MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has clarified on Tuesday that the two shareholders of the terminated Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) service provider Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI) had been disqualified to bid for any government projects.
DOTr said BURI and its joint venture members including Busan Transportation Corporation (Busan) and Edison Development and Construction (Edison) are ineligible to participate in the bidding of government projects after the termination of BURI’s contract for the maintenance of MRT-3.
Earlier, DOTr terminated the MRT-3 contract with BURI due to poor performance and breach of contractual obligations.
“Under the Uniform Guidelines for Blacklisting of Contractors, after termination of a contract due to the fault of the contractor, the erring contractor shall be barred from participating in the bidding of all government projects,” the department said in a statement.
The DOTr’s statements came after news reports that circulated on Monday regarding the supposed qualification of shareholders of BURI — Busan and Edison — to bid for three (3) other railway projects.
As noted in various news reports, Busan and Edison recently submitted bids for railway projects such as the DOTr’s Systematic Rail Replacement Project for MRT-3, LRTA’s Maintenance Contract for LRT-2, and LRTA’s Restoration of Four Train Sets Project also for LRT-2.
However, the DOTr said the submission of a bid of these shareholders does not mean that they are qualified.
“While Busan and Edison may have submitted the legal, technical, and financial documents required under R.A. 9184 (which is evaluated on a “presence” or “absence” criteria), Busan and Edison have not been declared qualified for the projects, which is done in the Post-Qualification stage of a procurement process,” the DOTr said.
“All 3 projects are currently in Post-Qualification stage, and Busan and Edison’s disqualification from all government projects, pursuant to the Uniform Guidelines for Blacklisting of Contractors, will disqualify them from the 3 projects,” the agency added.