MORE NEWS, PAMPANGA

Korean firm disqualified from bidding on Mimosa
By George Trillo

CLARK FREEPORT Pampanga -- The board of directors of the Clark Development Corp. disqualified “with finality” a Korean consortium from participating in the privatization of the 215-hectare Mimosa Leisure Estate in this former US military facility.

This developed as the CDC board approved the action of the special committee for Mimosa privatization (SCMP) which declared the bid of Hanwool I&D Corp., the Korean consortium, as ineligible due to "premature and lacking imprimatur of the board."

"We cannot favorably act on your (Hanwools) request for the approval or disapproval of the MCMP resolution in the MR (motion for reconsideration) filed," stated CDC board chairman Rizalino Navarro in a letter sent to lawyer Alberto Habitan, legal counsel of Hanwool, one of the two qualified bidders in the recent bidding of the Mimosa Leisure Estate at Clark.

Navarro stated that the CDC board had approved the Terms of Reference (TOR) which includes the delegation to evaluate bid documents to the SCMP.

"As previously emphasized, the CDC board has approved the TOR (terms of reference), which granted the SCMP the imprimatur to decide on the MR (motion for reconsideration) filed by your client," Navarro further stated in his letter.

Hanwool failed to submit a required vital document (bid security of P25 million), and so SCMP under the prescribed nondiscretionary action process of pass or fail criteria had to declare Hanwool ineligible.

A non-refundable bid security is a guarantee that the bidder will not default in its offer which must be submitted in a sealed envelop with the bid documents operative on the date of bid opening and payable to the procuring entity.