BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno insisted on Tuesday the government did not circumvent procurement rules in awarding a P2.8-billion contract to manage events scheduled for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which the Philippines will be hosting this year.
“We complied with all the steps. Only one bidder submitted the bid. This was the same bidder who won the hosting rights for the Apec,” Diokno said after local company Events Organizer Network Inc. accused the Department of Budget and Management of violating procurement rules.
“EON cannot even submit a bid so I am surprised that they cannot even comply,” Diokno told reporters in a Palace press briefing.
In a Nov. 25, 2016 letter to the Budget Department, EON complained that the agency violated procurement laws when it used bidding documents for goods and not consulting services.
The company also said the DBM favored the winning bidder when it awarded the P2.8-billion contract in a single package instead of dividing the contract into four lots.
But Diokno said EON did not qualify to bid for the project and can handle just one out of five aspects of the project and Ambassador Marciano Paynor, who is overseeing the preparations, wants a single contractor to handle it.
“EON wants to break it up into five so it can qualify. Ambassador Paynor is against it. He doesn’t want to talk to five people. He wants just one,” he added.
Diokno stressed further that about 86 percent of the bid contract would involve the lease of equipment necessary for the hosting of the event, hence the need for a single contractor.
Diokno likewise stressed EON’s accusations against DBM cannot stand since its decision to use Philippine Bid Documents (PBDs) were supported by the Non-Policy Matter Opinion No. 180-2015 issued by the Government Procurement Policy Board.
The government has already allotted more than P15.5 billion this year to cover expenses for its hosting of the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year.
Although the regional bloc was founded in 1967, it did not hold annual summits until 1976. It will only be the third time the country will be hosting the regional meet, after it was held in Manila in 1987 under President Cory Aquino and in Cebu in 2007 under President Gloria Arroyo.
The bloc’s chairmanship rotates annually, in alphabetical order of the names of 10 member-states.
The commemorative launching of the Philippine chairmanship of Asean will be held Jan. 15 at Davao City, with two summits: the 30th Asean Summit will be held April in Mactan, Cebu and another one—the 31st Asean Summit—will be held November at Clark Freeport in Pampanga.