PROJECT OVERVIEW:
PROJECT IMPACT:
Support increased economic growth through improved roads and bridges as well as resilience in road infrastructure development in Mindanao.
Support the country’s priorities to develop Mindanao attuned with the Government’s agenda recognized in the Philippine Government’s Ambition 2040.
Support Regional Cooperation and Integration by implementation of the ASEAN Highway (Sulu-Celebes Basin and Coral Triangle), BIMP-EAGA Priority Infrastructure Projects.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project (IGCMRSP), under ADB Loan No. 3631-PHI is in line with the strategies “Accelerating Infrastructure Development of the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP)” specifically on supporting development in Mindanao, increasing the capacity of the BIMP-EAGA road network, and improving and widening of existing roads and bridges to upgrade and expand the Philippine Road Network.
Civil Works (CW) Component involves the construction of seven (7) road subprojects with a total length of 151.98 km and One (1) bridge subproject, Guicam Bridge with a total length of 1.21 km all located in the Zamboanga Peninsula. It also includes construction of three (3) bridges with a length of 1,790.66 l.m. including approaches located in the Province of Tawi-Tawi, BARMM.
Detailed Engineering Design (DED) Component will finance detailed design drawings and bills of quantities for improvement of 300 km of national highways in Mindanao, to be improved under other projects. The Government will determine the roads for which the detailed design will be prepared. The design will incorporate features to strengthen resilience to climate change.
Institutional Capacity Development (ICD) Component will improve the institutional capacity of DPWH to make management of the transport sector more efficient and contribute to improved operations of the transport sector in Mindanao and nationwide. Strengthening of DPWH’s institutional capacity will take place in regional offices and in headquarters. Training in multi-year planning carried out exclusively in DPWH regional offices, while the new human resource database system integrating all DPWH operations will be made operational in all DPWH offices. Making the new online system for budgeting and fiscal monitoring operational and the provision of support in supervising regional planning will take place in DPWH headquarters. To ensure that the investment in the new systems is sustainable, the project will provide operational training to DPWH staff and generate corresponding training manuals for future reference of any additional staff.
CORE PROJECTS
(As of December 25, 2023)
NON-CORE PROJECT
(As of December 25, 2023)
TAWI-TAWI BRIDGE PROJECTS
(As of December 25, 2023)
1Indicative Cost
UNDER ICD PROJECTS
(As of December 25, 2023)
1Special Order No. 297, Series of 2022 (“Designation of Implementing Office Project Managers for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Loan 3631-PHI Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project (IGCMRSP) Institutional Capacity Development (ICD) Component”) dated November 25, 2022.
2ADB IGCMRSP Procurement Plan, Version 9 dated December 6, 2022.
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The following are the status of the ICD projects as of December 22, 2023:
ICD-1 Multiyear Planning. (Consulting Services using Quality- and Cost-Based Selection) This is originally intended to provide upgrading of the existing DPWH multiyear planning software into a modernized web-based platform. The DPWH resolved to add consulting services for the nationwide institutionalization of the multi-year planning processes in the DPWH offices, improvement of existing planning applications, improvement of planning data collection and management, and organizational capacity building on multiyear planning.
On June 21, 2023, the Submission 1 (Shortlisting of Consulting Firms and Request for Proposals) (Second version) was submitted to ADB. Subsequently, on June 23, 2023, ADB issued a No Objection Letter (NOL) for the Submission 1 (Second version) provided that minor comments from ADB would be incorporated into the Request for Proposals (RFP) to be issued to the only shortlisted firm, Eptisa Servicios De Ingeniera S.L. (Spain) in association with Corporate Solutions Consulting Limited (United Kingdom).
On August 1, 2023, the RFP and TOR was submitted to ADB, and the RFP was emailed to Eptisa as an invitation for the pre-proposal conference on August 17, 2023.
On August 15, 2023, Supplemental Bid Bulletin No. 1 was issued to modify the RFP amending the designated contact person or conference coordinator from Undersecretary Ador G. Canlas to Undersecretary Eric A. Ayapana and rescheduling the date of the pre-proposal conference to August 18, 2023.
The pre-proposal conference was attended by the BAC-CS, PS, IMS, and representatives from the Southeast Asia Regional Office of Eptisa. During the conference, inquiries regarding the qualification requirements for local staff, and clarifications regarding the budget and cost estimate were raised by Eptisa. It was also conveyed that any additional queries should be submitted via email to the DPWH by no later than August 23, 2023.
