THE Commission on Audit has flagged the P553.91 million procurement of laptops by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in 2021 after auditors found the technical specifications were not complied with.
Specifically, the audit team found that the Acer Travelmate laptops delivered by winning contractor-supplier Columbia Technologies, Inc. were 34 grams over the agency specification that the maximum weight of the item must be no more than 1.4 kilograms, including the battery.
According to the Annual Procurement Plan of the Procurement Service, the procurement was for 7,913 “Laptops for Executive Users” with an appropriation of P70,000 per unit or a total of P553.91 million.
Pre-procurement conference with potential suppliers was conducted on March 29, 2021 wherein a representative of Accel Prime requested that the weight limit be raised to 1.6 kilograms while Columbia’s representative asked that other colors be allowed, including silver, grey, black, and dark blue.
“Columbia did not make any manifestation as to whether the maximum weight can be amended,” the audit team pointed out.
The supplier did ask to reconsider the weight at 1.45 but this was during the earlier market survey since the model it was offering weighed over the one specified by PS.
During the opening of bids on June 28, 2021, Columbia Technologies submitted the lowest unit price at P45,000 each or a total price of P356.085 million.
Coming in second was Advance Solutions Inc. with an offer of P67,898 per unit and P537.277 million total contract price and a joint venture of Stone of Hope Builders and Development Corp. and Contactpoint, Inc. with a bid of P69,500 per unit for an aggregate cost of P549.953 million.
The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) conducted the post-qualification on the legal and financial proposal of Columbia while the Technical Working Group (TWG) studied the technical aspects of the proposal.
The TWG submitted a finding that its evaluation of the demo unit showed the lowest bidder complied with all agency specifications including processor, memory capacity, storage/hard drive, output/input ports, warranty, weight, and graphics.
A framework agreement was executed on July 27, 2021 for P356.085 million that was accepted by the authorized personnel of Columbia on August 10, 2021.
However, the audit team said its independent test on the weight of the demo unit conducted in the presence of the Inspection Division showed the actual weight exceeded the specification by 34 grams.
The Procurement Service said its TWG used two different weighing scales to determine compliance with the weight limit — one mechanical scale and one digital scale. With the results showing 1.434kg, the figure was rounded off to 1.4kg and declared “responsive to weight specifications.”
However, auditors found that while the mechanical scale had a 30kg capacity, the digital scale could not be used on anything heavier than one kilogram.
“The post-qualification process does not give occasion for the BAC to arbitrarily exercise its discretion and brush aside the very requirements it specified as vital components of the goods it bid out,” the COA said.
