City eyes revised CCTV procurement after failed bids

DUMAGUETE City has resorted to negotiate contract after two failed biddings in the lease of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras here.

The negotiated procurement is pursuant to provisions of Republic Act 9184, otherwise known as the Revised Procurement Act.

The first bidding conducted on January 4, 2018 and the second, which was conducted on May 22, 2018 both failed because no bid was received from any bidder.

After the first bidding failed, a mandatory review of the terms of reference and technical specifications of the project was conducted but a rebidding of the project also failed, prompting the city government to resort to a negotiated procurement on the ground that there has been a failure of competitive bidding for the second time.

City Legal Officer Doram Dumalagan appeared in Wednesday’s regular session to shed light on what transpired during the mandatory review.

He told the regular session that “invitations were sent to all those who participated in the first and second failed bids under a negotiated stage to get their initial offers.”

Out of the invitations, four have responded with two of them still conforming to the original specifications but are not amenable to the 10-year period because it is not financially viable for them, he said.

The costing is still the same but with a slight increase in the yearly lease.

It was the consensus of the procuring entity, the bids and awards committee, and the technical working group to reduce the term from 10 years to eight years and to come up with revised terms of reference under the same specifications.

With this, Dumalagan said it is possible that there are suppliers who might bid not just for a period of eight years but it might go up to nine years.

Funding for the CCTV project is available, with the first appropriation ordinance of P7 million dated January 21, 2017 and was approved for the lease of CCTV cameras numbering about 364 for the entire city for a period of one year.

Another resolution dated November 21, 2017 was approved, granting authority to the mayor on behalf of the city government, to procure the lease of CCTV for a period of 10 years with an approved budget of P70 million through a multi-year appropriation of P7 million.

After hearing the answers and responses of the city legal officer, the members of the city council unanimously voted to grant authority to the city mayor, on behalf of the city government, to procure the lease of CCTV for a period of eight years with an approved budget of P70 million through a multi-year appropriation of a maximum amount of P8,750,000 per year.

They also voted to realign the amount of P1.750 million from the confidential/intelligence fund of the mayor to augment the annual appropriation of P7 million for lease of CCTV and made it P8.750 million in yearly lease.

A certification was presented that the P3 million confidential/intelligence fund of the mayor is intact.

During the question and answer portion, both the majority and the minority of the city council wanted an assurance that the contract will be made in accordance with the terms and reference and technical specifications of the project.

Dumalagan said that all the things discussed during the regular session would be placed in the contract to protect the interest of the city. The said contract is open for scrutiny when it comes back to the city council, he pointed out.

In an interview, Mayor Remollo said that after the CCTV project, the next thing to happen is the possible establishment of traffic lights and likely to win the bid would be the provider, whose fiber optic cables are already put in place all over the city. (PNA)