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  5. RULE IX

RULE IX

Posted: 06 April 2017

BID EVALUATION

Section 30. Preliminary Examination of Bids

30.1. The BAC shall open the first bid envelopes in public to determine each bidder's compliance with the documents required to be submitted for eligibility and for the technical requirements, as prescribed in this IRR. For this purpose, the BAC shall check the submitted documents of each bidder against a checklist of required documents to ascertain if they are all present, using a non-discretionary "pass/fail" criterion, as stated in the Instructions to Bidders. If a bidder submits the required document, it shall be rated "passed" for that particular requirement. In this regard, bids that fail to include any requirement or are incomplete or patently insufficient shall be considered as "failed." Otherwise, the BAC shall rate the said first bid envelope as "passed."

30.2. Immediately after determining compliance with the requirements in the first envelope, the BAC shall forthwith open the second bid envelope of each remaining eligible bidder whose first bid envelope was rated "passed." The second envelope of each complying bidder shall be opened within the same day, except as provided under Section 33 of this IRR. In case any of the requirements in the second envelope of a particular bid is missing, incomplete or patently insufficient, and/or if the submitted total bid price exceeds the ABC, the BAC shall rate the bid concerned as "failed." Only bids that are determined to contain all the bid requirements for both components shall be rated "passed" and shall immediately be considered for evaluation and comparison.

30.3. For the procurement of Goods where, due to the nature of the requirements of the project, the required technical specifications/requirements of the contract cannot be precisely defined in advance of bidding, or where the problem of technically unequal bids is likely to occur, a two (2)-stage bidding procedure may be employed. In these cases, the Procuring Entity concerned shall prepare the Bidding Documents, including the technical specification in the form of performance criteria only. Under this procedure, prospective bidders shall be requested at the first stage to submit their respective eligibility requirements if needed, and initial technical proposals only (no price tenders). The concerned BAC shall then evaluate the technical merits of the proposals received from eligible bidders vis-à-vis the required performance standards. A meeting/discussion shall then be held by the BAC with those eligible bidders whose technical tenders meet the minimum required standards stipulated in the Bidding Documents for purposes of drawing up the final revised technical specifications/requirements of the contract. Once the final revised technical specifications are completed and duly approved by the concerned BAC, copies of the same shall be issued to all the bidders identified in the first stage who shall then be required to submit their revised technical tenders, including their price proposals in two (2) separate sealed envelopes in accordance with this IRR, at a specified deadline, after which time no more bids shall be received. The concerned BAC shall then proceed in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this IRR.

30.4. For the procurement of Consulting Services, the detailed implementation of the procedure specified in this Section shall be as provided in Section 33 of this IRR.

Section 31. Ceiling for Bid Prices

31.1. The ABC shall be the upper limit or ceiling for acceptable bid prices. If a bid price, as evaluated and calculated in accordance with this IRR, is higher than the ABC, the bidder submitting the same shall be automatically disqualified. There shall be no lower limit or floor on the amount of the award.

31.2. For Foreign-funded Procurement, the ABC shall be applied as the ceiling: Provided, That the following conditions are met:

  1. Bidding Documents are obtainable free of charge on a freely accessible website. If payment of Bidding Documents is required by the Procuring Entity, payment could be made upon the submission of bids.
  2. The Procuring Entity has procedures in place to ensure that the ABC is based on recent estimates made by the engineer or the responsible unit of the Procuring Entity and that the estimates are based on adequate detailed engineering (in the case of Infrastructure Projects) and reflect the quality, supervision and risk and inflationary factors, as well as prevailing market prices, associated with the types of Goods or Infrastructure Projects to be procured.
  3. The Procuring Entity has trained cost estimators on estimating prices and analyzing bid variances. In the case of Infrastructure Projects, the Procuring Entity must also have trained quantity surveyors.
  4. The Procuring Entity has established a system to monitor and report bid prices relative to ABC and engineer's/Procuring Entity's estimate.
  5. The Procuring Entity has established a monitoring and evaluation system for contract implementation to provide a feedback on actual total costs of Goods and Infrastructure Projects.

However, the GoP and the foreign government/foreign or international financing institution may agree to waive the foregoing conditions.

Section 32. Bid Evaluation for the Procurement of Goods and Infrastructure Projects

32.1. Members of the BAC, its staff and personnel, Secretariat and TWG, as well as Observers, are prohibited from making or accepting any communication with any bidder regarding the evaluation of their bids until the issuance of the Notice of Award. However, the BAC, through its Secretariat, may ask in writing the bidder for a clarification of its bid. All responses to requests for clarification shall be in writing.

