Gov’t lacks technical know-how to evaluate ICT bids--exec

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net
PASIG City, Philippines -- Government lacks the technical capability to evaluate highly sophisticated projects in information and communications technology (ICT), a former government executive admitted.

This was the general concern gathered by Virgilio Pena, former chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), after conducting focused group consultations with government, the private sector and civil society organizations.

Pena is currently a consultant for the “E-governance for Effectiveness and Efficiency” (E3) project of management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint. Bearing Point has won the bid to implement the E3 project under a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Pena agreed there was indeed a need to develop government's capability to evaluate ICT bids to avoid the repeat of deals like the controversial national broadband network (NBN) project.

Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada Jr., the key witness in the ongoing Senate investigation in the controversial NBN project, has testified that deals such as this are often tailor-fit to suppliers who have strong political connections. In most instances, government procurement is often supplier-driven, which means bid specifications often favor one supplier.

Pena said the E3 consultations with the different sectors are part of the initial activities leading to a study that the E3 project is putting together.

Hoping to push the idea of more public-private partnerships in ICT projects in government, the study also intends to produce a set of policy recommendations for e-governance, including those dealing with ICT procurement, the former government executive said.

Among the policy recommendations being studied are possible amendments to the implementing rules and regulations of the Government Procurement Reform Act and the Build-Operate-Transfer law, he said