Requesting Entity: Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA)

Issues Concern: Submission of Request for Reconsideration During Bid Evaluation; Effect of Non-Posting of the Bid Bulletin in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS)

Details

Whether the MIAA Board should grant a request for reconsideration on its decision approving the recommendation of the MIAA Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to declare a failure of bidding on account of the MIAA BAC’s failure to follow the requirement to post the Supplemental/Bid Bulletin in the respective website of the procuring entity and the PhilGEPS.

[N]either the GPPB nor its Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) has the power to decide for and on behalf of a government agency in relation to its procurement activity. As previously opined, “the GPPB may only render contemporaneous construction of the provisions of the law pursuant to its quasi-legislative fiat, and issue rules and regulations pursuant to its rule-making power.” Thus, the GPPB and the GPPB-TSO cannot dictate to the procuring entity how to decide or resolve issues relative to its procurement activities.

Whether the filing of a request for reconsideration in accordance with Section 55 of the IRR of RA 9184 during the “no contact period” should be considered excluded from the coverage of the prohibition under Section 32.1 of the same IRR.

Requests for reconsideration filed in accordance with Section 55 of the IRR of RA 9184 may be considered excluded from the coverage of the prohibition under Section 32.1 of the IRR in order to give effect to the administrative recourse available to a bidder who feels aggrieved by a decision. To opine otherwise may prevent a bidder from exercising its right to question decisions of the BAC at any stage of the process, particularly, when a request for reconsideration may only be filed timely if submitted within the period covered by the “no contact” rule. The availability of this avenue is material in ensuring that the whole process is beyond question and that the actions and decisions of the procuring entity were done in accordance with the provisions of RA 9184 and its IRR.