32.2. For the procurement of Goods and Infrastructure Projects, the BAC shall evaluate the financial component of the bids to determine the Lowest Calculated Bid using the following steps:

32.2.1. The BAC shall immediately conduct a detailed evaluation of all bids using non-discretionary criteria in considering the following:

  1. Completeness of the bid. Unless the Instructions to Bidders specifically allow partial bids, bids not addressing or providing all of the required items in the Bidding Documents including, where applicable, bill of quantities, shall be considered non-responsive and, thus, automatically disqualified. In this regard, where a required item is provided, but no price is indicated, the same shall be considered as non-responsive, but specifying a zero (0) or a dash (-) for the said item would mean that it is being offered for free to the Government, except those required by law or regulations to be provided for; and
  2. Arithmetical corrections. Consider computational errors and omissions to enable proper comparison of all eligible bids. It may also consider bid modifications if expressly allowed in the Bidding Documents. Any adjustment shall be calculated in monetary terms to determine the calculated prices.

32.2.2. The BAC shall evaluate all bids on an equal footing to ensure fair and competitive bid comparison. For this purpose, all bidders shall be required to include the cost of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes, and other fiscal levies and duties which shall be itemized in the bid form and reflected in the detailed estimates. Such bids, including said taxes, shall be the basis for bid evaluation and comparison.

32.2.3. In case of discrepancies between: (a) bid prices in figures and in words, the latter shall prevail; (b) total price per item and unit price for the item as extended or multiplied by the quantity of that item, the latter shall prevail; (c) stated total price and the actual sum of prices of component items, the latter shall prevail; (d) unit cost in the detailed estimate and unit cost in the bill of quantities, the latter shall prevail.

32.2.4. Bids shall then be ranked in the ascending order of their total calculated bid prices, as evaluated and corrected for computational errors, and other bid modifications, to identify the Lowest Calculated Bid. Total calculated bid prices, as evaluated and corrected for computational errors, and other bid modifications, which exceed the ABC shall be disqualified.

32.3. After all bids have been received, opened, examined, evaluated, and ranked, the BAC shall prepare the corresponding Abstract of Bids. All members of the BAC shall sign the Abstract of Bids and attach thereto all the bids with their corresponding bid securities and the minutes or proceedings of the bidding. The Abstract of Bids shall contain the following:

  1. Name of the contract and its location, if applicable;
  2. Time, date and place of bid opening; and
  3. Names of bidders and their corresponding calculated bid prices arranged from lowest to highest, the amount of bid security and the name of the issuing entity.

32.4. The entire evaluation process for the procurement of Goods and Infrastructure Projects shall be completed within seven (7) calendar days from the deadline for receipt of proposals.

Section 33. Bid Evaluation of Short Listed Bidders for Consulting Services

33.1. From submission and receipt of bids until the approval by the HoPE of the ranking of short listed bidders, those that have submitted their bids are prohibited from making any communication with any BAC member, including its staff and personnel, as well as its Secretariat and TWG, regarding matters connected to their bids. However, the BAC, through its Secretariat, may ask in writing the bidder for a clarification of its bid. All responses to requests for clarification shall be in writing.

33.2. The purpose of bid evaluation is to determine the Highest Rated Bid using the following steps:

33.2.1. The BAC shall conduct a detailed evaluation of bids using either of the following evaluation procedures as specified in the Bidding Documents:

