THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) last week unveiled its electronic procurement service in a bid to promote transparency in the bidding process for port projects.
“This is our way of eliminating corruption by removing discretion in the evaluation of bid documents,” said PPA general manager Alfonso Cusi. PPA bids out around P2 billion worth of projects every year.
The service promotes “transparency and efficiency by utilizing information and communications technology” even as it streamlines the procurement process by “eliminating redundancy and enforcing uniformity”, the agency said. The web-based application will be delivered in two phases.
The first covers civil works features from registration down to bid submission. The second phase covers the rest of civil works features stated in the scope of services as well as features for the procurement of consultancy and goods or services.
PPA said security measures have been added to the system, including firewall and encryption devices, electronic signature, transacting via secure socket layer, electronic bulletin board and external interfaces.
