods, infrastructure projects or consulting services should be
nixed as this does not promote competitiveness. Moreover, it encourages
collusive schemes and makes it easy for crooks in government to rig bids and
maximize bribes. Worse, the combination of Section 36 and the irrelevant pass-
or-fail criteria of Section 30 makes it possible for unscrupulous government
agencies to qualify the preferred bidders and eliminate all other bidders. This
bill, thus, proposes that the minimum number of bidders be increased to at least
two.



RA 9184 would have saved the country billions of pesos each year but it has
actually made it difficult for honest government agencies to make cost-effective
Procurement decisions. If we really want good governance, we should hasten the
refinements of this procurement reform law.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is eamestly sought.



Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNo.__4973

Introduced by Honorable Karto A. B. Nograles

AN ACT
PROVIDING FOR SAFETY NETS AGAINST ARBITRARY SELECTION
OF FINAL BIDDERS FOR GOODS, INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS AND
CONSULTING SERVICES DURING THE PRELIMINARY
EXAMINATION OF BIDS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 9184, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “GOVERNMENT
PROCUREMENT REFORM ACT”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Section 30 of Republic Act No. 9184 is hereby amended
to read as follows:
“Sec. 30. Preliminary Examination of Bids. — Prior to bid
evaluation, the BAC shall examine first the technical components of
the bids [using “pass/fail” criteria] AND RANK THEM FROM
HIGHEST TO LOWEST to determine whether all required

documents are present. Only bids that are determined to contain all



the bid requirements of the technical component shall be considered

for opening and evaluation of their financial component.”

SEC. 2. Section 32 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as
follows:

“Sec. 32. Bid for the Procurement of Goods [and
Infrastructure Projects]. — For the procurement of Goods [and
Infrastructure Projects], the BAC shall evaluate the financial
component of the bids. The bids that passed the preliminary
examination shall be ranked from lowest to highest in terms of their
corresponding calculated prices. The Bid with the lowest calculated

price shall be referred to as the “Lowest Calculated Bid.”

SEC. 3. Section 33 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as
follows:
“Sec. 33, Bid Evaluation of Short Listed Bidders for
Consulting Services AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. — For the
Procurement of Consulting Services AND INFRASTRUCTURE
PROJECTS, the Bids of the short listed bidders shall be evaluated and

ranked using numerical ratings im accordance with the evaluation


criteria stated in the Bidding Documents, which shall include factors
such as, but not limited to, experience, performance, quality of
personnel, price and methodology. The Bids shall be ranked from
highest to lowest in terms of their corresponding calculated ratings
AND COST EFFECTIVENESS. The Bid with the highest calculated
ratings AND COST EFFECTIVENESS shall be the “Highest Rated
Bid.” After approval by the Head of the Procuring Entity of the
Highest Rated Bid, the BAC shall invite the bidder concemed for
negotiation and/or clarification on the following items: financial
proposal submitted by the bidder, terms of reference, scope of
services, methodology and work program, personnel to be assigned to
the job, services/facilities/data to be provided by the Procuring Entity
concemed, and provisions of the contract. When negotiations with the
first-in-rank bidder fails, the financial proposal of the second rank
bidder shall be opened for negotiations: Provided, That the amount
indicated in the financial envelope shall be made as the basis for
negotiations and the total contract amount shall not exceed the amount
indicated in the envelope and the ABC. Whenever necessary, the
same process shall be repeated until the bid is awarded to the winning

bidder.”


SEC. 4. Section 36 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as
follows:

“Sec. 36. [Single] Calculated/Rated and Responsive Bid
Submission. — [A single calculated/rated and responsive bid shall be
considered for award if it falls under any of the following
circumstances:

(a) If after advertisement, only one prospective bidder
submits a Letter of Intent and/or applies for eligibility check,
and meets the eligibility requirements or criteria, after which it
submits a bid, which is found to be responsive to the bidding
requirements;

(b) If after advertisement, more than one prospective
bidder applies for eligibility check, but only one bidder meets
the eligibility requirements or criteria, after which it submits a
bid which is found to be responsive to the bidding
requirements; or

(c) If after the eligibility check, more than one bidder
meets the eligibility requirements, but only one bidder submits
a bid, and its bid is found to be responsive to the bidding

requirements.]


AFTER ADVERTISEMENT, BIDDING SHALL

PROCEED ONLY IF AT LEAST TWO BIDDERS SUBMIT
LETTERS OF INTENT, APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY CHECK,

MEET THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND ARE
FOUND TO BE RESPONSIVE TO THE BIDDING
REQUIREMENTS.

In all instances, the Procuring Entity shall ensure that the
ABC reflects the most advantageous prevailing price for the

government.”

SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in
the Official Gazette or in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,