  1. Quality-Based Evaluation Procedure
    1. A two-stage procedure shall be adopted whereby each consultant shall be required to submit his technical and financial proposals simultaneously in separate sealed envelopes.
    2. After receipt of bids, the technical proposals shall first be opened and evaluated, in accordance with Section 33.2.2 of this IRR. The BAC shall rank the consultants in descending order based on the numerical ratings of their technical proposals and identify the Highest Rated Bid: Provided, however, That the Highest Rated Bid shall pass the minimum score indicated in the Bidding Documents.
    3. The HoPE shall approve or disapprove the recommendations of the BAC within two (2) calendar days after receipt of the results of the evaluation from the BAC.
    4. After approval by the HoPE of the Highest Rated Bid, its financial proposal shall then be opened. The BAC shall, within three (3) calendar days, notify and invite the consultant with the Highest Rated Bid for the opening of financial proposal for the purpose of conducting negotiations with the said consultant. In the letter of notification, the BAC shall inform the consultant of the issues in the technical proposal the BAC may wish to clarify during negotiations.
    5. Negotiations shall be in accordance with Section 33.2.5 of this IRR: Provided, That the amount indicated in the financial envelope shall be made as the basis for negotiations and the total contract amount shall not exceed the amount indicated in the envelope and the ABC as stated in the Bidding Documents.
  2. Quality-Cost Based Evaluation Procedure
    1. The technical proposal together with the financial proposal shall be considered in the evaluation of consultants. The technical proposals shall be evaluated first using the criteria in Section 33.2.2 of this IRR. The financial proposals of the consultants who meet the minimum technical score shall then be opened.
    2. The financial and technical proposals shall be given corresponding weights with the financial proposal given a minimum weight of fifteen percent (15%) up to a maximum of forty percent (40%). The weight of the technical criteria shall be adjusted accordingly such that their total weight in percent together with the weight given to the financial proposal shall add to one hundred percent (100%). The exact weights shall be approved by the HoPE upon the recommendation of the BAC and indicated in the Bidding Documents. The BAC shall rank the consultants in descending order based on the combined numerical ratings of their technical and financial proposals and identify the Highest Rated Bid.
    3. The HoPE shall approve or disapprove the recommendations of the BAC within two (2) calendar days after receipt of the results of the evaluation from the BAC.
    4. After approval by the HoPE of the Highest Rated Bid, the BAC shall, within three (3) calendar days, notify and invite the consultant with the Highest Rated Bid for negotiation in accordance with Section 33.2.5 of this IRR, except for the financial proposal under item (e) thereof.

33.2.2. The technical proposals of consultants shall be evaluated based on the following criteria and using the corresponding numerical weights indicated in the Bidding Documents:

  1. Quality of personnel to be assigned to the project which covers suitability of key staff to perform the duties of the particular assignments and general qualifications and competence including education and training of the key staff;
  2. Experience and capability of the consultant which include records of previous engagement and quality of performance in similar and in other projects; relationship with previous and current clients; and, overall work commitments, geographical distribution of current/impending projects and attention to be given by the consultant. The experience of the consultant to the project shall consider both the overall experiences of the firm and the individual experiences of the principal and key staff including the times when employed by other consultants; and
  3. Plan of approach and methodology with emphasis on the clarity, feasibility, innovativeness and comprehensiveness of the plan approach, and the quality of interpretation of project problems, risks, and suggested solutions.

For complex or unique undertakings, such as those involving new concepts/technology or financial advisory services, participating short listed consultants may be required, at the option of the agency concerned, to make an oral presentation to be presented by each consultant, or its nominated Project Manager or head, in case of firms, within fifteen (15) calendar days after the deadline for submission of technical proposals.

33.2.3. In order to eliminate bias in evaluating the technical proposals, it is recommended that the highest and lowest scores for each consultant for each criterion shall not be considered in determining the average scores of the consultants, except when the evaluation is conducted in a collegial manner.

33.2.4. All participating short listed consultants shall be furnished the results (ranking and total scores only) of the evaluation after the approval by the HoPE of the ranking. Said results shall also be posted in the PhilGEPS and the website of the Procuring Entity, whenever available, for a period of not less than seven (7) calendar days.

33.2.5. Negotiations shall cover the following:

  1. Discussion and clarification of the terms of reference and scope of services;
  2. Discussion and finalization of the methodology and work program proposed by the consultant;
  3. Consideration of appropriateness of qualifications and pertinent compensation, number of man-months and the personnel to be assigned to the job, taking note of over-qualified personnel, to be commensurate with the compensation of personnel with the appropriate qualifications, number of man-months and schedule of activities (manning schedule);
  4. Discussion on the services, facilities and data, if any, to be provided by Procuring Entity concerned;
  5. Discussion on the financial proposal submitted by the consultant; and
  6. Provisions of the contract.

Except for meritorious reasons, negotiations with any one consultant shall be completed within ten (10) calendar days.

33.2.6. Total calculated bid prices, as evaluated and corrected for minor arithmetical corrections, such as computational errors, which exceed the ABC shall not be considered.

33.3. There should be no replacement of key personnel before the awarding of contract, except for justifiable reason as may be determined by the BAC, such as, illness, death, or resignation provided it is duly supported by relevant certificates, or any delay caused by the Procuring Entity. The BAC shall immediately consider negotiation with the next ranked consultant if unjustifiable replacement of personnel by the first ranked firm is made. Once the contract has been awarded, no replacement shall be allowed by the HoPE until after fifty percent (50%) of the personnel's man-months have been served, except for justifiable reasons, subject to appropriate sanctions as prescribed in the PBDs.

33.4. The entire evaluation process, including the submission of the results thereof to the HoPE for approval, shall be completed in not more than twenty-one (21) calendar days after the deadline for receipt of proposals. The proposal with the highest score shall be identified as the Highest Rated Bid.


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