Requesting Entity: University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila)

Issues Concern: Brand Names; Small Value Procurement

Details

The propriety of specifying brand names or of equivalent standard/quality in the Bill of Quantities for infrastructure project.

Section 18 of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9184 and its revised Implementing Rules and Regulations imposes an absolute prohibition on reference to brand names. As discussed in NPM No. 104-2004, the prohibition applies to procurement of goods and not in procurement of infrastructure projects.

The effect of having a sole bidder for small value procurement.

Under Section 3(c) of the Guidelines for Shopping and Small Value Procurement, the Request for Quotation (RFQ) shall be sent to at least three (3) suppliers, contractors, or consultants of known qualification. However, unlike in Shopping under Section 52.1(b) of the IRR, in Small Value Procurement (SVP), the procuring entity is required to draw up a list of at least three (3) suppliers of known qualifications from whom the quotations are obtained ; thus, it will suffice to request quotations from three (3) suppliers under SVP, but it is not required to actually wait and receive three (3) quotations in order to proceed with the bid evaluation . Hence, the receipt of a single price quotation for SVP from any of the suppliers in the list can be considered for award of contract.