QS

• Infrastructure projects involve constructing, improving, rehabilitating, demolishing, repairing, restoring, or maintaining various structures like roads, bridges, railways, airports, seaports, and more
• Under R.A. 9184, "infrastructure projects" are used interchangeably with the term "civil works"
• Procurement planning involves scheduling procurement activities in advance, in line with the approved budget and target implementation date
• Bidding documents provide prospective bidders with all necessary information to prepare their bids
• Bidding documents include:

  • Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB)
  • Eligibility Documents
  • Instructions to Bidders (ITB)
  • Bid Data Sheet (BDS)
  • General Conditions of Contract (GCC)
  • Special Conditions of Contract (SCC)
  • Specifications
  • Drawings
  • Bill of Quantities
  • Forms and Qualification Information
• The pre-procurement conference involves discussing technical specifications, the project budget, procurement methods, bidding documents, and budget availability
• Competitive Bidding steps:

  1. Advertisement

  2. Eligibility check/screening of prospective bidders

  3. Pre-bid conference

  4. Receipt of bids

  5. Opening and examination of bids

  6. Evaluation of bids

  7. Post-qualification

  8. Award of contract
• Posting the Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB) widely increases prospective bidders and competition
• The IAEB contains:

  • Contract name and location
  • Project background
  • Criteria statement
  • Deadline details
  • Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)
  • Source of funding
  • Eligibility documents details
  • Contract duration
  • Contact information of the Procuring Entity
  • Reservation Clause
  • Other relevant information
• Steps for issuing IAEB:

  1. BAC Secretariat prepares the draft IAEB

  2. BAC approves the IAEB during the pre-procurement conference

  3. BAC Secretariat posts and advertises the IAEB

  4. IAEB is posted at PhilGEPS
• Eligibility check is a procedure to determine if a bidder is eligible to participate in the bidding
• Eligibility check steps:

  1. BAC opens Eligibility envelopes publicly

  2. BAC reads and examines contents of Eligibility Envelopes

  3. BAC declares bidders as "eligible" or "ineligible"

  4. In case of ineligibility, reasons are stated in the Notice of Ineligibility

  5. BAC inquires if bidders intend to file a request for reconsideration
• Bidding documents must be issued after the eligibility check and be available for at least seven calendar days
• Steps for issuing bidding documents:

  1. BAC Secretariat issues bidding documents to eligible bidders

  2. BAC provides copies of bidding documents to Observers free of charge
• Pre-bid conference is a forum where officials discuss technical aspects, budget, procurement methods, and bidding documents
• A Pre-Bid Conference is the initial forum where the Procuring Entity’s representatives and eligible bidders discuss various aspects of the procurement, including the technical and financial components of the contract to be bid
• During the Pre-Bid Conference, the BAC chairperson discusses the requirements in the ITB, specifications, bid evaluation, and post-qualification evaluation of the lowest calculated bidder
• The BAC Secretariat records minutes of the Pre-Bid Conference and makes them available to all participants within three calendar days after the conference
• The contents of the Financial Proposal include bid prices in the Bill of Quantities, detailed estimates, and cash flow by the quarter and payment schedule
• Eligible bidders submit their bids, and the BAC convenes on the Bid Opening Date to receive the bids at the specified time, date, and place
• The BAC reads the total bid prices of bidders rated as "passed," and all members present initial every page of the original bid copies
• Bid evaluation is done to determine the Lowest Calculated Bidder (LCB) by establishing correct calculated prices and ranking total bid prices from lowest to highest
• The BAC conducts a detailed evaluation of all bids rated as "passed" using nondiscretionary criteria to identify the LCB
• Post-qualification is the process of verifying and validating all statements and documents submitted by the bidder with the LCB to ensure compliance with legal, financial, and technical requirements
• The BAC/TWG verifies legal, technical, and financial documents submitted by the bidder with the LCB and prepares a Post-qualification Report for review
• The BAC determines if the bidder with the LCB passes all post-qualification criteria and, if so, declares it as the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB)
• The contract is awarded to the bidder with the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid (LCRB) at its submitted or calculated bid price, whichever is lower
• The BAC Secretariat drafts the BAC Resolution recommending award, which is then approved and signed by the BAC and transmitted to the Head of the Procuring Entity for action
• In case of disapproval of the recommendation of award, the Head of the Procuring Entity must state the reason(s)
• The bidder with the LCRB/SCRB accepts the Notice of Award to proceed with the contract
• At this point, the bidders are called "Prospective Bidders"
• By the date of the implementation, the detailed engineering documents should be ready. The site, the documents for the site, deed of donation if the lot is donated or deed of sale if the lot was bought and tax declaration, plans, pre-construction estimate, scheduling, among other things.
• There are literally two envelopes that are sealed per eligible bidder. The Technical Proposal gets opened first, and if they passed the criteria set by the evaluating committee, then they open the Financial Proposal. If they don't pass the evaluation of Technical proposal, then the envelope of Financial Proposal stays sealed.
• In a pre-procurement conference, only the officials of the procuring entity attends. While in the pre-bid conference, all the officials and the eligible bidders attends.
• Bid Bulletins are issued when there are changes in estimates, plans, or even sites, that the eligible bidders must know. But you don't have to issue bid bulletins if the project is not yet advertised for procurement.
• Keep in mind that the procurement is done publicly (I think there is a live streaming of the bidding) but all the documents are always confidential and if the seal is opened, it must be acknowledged
• After the eligibility check, the bidders who passed will now be called the "eligible bidders", while those who didn't pass can file for reconsideration.
• ABC is the Approved Budget of the contract. It is tabulated data of quantity, scope of work, unit costs, direct costs, and indirect costs.
• The post-qualification process involves looking into the bidder, specifically their overall capacity to finance the project before the payments. That's why sometimes it is not good that the bidder has a lot of multi-million projects because there is a risk of bankruptcy or breach of contract that may happen due to law-related problems. Though there are a lot of reasons why a bidder may be disqualified.
• Preparing for the procurement of the infrastructure projects 1. PROCUREMENT PLANNING 2. PREPARATION OF BIDDING DOCUMENTS 3. CONDUCT OF PRE-PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE