“At last!” President Arroyo’s sigh of relief was very audible, according to Bohol Gov. Erico when he gave her a copy of the invitation to apply for eligibility to bid for the Panglao Bohol Airport Development Project (PBIADP) Phase 1 Construction project for publication in a national newspaper.

Aumentado, who accompanied a trade mission from Jiangxi, China led by Vice Gov. Hong Le He on a courtesy call on the President in Malacañang quoted her as saying that with the publication of the bid now ready, the long wait is over.

The governor said he had expected the notice to have come out last Friday. It was published on Saturday, instead, in the National Classified ads of another local newspaper.

In a text message to Aumentado, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi explained that the notice merely failed to beat the publication deadline for Friday.

It was also published in the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) of the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Procurement Service.

PhilGEPS is the central portal of all public procurement activities providing government agencies and suppliers an open, transparent and competitive environment.

MIAA Assistant General Manager Roberto Uy who chairs the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) had given Aumentado the President’s copy of the bid invitation.

The Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) stands at P1.52 billion.
As general requirements, prospective bidders need to have facilities for the engineer and employer; site office, accommodations, laboratory, engineer’s assistants; project vehicles, including a minimum of five four-wheel drives, one sedan, one minibus, and five motorcycles, plus survey equipment.

The civil works involve clearing and grubbing of 200 hectares of land; excavation of one million cubic meters (cu. m.); embankment of 900,000 cu. m.; and construction of 14 kilometers of drainage system.

The contract gives the winning bidder 29 calendar months to execute the work and 12 calendar months as defect liability period.

Bidding will be open to qualified local and foreign interested parties. Interested bidders may obtain further information and inspect the bidding documents at the BAC Secretariat, 4th floor, MIAA Administration Building, MIA Road, Pasay City, during regular office hours.

It may also be downloaded from the PhilGEPS and MIAA websites, provided the contractors pay the non-refundable fee for the bidding documents not later than the submission of their bids.

Bid documents will be issued from December 3 until January 29, during regular office hours. The pre-bid conference will be on December 14 at 4 p.m. at the MIAA Audio Visual Room while submission of the bids, including eligibility requirements, will be only until 3:30 p.m. on January 25 at the BAC Secretariat Office.

Opening of the bids will be at 4 p.m. on January 25.