Requesting Entity: Supreme Court of the Philippines

Issues Concern: Conduct of Clarificatory Meeting with the Bidders

Details

Whether the conduct of a clarificatory meeting with the bidders is proper and legal.

[W]hile a clarificatory meeting is not considered part of the standardized bidding procedures for the procurement of consulting services, a PE, who wishes to conduct such clarificatory meeting before eligibility checking, shall ensure that all interested bidders are properly notified and given equal opportunity to participate; the mandatory processes and procedures, including the timelines under RA 9184 and its IRR are not disregarded; and, what has been discussed during the clarificatory meeting shall be binding to both the procuring entity and the bidders, and must be fully recorded through the minutes of the meeting, and made available to the bidders. To address transparency, the procuring entity shall also issue a bid bulletin, containing the details as to the date, time and place of the clarificatory meeting, which must be posted in the PhilGEPS and in the website of the procuring entity.