Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Disqualified armor-vest supplier seeks DND panel’s reconsideration

From the Business Mirror (Jul 20): Disqualified armor-vest supplier seeks DND panel’s reconsideration

THE Korean company that submitted the lowest bid for the supply of 44,080 armor vests for the Marines and the Army, but was disqualified at the post-bidding stage by the Department of National Defense’s Bids and Awards Committed (DND-BAC), has asked the panel to reconsider its decision.
Kolon Global Corp., through its lawyers Dennis Manalo, Noel Lazaro and Darwin Ocampo, asked the DND-BAC, headed by Defense Assistant Secretary Efren Fernandez, to reconsider its earlier decision and reinstate the company as the winner, owing to the “absence of legal and justifiable reasons by the committee.”
“The grounds you relied upon in post-disqualifying Kolon are bereft of support, either from the bidding documents, where there are categorical, positive and unmistakable definition or, where not so defined therein, from the widely and internationally accepted standard design of measurement,” the lawyers said in the reconsideration they filed for the Korean company on November 15.
“Accordingly, Kolon respectfully pleads for the reconsideration of our client’s post-disqualification and requests for its reinstatement as the winning bidder of the project,” they added.
Manalo, Lazaro and Ocampo asked the DND-BAC to seriously look into the merits of the proposal of the Korean company and rule in its favor, otherwise it will not only violate the government’s procurement process, but even reinforces the belief that it is playing favorites.
“Any unwarranted and unjustifiable claim to the contrary trivializes the country’s procurement policy and effort, especially in these trying times, and lends credence to a possibility that the BAC is playing favorites instead of weighing our client’s merits,” the three lawyers said in their letter.
Kolon maintained that it did not only meet the requirements of the DND for the soldiers’ force-protection gear, but even surpassed industry standards.
The DND-BAC has accepted, evaluated and considered the bid of P800 million by Kolon for the P1.763.2- billion armor vests of the Army and the Marines, but it later disqualified Kolon in a post-qualification meeting on November 11, because it claimed the ballistic inserts (armor plates) of the Korean vest manufacturer are of “single-curve design” and the samples have shorter dimensional measurements than required.
The DND-BAC required a “multi-curve design” for the ballistic inserts “to avoid the possibility of body injury due to secondary impact of plate to the body upon the bullet impact, create an angle of incidence for increased bullet deflection and for better ergonomic fitting and comfort.”
However, the lawyers said the BAC erred in declaring that Kolon’s body armors are single-curve in design.
“Our client’s design is multi-curve. Kolon uses human factors in engineering data points within a three-axis plane to decide on the radius used in its plates. The curvature of the plate follows the shape of the human torso as closely as possible in order to maximize performance and comfort,” they said.
“Kolon had already taken into consideration the contours in the body in making its body armors,” they added. “In fact, Kolon has made various scientific studies to surpass industry standards and provide the best protection possible.”
“The DND without any substantial justification deprived Kolon of its right to be awarded as the winning bidder. Our client offered the best bid for the project. In fact, it was even declared as the Lowest Calculated Bid-- the second lowest bid trailing behind by a staggering P357,000,000,” the three lawyers said.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/news/nation/23115-disqualified-armor-vest-supplier-seeks-dnd-panel-s-reconsideration

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