November 19, 2014

ALBAY –About three months after Albay Governor Joey S. Salceda signed the memorandum of agreement for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), Albay’s first sub-project (SP)–Bicol’s pilot PRDP infrastructure SP, has received the No Objection Letter 1 (NOL 1).

On October 30, the Department of Agriculture Regional Office No. 5 received a memorandum signed by Project Support Office (PSO) Luzon B Project Director Shandy M. Hubilla endorsing the NOL 1 to the Provincial Project Management and Implementation Unit (PPMIU) of the Province of Albay. The P197,441,675.88-million-worth Rehabilitation/Improvement of Pistola-Tablon Road with 3 Units Bridges is eyed by Salceda as a means to liberate the town of Oas from poverty. The farm-to-market-road will make the upland barangays of the Municipality of Oas more accessible without the need to pass through Polangui or Pantao which takes much time. According to Engr. Millie Bueta, at present, going to the poblacion of Oas through Ligao City requires triple rides or almost two hours of road trip. In addition, the road is not passable and crossing the Ramay River is very risky during rainy season.

Bueta said that the rehabilitation and improvement of the roads as well as the construction of the Tobgon, Badbad, and Ramay bridges will ease the commuters’ burden in terms of accessibility to services. She also highlights the SP’s proximity to the cooperative that will manufacture coco geonets, Albay’s priority commodity, since based from the value chain analysis (VCA) map, Oas has the most number of coconut areas and production.

With the NOL 1 issuance, PPMIU-Albay may now proceed with Invitation to Bid (ITB) publication and Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS) posting. Meanwhile, final pre-bid documents (PBDs) must be reviewed and finalized by the Procurement Unit of the PSO and National Program Coordination Office (NPCO) thru PRDP South Luzon Procurement Officer Maria Rhoda Lavinia Mendoza prior to issuance of the standard bidding documents to prospective bidders.

On November 18, 2014, Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD) and Procurement representatives from Regional Program Coordination Office (RPCO) 5, PRDP-NPCO and PSO South Luzon Cluster conducted a pre-procurement conference for the approved SP at the Albay Provincial Capitol Complex. On behalf of Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, Undersecretary & National Project Director Atty. Emerson U. Palad, PRDP Deputy Program Director Arnel de Mesa, and PSO Luzon B Director Shandy M. Hubilla, PSO Luzon B Compliance Officer Michael Gregory Vargas congratulated the PPMIU-Albay for the NOL 1 issuance, which means that they may now commence the procurement process. However, he reminded them that cooperation is necessary to comply with other required documents such as the Implementation Management Agreement (IMA) and Certificate of Availability of Fund (CAF) to secure the NOL 2 or World Bank NOL.

PRDP-NPCO Procurement Alternate Head Mario Orilla read the NOL 1, evaluated the pre-bid documents, and presented the bid opening checklist to the participants of the said conference. He also discussed the Bid Evaluation Report (BER) Review Process Flow Chart.

PPMIU Head Macario M. Pavia expressed gratitude to the NPCO and RPCO V for coaching them about the pre-procurement process. He said that the NOL 1 is very much appreciated as it is a huge grant to the provincial local government unit (PLGU). “This will support the strategy being implemented by Albay Governor Salceda to allot 75% of the economic development fund to counter-parting,” he added.

Albay will conduct the simultaneous Invitation to Bid (ITB) publication and Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS) posting on November 20, 2014. Meanwhile, a pre-bid conference will be held on December 10, 2014 at the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) in Salugan, Camalig, Albay.

On October 15, 2014 the NPCO also issued NOL 1 to four infrastructure SPs in Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur with an aggregate total amount of P439,141,030.278. Pre-bid conferences of which were conducted on November 17-18, 2014, respectively. (Annielyn L. Baleza, I-SUPPORT InfoACE Unit, DA-RAFID 5)