DavOr  State U officials suspended for bid anomalies 

MANILA, Philippines (April 4) –A State University President and five other officials were orded suspended for six months over bidding anomaly.

The Office of the Ombudsman found Jonathan Bayogan, presiden of the Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology (DOSCST) together with Airma Ladera (Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee), Vivian Labasano (OIC-Director for Administrative Services) and Erlinda Patosa (BAC member) administratively liable for failing to comply with the Government Procurement Reform Act (Republic Act No. 9184) for a project undertaken in 2006.

After the investigation by the investigators of OMB-Mindanao, the officials were found guilty of Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service  resulting to their  six months without pay.

The investigators found that in March 2006, the DOSCST procured supplies and equipment for its Funda Laboratory without public bidding without any Approved Budget for the Contract.

Procurement documents showed that respondents obtained quotations from three suppliers and opened their bids.  However, after the opening of quotations, respondents allowed another bidder, Multilab, to submit its offer and eventually awarded the project to the latter thru the alternative method of Shopping.

A document trail  showed quotations the offers ranged from P225,000.00 to P300,000.00—budgets which are beyond the procurement thresholds prevailing at that time.  Applicable procurement regulations in 2006 require that for projects with ABCs exceeding P250,000.00, a procuring entity must conduct competitive bidding.

In deciding the issue, the OMB-Mindanao states “Without conducting public bidding, the government was denied of other reasonable prices and quality goods from other suppliers. In fact, the defibrillator supplied by Multilab was defective.”

The Office of the Ombudsman directed the Regional Director XI of the Commission on Higher Education to implement the suspension order.