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The Philippine Ports Authority is seeking bidders for its container registry and monitoring system for inbound containers
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The winning bidder will also provide local importers access to container insurance services
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PPA will spend P980 million for the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility
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TOP-CRMS consists of the container identification and control program; container tracking program; and container availability and insurance program
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The TOP-CRMS will be implemented initially at the Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal
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The pre-bid conference will be held on March 8
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The deadline for submission of bids, as well as the opening of bids, will be on March 22
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is seeking bidders for its container registry and monitoring system for inbound foreign containers. The winning bidder will also provide local importers access to container insurance services.
In its invitation to bid, PPA said it will spend P980 million from its approved 2022 corporate budget for the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility contract.
The project covers the supply, delivery of full technology stack, financing, technical implementation services, and managed services to successfully implement the TOP-CRMS of PPA.
The TOP-CRMS consists of inter-related program components, namely, the TOP; the container identification and control program; the container tracking program; and the container availability and insurance program.
The TOP will provide the required conventional and mobility systems and technology infrastructure to capture, store, and process subscription and transactional activities and integrated services made available to trusted operators.
The container identification and control program will enable PPA to digitally capture all inbound shipping containers in advance before its entry to any port in the country.
The container tracking program, meanwhile, will enable PPA to digitally tag all inbound shipping containers with a tracking device to provide full visibility of the utilization, movement and location of every foreign-owned container.
The container availability and insurance program, on the other hand, will provide local importers access to container insurance services. It will also provide PPA the ability to monitor financial transactions required by shipping lines for all inbound containers to safeguard the revenue interests of the government.
The TOP-CRMS will be launched and rolled out covering two pilot ports that house 98% of all the country’s container traffic, namely Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal.
Completion of services for the technical implementation phase should not exceed 12 months from receipt by the successful bidder of the Notice to Proceed, while the managed services will be one year from the date of go-live or operationalization commissioning of the technical implementation phase.
Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
Bidding is limited to Filipino citizens, proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least 60% interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens and organizations of a country with laws or regulations that grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.
Bidders should also have completed a contract similar to the project within seven years.
A pre-bid conference will be held on March 8 while the deadline for the submission of bids, as well as the opening of bids, will be on March 22.
PPA in June 2021 conducted a virtual public hearing on its proposal to record and monitor in real time the movement of all import containers —from their discharge from the port terminal to their return to an empty depot and to the port for re-export—by introducing a new container tracking and monitoring system.
READ: PPA proposes import container monitoring system
Elmer Nonnatus Cadano, PPA assistant general manager for finance and administration, said the proposed system aims to improve trade facilitation and address concerns with logistics efficiency and costs, such as the longstanding issue of unreturned container deposits.
Cadano said the idea of a monitoring system came up during constant discussions between PPA and the Department of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the private sector on logistics concerns and the role of ports in the country’s security.
In October 2021, PPA issued Administrative Order (AO) No. 04-2021, which prescribes the policy on the registration and monitoring of containers entering and leaving PPA ports, including the scheduling, loading, unloading, release, and movement of all containers.
READ: PPA to require registration of foreign boxes, container insurance
Under the new policy, PPA will prescribe and adopt a system for the registration and monitoring of containers. The system will have features that include, among other things, a facility to record all containers passing in and out of the port terminals.
All containers are required to register in the system to be adopted by PPA and to secure a container insurance policy. The insurance policy will be used instead of the container deposit and container maintenance fees being required by international shipping lines “in order to protect local importers from additional transaction costs.”
AO 04-2021 covers all containers originating from foreign ports for unloading at government or private ports under the administrative jurisdiction of PPA.
Stakeholders, however, have earlier voiced concerns that the proposed system might just duplicate the monitoring systems already in place for containers, particularly those set for discharge from terminals.
Unlike insurance fees, which are intended to replace container deposits to minimize costs, container deposits are returned to shippers, noted Julita Lopez, vice president for customs affairs of the Port Users Confederation of the Philippines, at the June 2021 public hearing.
Atty. Hiyasmin delos Santos, PPA Port Operations and Service Department manager, said in response that her office does not intend to duplicate existing systems but plans to interface the proposed system with them. She also noted that CRMS differs in purpose from BOC’s Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargoes system.
The Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL) earlier proposed to develop, manage, and implement a platform for the port authority’s proposed container registry and monitoring system.
READ: AISL makes official offer to implement PPA container monitoring system
AISL’s proposed digital platform will expand its existing GoFast Container Monitoring System, a web-based trade and logistics platform providing digital connectivity to foreign shipping lines, importers and their authorized customs brokers, terminal operators, off-dock container freight stations, and off-dock depots.
AISL’s proposed platform aims to facilitate the realization of PPA’s proposed CRMS “that is acceptable to and supported by international shipping lines” and to “eliminate the need for expensive tagging devices and container tracking infrastructure and imposing an entirely container monitoring system that is not integrated with existing port user systems.”
In its bidding documents, PPA said it intends to procure a TOP-CRMS “that will introduce rational, cohesive, and integrated solutions that will solve persistent systemic problems affecting the overall performance and efficiencies of the PPA in areas related to its frontline and regulatory services, third-party managed services, enforcement services, and inter-agency services.”
The program aims to implement and institutionalize the CRMS, which aims to streamline transactions in support of trade facilitation, ease of doing business and border protection programs of the government.
It also seeks to establish and institutionalize a system of empty container storage shared services facilities to alleviate storage problems for laden containers and augment the capabilities of PPA.
In addition, the program aims to provide a credible record to enable PPA to accurately collect all required regulatory storage fees and/or penalties as may be required by PPA and other revenue collection agencies.
Lastly, it aims to streamline the payment process and collection of port fees and harmonize it with the existing electronic payment system of PPA. – Roumina Pablo
