The National Electrification Administration ordered eight electric cooperatives to explain the alleged “highly irregular” competitive selection process or bidding they conducted for an aggregated power requirement of 130 megawatts.
It said that during a consultative meeting with the ECs on Feb. 9, the agency discovered that the joint third party bids and awards committee of the eight ECs declared two failed biddings on June 14, 2022 and Dec. 9, 2022 after the bidders failed to comply with the requirements prescribed under the pertinent terms of reference.
This paved the way for ECs to resort to direct negotiation as sanctioned under the DOE Department Circular No. DC 2021-09-0030, amending DOE Department Circular No. DC2018-02-000 and NEA Memorandum No. 2019-007.
The NEA said, however, that despite the successive failure of the participating bidders to comply with the TOR, the ECs limited the negotiations only with them.
The NEA said that when it asked why the aggregation still chose to negotiate with the said bidders, it discovered that the ECs had already issued a notice of award for the implementation of the project.
It said the ECs also did not disclose the issuance of the award to the agency, which prompted NEA administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda to order a show cause order against the officers of the ECs why they should not be found administratively liable for having violated the pertinent laws, rules and regulations on the proper conduct and transparency for the procurement and awarding of the project.
The NEA said it would refer the matter to other pertinent agencies for further investigation if needed.
Almeda said fairness and transparency in the selection process for the benefit and protection of the member-consumers should prevail.
He identified the ECs as Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative Inc., Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative Inc., La Union Electric Cooperative Inc., Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative, Sorsogon I Electric Cooperative Inc., Benguet Electric Cooperative, Kalinga-Apayao Electric Cooperative Inc. and Mountain Province Electric Cooperative Inc. He did not name the bidders.
The joint CSP is intended to serve the power requirements of the ECs covering 2022 to 2025 for their respective franchise areas.