Requesting Entity: Municipal Government of Calabanga

Issues Concern: Disqualification for Failure to State the Brand Name of Offered Product

Details

Whether the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) can disqualify a bidder for failure to state the brand name of the product that he offers.

[T]o determine whether there is sufficient ground to disqualify a bidder for failure to state the brand name of the product he is offering, the Bidding Documents should clearly and specifically state such a requirement. Simply put, when the Bidding Documents requires that the bidder state the brand name of the product he is offering but fails to do so, he is rated “failed” for he has failed to comply with this specific requirement. However, if the Bidding Documents is silent on this requirement, then the bid shall only be evaluated based on its compliance with the technical specifications provided. The BAC has no basis to rate as “failed” the bidder due to his failure to state the brand name of his offered product because this is not a requirement the bidder is mandated to comply with in the Bidding Documents.

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[T]he “disclosure” of the brand name of the goods to be supplied by the bidder is inconsequential, at best it will be relevant only as a reference, if required to be divulged in the Bidding Documents, for whatever valid and lawful purpose it may serve, e.g., inter-operability with existing goods or fleet. Otherwise, the disclosure or non-disclosure by the bidder of the brand name of the goods it will supply is of no relevance because the procurement law and its associated rules proscribe the use of brand names.