Requesting Entity: Municipality of Mulanay

Issues Concern: Bidder presented BIR Receipt instead of Tax Clearance

Details

Whether it is valid to issue a Notice of Award considering that the bidder only presented BIR Receipt instead of Tax Clearance during the eligibility check.

EO 398 specifically requires the submission of Tax Clearance issued by the BIR which should be in the form defined in RR 3-2005 . Hence, the submission of other documents, in your case the submission of the BIR Official Receipt in lieu of the Tax Clearance requirement, cannot be considered in compliance with Sections 23.1(a)(iii) and 24.1(a)(iii) of the IRR of RA 9184. As we have previously opined, since the Tax Clearance is now included as part of the Class “A” legal eligibility documents, its non-submission is a ground for ineligibility, and the eventual disqualification of the bidder. Thus, the winning bidder who presented the photocopy of the Official Receipt from the BIR during the submission of bids, as well as the original Official Receipt during the Post-Qualification may be disqualified for failure to submit the original Tax Clearance as defined under EO 398.