Bidding for ₱73.93 Billion Bus System in Davao Extended

The Department of Transportation (DoTr) announced that it has extended the bidding deadline for Davao City’s bus system project amounting to ₱73.93 billion until February 10. Prospective bidders for the design, construction, and completion of the project were first invited in November of last year through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

Initially, the deadline for submissions for the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project or the Davao High Priority Bus System Project was set on January 6. Through the extension, the PS-DBS hopes “to provide prospective bidders sufficient time to evaluate the bid documents and attachments and be able to prepare better bids.”

According to the Bids and Awards presentation during the pre-bid conference held on November 26, the project forms part of the City Government of Davao’s plans to replace jeepneys under its transport roadmap. The bus system will span a total of 672 kilometers with 29 routes covering the entirety of Davao. Its bus fleet will be composed of a combination of diesel and electric vehicles.

The committee also added that this project is “expected to commence construction in February 2022 and will commence operations in August 2023.” The bidding will be open and competitive, following the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Single-Stage, One-Envelope procedure where bidders will submit bids in one envelope containing both the price proposal and the technical proposal.

The contract will then be awarded to the bidder with “the lowest evaluated substantially responsive bid” once all the bids have been evaluated and approved. Goddes Hope O. Libiran, Transportation Assistan Secretary, expects the civil works to cost somewhere around ₱19.71 billion while the bus fleet will amount to ₱21.17 billion.

Source: BusinessMirror