On August 24, 2023, Supplemental Bid Bulletin No. 2 was issued to include the Summary and Personnel Evaluation Sheets (SES/PES) in the RFP. Queries received were addressed through Bid Bulletin No. 1 issued on September 14, 2023. Concurrently, Supplemental Bid Bulletin No. 3 was also issued extending the deadline for the submission of proposals from September 21, 2023 to October 12, 2023, and extending the validity of proposals from January 19, 2024 to February 9, 2024.
On October 12, 2023, Eptisa submitted their technical and financial proposal on the same day as the deadline for the submission of proposal. Subsequently, from October 13-18, 2023, the BAC-CS Technical Working Group (TWG) together with the PS evaluated Eptisa’s technical proposal.
On October 19, 2023, PS presented the results of the evaluation to the BAC-CS. Eptisa received a passing score of 872.32 points out of a total of 1000 points. On October 27, 2023, PS, through UPMO RMC-II, submitted the Submission 2 to ADB.
On November 16-17, 2023, PS participated in the ADB Review Mission for IGCMRSP, during which discussions were held regarding loan management, its extension, and status of the projects. On November 17, 2023, ADB issued a NOL on Submission 2 with minor comments. ADB has advised proceeding with the opening and evaluation of the financial proposal of Eptisa.
On November 23, 2023, the BAC opened Eptisa’s financial proposal. On November 30, 2023, the financial proposal is for re-evaluation of PS and BAC-CS TWG because of the Consulting Staff Local Experts rates.
On December 11, 2023, the BAC discussed the issue on the re-evaluation of the Consulting Staff Local Experts rates.
On December 15, 2023, the BAC transmitted an email to the ADB regarding the clarification if negotiation on renumeration rates is allowed considering that the financial proposal of the Eptisa distorts the present renumeration rate of local Consultant.
As of December 21, 2023, the DPWH is awaiting response from ADB.
ICD-2 Fiscal Accountability. This project is for the procurement of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) financial management software that will replace the existing COA-developed eNGAS and eBudget financial systems used in the DPWH. The ERP software will eventually feed DPWH financial data to the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The ICD-2 Pre-Procurement Conference (PPC) was initially scheduled for the early weeks of December 2022. However, it was postponed due to the non-approval of the Purchase Request, Certificate of Availability of Allotment (CAA), and draft bidding documents. As for the CAA, the request was prepared by UPMO but was returned by the FS in December 2022 due to insufficiency of funds.
The Project Procurement Management Plan (PPMP) and updated TOR were approved in November 2022. In December 2022, the Itemized List of Goods, Purchase Request, Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) were approved. The CAA was approved in February 2023.
On March 17, 2023, DPWH, through the UPMO-RMC II, transmitted to ADB the ICD-2 SBD for comments and approval. On March 31, 2023, ADB provided comments on ICD-2 SBD for DPWH consideration.
On August 3, 2023, potential bidders were emailed requesting for their latest quotation on the FIMS requirements as it will be referenced to the updating of the Market Survey and ABC. On August 17, 2023, FS provided the updated number of users for the training of FIMS.
On October 5, 2023, FS finalized the number of trainees per batch, number of training days per Region, etc. for the inclusion of a nationwide rollout training in the TOR.
On October 10, 2023, Helix Software Technologies Corp. provided a quotation for the FIMS.
On November 19, 2023, IMS completed the market survey and it was forwarded to FS on November 20, 2023. In addition, IMS requested from FS the target PPC date as the PPMP will be adjusted prior to the conduct of the PPC.
On November 28, 2023, IMS with Dir. Rhalf Cawaling, and subject matter experts from FS with Ms. Maritess Oguing met with Ms. Maria Angelica Yap, Regional Manager, and Ms. Velia Ann San Pedro of DXC Technology. Software capabilities, licenses, and requirement clarifications were among the topics discussed during the meeting. Dir. Cawaling requested to have quotations from both Oracle and SAP solutions as Ms. Yap explained the advantages and disadvantages of each other.
On December 12, 2023, IMS provided DXC Technology the total database size of all eNGAS and eBudget servers nationwide for them to have an idea on the sizing of the data to be migrated.
On December 14, DXC requested SAP to provide a pricing information. Subsequently, DXC requested a short courtesy visit to DPWH to introduce the SAP Account Manager.
As of December 21, 2023, the TOR and ABC are ongoing review of FS. However, the requested courtesy visit of DXC has not materialized due to conflicting schedule.
ICD-3 Human Resource Management. This project is for the procurement of an integrated human resource information system (HRIS) to improve the management of the DPWH human resource process from onboarding to separation. The HRIS will replace the several legacy HR applications used by the DPWH such as the Personnel Information System, Regular Payroll System, Time and Attendance System, etc.
