Requesting Entity: Jodaar Cottage Industries (JCI)

Issues Concern: Imposition of Additional Eligibility Requirement in the Invitation to Bid

Details

Clarification on the legality, extent, and applicability of providing in the Invitation to Bid (IB) that a bidder should not have been previously penalized by the procuring entity in relation to its bids or contracts therewith.

[P]rocuring entities are proscribed from requiring additional eligibility requirements because the list of minimum eligibility requirements has been streamlined/simplified such that only those requirements enumerated in Sections 23.1, 24.1, and 25.1 of the IRR of RA 9184 are necessary for purposes of determining a bidder’s eligibility.

In this regard, we are of the view that the contested provision runs counter to RA 9184 and its IRR inasmuch as it imposes an additional eligibility requirement; and to the PBDs for the Procurement of Goods, inasmuch as it does not conform to the standard form of the IB.