The Land and Transportation Office (LTO) continues its search for a new Information Technology (IT) provider to address its current problems such as the slow processing of documents and driver’s license applications, among others.
Newly appointed LTO chief Teofilo Guadiz was slated to meet with the agency’s current IT provider, Germany-based Dermalog, this week to answer the calls of driver’s license applicants and other government officials who want better IT providers who can get the job done.
In his introductory press conference last week, Guadiz also called on other eligible IT providers to participate in the possible bidding on their system automation project to improve the LTO’s services to the public.
The public also wants to find affordable driving schools to help facilitate their driver’s license applications, as some applicants recently expressed at the LTO headquarters in Quezon City.
“When it comes to the IT provider, I think it’s really time to find something new, something that can be very accurate and quick,” an applicant, who went by the name of Richard, said. “We agree with Mr. Guadiz that we deserve better than this.”
Guadiz cited the LTO’s current processing delays and the long lines in district offices, noting that driver’s license renewals usually took just two hours instead of the current five to six days.
“There’s a delay in the process, lines are getting long in district offices. So, we have to address these problems and we have to revisit the IT provider,” Guadiz said ahead of his meeting with Dermalog executives this week.
“I want to check and review the contract. I will ask them if they can deliver. If not, we would look to other IT providers,” he added.
Dermalog spokesperson lawyer Nikki De Vega has defended the company, which supports the Land Transportation Management System, the online portal of the LTO.
“The current LTMS has proven to be faster by tests conducted by the LTO comparing it to the previous system provided by Stradcom,” de Vega said of Dermalog, which has been LTO’s IT provider since 2018.
“While under the previous system, Stradcom charged the public computer fees which resulted in billions of pesos of collections for the private company — (but) under the new LTMS system, these are now free to the public,” she added.
De Vega said the current problem was due to the delays of the turnover of the legacy database from Stradcom, which forced LTO personnel to manually correct the missing information, thus prolonging the transaction process.
Meanwhile, Stradcom Chief Executive Officer Anthony Quiambao presented his firm’s case to regain the IT contract last August 4 at the LTO office without Dermalog representatives present.
Guadiz mentioned in interviews that Stradcom is welcome to join the bidding process if the current provider will not deliver as promised.
But Guadiz later denied that Stradcom, the LTO’s IT provider from 1998 to 2016, would be returning anytime soon to replace Dermalog, whose contract runs up to 2026.
“There’s no truth about it,” Guadiz told radio host Anthony Taberna in the latter’s KaTunying program.
A high-ranking LTO officer who requested anonymity believes a strict bidding process must be held to select an effective IT provider if Dermalog won’t solve its current problems.
“It’s time to open the gates for bidding and find a deserving IT provider if Dermalog will not fulfill its promise,” the officer said.