October 27, 2014

The National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) has issued No Objection Letter 1 (NOL 1) to four infrastructure subprojects (SPs) in Bicol with an aggregate total amount of P439,141,030.278 on October 15, 2014. With this, the local government units (LGUs) may now proceed with national newspaper publication of Invitation to Bid (ITB), Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS) posting, and standard bidding documents issuance to prospective bidders.

These SPs include the Construction and Rehabilitation of Pinagwarasan-Lanot (Basud Mercedes) farm-to-market-road (FMR) in Camarines Norte worth P212,391,870.18 and the Concreting of Manangle-Caima FMR in Sipocot, Camarines Sur amounting to P131,279,137.90. Other SPs from Camarines Sur that received the NOL-1 are the Upgrading of Cuco-Bagong Silang FMR in Pasacao which costs P50,674,067.20 and the Rehabilitation and Upgrading of San Isidro-Pag Oring Nuevo, Libmanan FMR worth P44,795,955.

With the NOL 1 issuances, the Project Support Office (PSO) Luzon B conducted pre-procurement conferences for the approved SPs on October 23-24, 2014 in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte which were attended by Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD) representatives with Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP)-NPCO and PSO South Luzon Cluster personnel as well as the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Chairman, members and technical working group.

PRDP Regional Program Coordination Office (RPCO) V Focal Person Dr. Elena B. Delos Santos recognized the efforts of the respective Provincial Project Management and Implementation Units (PPMIUs) for this milestone saying “I would like to commend the three provinces for working diligently to meet the deadline particularly in submitting and revising the documents set by NPCO.”

She added, “I hope that they will fast-track the procurement process so that NOL 2 will be released before the end of December.”

According to Camarines Norte Provincial Planning and Development Officer Elena B. Austria, the PPMIU is happy and proud with the issuance of NOL 1 to their subproject.

“This inspires us and we look forward to the subproject’s implementation. We also await the NOL 1 of our proposed enterprise. We are also now preparing the feasibility study (FS) of the next subproject,” she said.

Camarines Sur PPMIU Coordinator Felipe D. Vargas said that the NOL 1 issuance is a big boost to his group although the complete realization of all their labors is the issuance of NOL 2. “This is apparently an initial inspiration to our group to strive further for the benefits of our province and ultimately our farmers and fisherfolk,” he said. He also acknowledged the support of all PPMIU members as well as Governor Miguel Luis R. Villafuerte who gave them the leeway to strategize their work and facilitate the provisions of all their work-related activities. He added that the favorable observation from RPCO, PSO and NPCO motivates them to prepare another seven FS to hasten agricultural development in the province.

NOL 1 was issued to the said SPs by the NPCO after thorough review and evaluation of FS with safeguards compliance, detailed engineering designs (DED), program of works (POW) and bidding documents following the Regional Program Advisory Board (RPAB) approval during their meeting held on July 30, 2014 at Alicia Hotel, Legazpi City.

Next to the completion of the bid process and bid evaluation, the LGU must secure the No Objection Letter 2 (NOL 2) or World Bank NOL and Certificate of Availability of Fund (CAF) before the issuance of the Notice of Award (NOA) to the Lowest Evaluated and Responsive Bidder.

The four infrastructure subprojects are the maiden I-BUILD SPs of the region to benefit from PRDP.

Camarines Sur, Albay, and Camarines Norte are now working on the second phase of PRDP while Sorsogon, Masbate and Catanduanes are conducting preliminary activities like Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) finalization towards the identification of I-BUILD projects and I-REAP business plans.

The PRDP is a six-year program that aims to establish an inclusive and market-oriented agri-fishery sector by adopting commodity value chain analysis to direct rural investments in the Philippines. PRDP’s key objectives consist of 5 percent increase in annual real farm incomes, 10 percent increase in marketed output value, and 20 percent increase in number of farmers and fishers with improved access to Department of Agriculture (DA) services. (Annielyn L. Baleza, I-SUPPORT InfoACE Unit, DA-RAFID 5)