The Commission on Audit has called the attention of the National Housing Authority for the failure of its contractor to build homes for the victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” at its target date of completion.
In an audit report, state auditors said the NHA through its contractor was not able to deliver the project completion of 10 project sites worth P852.727 million, affecting the relocation of the typhoon victims under the ‘‘Yolanda’’ permanent housing program.
They blamed the limited manpower and equipment of the contractor whose identity was not mentioned in the audit report for its failure to comply with the target completion date.
They warned the contractor could face termination of the contract.
“Thus, the developer incurred negative slippages [delays] ranging from 15 to 91 percent which shall be the grounds for termination of the contract,” the report read.
CoA cited Annex A of the Government Procurement Policy Board Resolution No. 018-2004 stipulating a contract can be terminated if an ongoing project would experience a delay of 15 percent from its target.
“The said lists of manpower and equipment were not sufficient to undertake the 10 projects awarded to only one contractor for the construction of 2,559 housing units under the Yolanda permanent housing program,” it said.
Under the terms of reference (ToR), a contractor must possess the sufficient experience and major construction equipment before it could be allowed to take part in the bidding process.
Based on NHA’s Region 8 office in Leyte’s Tacloban City, site memorandum reports cited slow progress, minimal activities, few manpower and equipment on site.
The regional office defended itself, saying it called the attention of the contractor, to no avail.
CoA said the NHA should have demanded liquidation damages against the contractor for the delay in the project completion.
NHA, for its part, admitted its failure to closely monitor the contractor’s capacity, and vowed to comply with the Government Procurement Reform Act or Republic Act 9184 in the implementation of the Yolanda shelter program “until the last house is built.”
“The NHA has issued deadlines for the completion of all the existing Yolanda projects and placed a completion date of December 2020 of all remaining Yolanda projects,” the commission said.
In another development, the state auditors also called the attention of another contractor for a split contract of a P654.594 million worth of housing project in Eastern Samar’s Balangiga, Hernani and Quinapondan into eight contracts.
Three of contracts were split to “accommodate” the contractor given its limited manpower and equipment despite the contractor could only implement projects worth P100 million based on its
Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board license.
The Balangiga project reached P133.294 million; the Hernani project, P286.6 million, and the Quinapondan project, P234.7 million.
The CoA called on NHA to go after the contractor and agency officials for violation of RA 9184 for the split contract.