COA: Mandaue's purchase of four electric-cars illegal

CEBU, Philippines -  The purchase of four 14-seater electric cars worth P2.7 million by the Mandaue City government was done without a re-advertisement and re-bidding, the Commission on Audit said.

Market goers avail of these e-cars because they are not charged for the rides.

The e-cars take passengers to and from the new public market which is located at the back of the Mandaue City Public Market.

COA also said the dealer of the e-cars, named China Six Eleven Int’l Sales failed to comply with the specifications stipulated in the purchase order.

Much more, the city government also failed to impose a penalty amounting to P291 thousand for the delayed delivery of the vehicles.

In a review of documents, COA found out that the Bids and Awards committee recommended to award the purchase of the vehicles to China Six Eleven Int’l Sales after biddings for such items failed twice for lack of prospective bidders.

However, COA noted that there was no re-advertisement, which is contrary to Section 35 of RA 9184 that provides there shall be a failure of bidding if no bids are received, no bid qualifies as the lowest Calculated Responsive Bid or Highest Rated Responsive Bid or whenever the bidder with the highest rate/lowest calculated responsive bid refuses, without justifiable cause to accept the award of contract, as the case maybe.

Under any of the above instances, that contract should have been re-advertised and a re-bidding made, COA said.

 With this, COA recommends that the city implement strictly the provisions of RA 9184 on the use of the alternative methods of procurement.

The agency also found out that the supplier of the three of the four vehicles delivered does not have the same specifications that were stipulated in the purchase order.

This after COA found out that the three e-cars have only ordinary BI pipes installed in each back rest and arm rest instead of stainless steal as stated in the purchase order.

It also noted that there was a delay in the delivery of the vehicles of 105 days and the city failed to deduct the penalty from the payments to the supplier.

It was observed the purchase order was received by the supplier on May 5, 2011 with the stipulation that the “items shall be delivered within seven days from receipt thereof,” otherwise a penalty of one tenth (1/10) or one percent for every day of delay shall be automatically imposed and subject for appropriate legal actions as the LGU may undertake.

However, documents showed proof that the vehicles were delivered 105 days beyond the required delivery date.

COA calculated the penalty by 1/10 of 1 percent of P2,780,000.00 x 105 = P291,000.

With such observations, COA then recommends that the  city  requires the supplier to refund P291,000 representing the delay of 105 days, otherwise the amount shall be due from the approving officials of the transaction.

It also recommends that the city require the supplier to refund the amount equivalent to the use of ordinary BI pipes installed in the back rest and arm rest instead of stainless steel as stated in the purchase order.