Requesting Entity: City Government of Malolos (Malolos City)

Issues Concern: Period of Submission of Bids; Contents of the Invitation to Bid

Details

1. Whether the Procuring Entity is required to give prospective bidders sixty-five (65) calendar days to submit their bids.

The procuring entity may adopt a shorter period than that provided in Section 25.4 of the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. (RA) 9184 for the deadline of submission and receipt of bids. Thus, it is not necessary for Malolos City to adopt the maximum period of sixty-five (65) calendar days for its Project.

In line with this, please note that Annex “C” of the IRR of RA 9184 provides the latest allowable time and the earliest possible time for each stage of the procurement process. Based on the table for the earliest possible time in Annex “C”, and considering the details of the Project vis-à-vis the relevant provisions of the IRR, the earliest possible time within which the submission and receipt of bids for an infrastructure project that is above Fifty Million Pesos can be conducted is twenty (20) calendar days from the last day of advertisement/posting of the IB. This is under the presumption that the pre-bid conference is conducted the next day after the last day of advertisement/posting of the IB and the procuring entity adopted the minimum period between the pre-bid conference and the submission and receipt of bids. 2. Whether the Invitation to Bid (IB) of Malolos City complies with the requirement that source of funding should be specified, and what is the effect in case of failure to comply with the said requirement.

Firstly, the Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Office (GPBB-TSO)does not have the mandate to validate compliance with the mandatory forms contained in the Philippine Bidding Documents (PBDs). As provided in the template for the IB in the PBDs for the Procurement of Infrastructure Projects, the source of funding and the year to be indicated shall be the budget for the contract approved by the respective Sanggunian of the local government unit. The information required in the IB should be clear and adequate for the prospective bidder to understand and identify in accordance with the guide notes provided in the PBDs, failure to comply with which may affect the validity of the process.