On June 1, 2023, the revised SBD was transmitted to ADB via email for their review and issuance of NOL. ADB issued the NOL on the SBD of ICD-3 on June 2, 2023 with minor comments on the Invitation for Bids (IFB).
On June 6, 2023, HRAS and IMS revised the IFB in accordance with ADB comments. Subsequently, on June 21, 2023, UPMO-RMC II forwarded the ICD-3 SBD and updated IFB to ADB. On June 23, 2023, ADB responded with another set of comments specifically aimed at ensuring the consistency of the IFB with the version to be uploaded on the ADB website.
On June 29, 2023, the IFB has been approved by the BAC and was posted in the DPWH website, PhilGEPS website, and a newspaper on June 30, 2023.
On July 12, 2023, a pre-bid conference was conducted to discuss the key items of the SBD to the potential bidders. Two (2) potential bidders, namely Cosmotech Philippines, Inc. and IL&FS Technologies Philippines, Inc. (ITPI), participated in the pre-bid conference.
On July 26, 2023, only Cosmotech submitted queries. On August 9, 2023, Bid Bulletin No. 1 and Supplemental Bulletin No. 1 were issued as response to the queries received. On August 16, 2023, no bids were received which resulted to a failure of bidding. Consequently, the BAC advised HRAS and IMS to review the TOR for rebidding upon approval of ADB.
On August 31, 2023, HRAS and IMS inquired with the potential bidders, including ITPI and Cosmotech, regarding the factors contributing to their decision not to submit bids.
On September 4, 2023, HRAS received the BAC memorandum to consider the rebidding, as well as the BAC Resolution officially declaring the failure of bidding dated August 29, 2023.
On September 8, 2023, HRAS and IMS jointly consolidated the following reasons accounting for the unsuccessful bid submissions by certain potential bidders:
Inability to meet the requirement of having two (2) contracts, each with a minimum value of USD 1,715,000 or PHP 94,325,000 using the estimated exchange rate of USD 1 = PHP 55.
Vague understanding of the qualification requirement term “magnitude and complexity similar to or greater than the HRIS” expected from project team members, restrictions on role overlapping, and the requisite number of years of experience for specific roles is high.
Some solution providers indicated that their current solutions do not align with certain HRIS technical requirements but can be developed during the implementation phase.
Several potential bidders cited difficulties in adhering to the requirements outlined in the Supplemental Bid Bulletins, owing to the constrained time frame between the issuance of these bulletins and the submission and opening of bids.
A solution provider failed to submit their bid within the stipulated time, resulting in their exclusion from the bidding process.
On September 25, 2023, the DPWH sent the letter requesting for a no-objection on the rebidding of ICD-3 to ADB through email.
On October 2, 2023, ADB responded with a suggestion to seek feedback from prospective bidders to understand the reasons for their decision not to submit bids. ADB also suggested to evaluate whether the Procurement of IT Products and Services is the suitable approach for the project, check if the requirements in the issued SBD were restrictive or unclear, and identify other conditions that may have discouraged bidders from participating.
On October 3, 2023, HRAS and IMS communicated with potential bidders seeking feedback on the reasons behind their decision not to submit bids.
On October 19, 2023, DPWH’s response to ADB’s letter was approved by Senior Undersecretary Sadain, and was forwarded to ADB by UPMO RMCII on October 25, 2023.
On November 7, 2023, ADB requested a specific plan regarding “widening” of the procurement advertisement. In addition, ADB advised to discuss this matter during the ADB Review Mission on November 16, 2023.
On November 16-17, 2023, HRAS participated in the ADB Review Mission wherein the loan management and extension, and project status were discussed. Hiet Thi Hong Tran of ADB recommended the submission of a plan to widen the advertisement and the revision of SBD to avoid failure of bidding.
On November 20, 2023, HRAS and IMS convened to discuss the advertisement plan and revisions to be made in the TOR and SBD. On November 22, 2023, IMS forwarded to HRAS the draft TOR for their review and comments.
On December 7, 2023, IMS forwarded the revised draft bidding documents for their review and comments prior to sending it to ADB. In addition, the advertisement plan requested by
ADB in connection with the ICD-3 rebidding is ongoing review and signature of Dir. Villafranca.
On December 12, 2023, HRAS provided their initial comments on the HRIS TOR.
On December 18, 2023, HRAS submitted their complete feedback on the TOR. Subsequently, IMS updated the TOR applying their comments.
As of December 21, 2023, the TOR is ongoing finalization and approval of IMS while the bidding documents are ongoing review and approval of HRAS.
