DND mulls termination of P1.4B ballistic vest contract

From InterAksyon (Jun 16): DND mulls termination of P1.4B ballistic vest contract

The Department of National Defense (DND) is considering a move to terminate the P1.4 billion worth of ballistic vest (Force Protection Equipment) contract that it awarded to an Israel-based supplier if it fails to deliver the first batch of 20,000 units on June 29 based on its requested extension of 120 days to comply, according to Director Arsenio Andolong, public affairs chief of the DND.

Given the time left, according to defense insiders, there is no travel order yet for members of the Technical Inspection and Acceptance (TIAC) team to conduct a Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) of the units.

The TIAC team is tasked to conduct inspection of the ballistic vests.

The project, one of the "big-ticket items" in the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was awarded through controversial public bidding to JV Archidatex and Colorado Shipping in 2013.

It comprises 44,080 FPE vests for individual soldiers.

Apparently, the DND, especially Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who was reportedly "well aware" of this, kept mum about the developments of the project when the supplier failed to deliver the first batch on February 26 as stipulated in the contract. That is, until defense insiders leaked the matter to the media.

Except for Andolong, who, declined to share more details, as he said he is not authorized to divulge anything about the project, other DND officials, who are supposed to be on the know, declined to be interviewed.

Aside from Archidatex, those that participated in the bidding included Kolon Global Corporation of South Korea, UM Merkata of Israel, and MKU of India.

During the post-qualification process, Kolon and UM Merkata were disqualified.

Kolon protested the disqualification even though it registered the lowest bid at slightly more than P800 million.

But despite its protest, the contract was eventually awarded to the JV of Archidatex and Colorado shipping.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/112517/dnd-mulls-termination-of-p1-4b-ballistic-vest-contract