COA: Water execs liable in disallowed P115M deal

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A PETITION for review filed by officials of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) seeking relief from the notice of disallowance issued against a P115.28-million information technology has been denied by the Commission on Audit.

COA chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario Lipana also directed the Prosecution and Litigation Office to verify that the findings of the Fraud Audit Office had been forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman for possible filing of charges.

Held liable in the “notice of disallowance” issued on April 25, 2017 were the late acting administrator Daniel Landingin, acting deputy administrator Wilfredo Feleo, senior deputy administrator Emmanuel Malicdem, acting deputy administrator Benardito De Jesus, Board of Trustees (BOT) chairperson Prospero Pichay Jr., BOT members Enrique Senen Montilla, and Aurelio Puentevella, Legal Department acting manager Ma. Elena Te, project management officer Renato Da Jose, and contractor/supplier Secur Links Network and Technology Inc.

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The audit team said the P115.28 million payment to Secur Links for the “supply, delivery, and installation of all software and hardware for the Development of Water District Geographical Information System and Database Management (WDGIS/DBM) was disallowed on four grounds: purchase of ordinary/common use items which disqualified the transaction from direct contracting; non-collection of liquidated damages from Secur Links despite delays; non-submission of Information System Strategic Plan to the National Computer Center prior to project launch; and non-completion of the project so that the equipment and the system remain unused.

In its petition, the LWUA argued that the head of the procuring entity had the discretion to determine the mode of procurement, adding the bids and awards committee exercised extra due diligence by inviting five IT companies to submit proposals even if only three firms were originally recommended.

It added that Secur landed the contract because it submitted the lowest calculated and responsive offer.

The COA en banc said the LWUA’s arguments were devoid of merit for failure of the project to undergo the required public bidding.

“Since the WDGIS/DBM still had to be developed, it cannot be considered of proprietary nature prior to the project. Hence, the bidding should have been opened to other software developers who can develop the system,” the COA said.

The commission pointed out that there was no evidence to show that Secur was the exclusive distributor of the needed software, further calling into question the resort to direct contracting.

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