State-Run Hospital In Cebu To Build PHP475.8M State-Of-The-Art Cancer Center

The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), the biggest state-run hospital in Cebu, is set to build a PHP475.8-million state-of-the-art cancer center that will cater to patients in Southern Philippines.

Dr. Antonio Roque R. Paradela, bids and awards committee (BAC) chairman, said they will conduct a public bidding for the cancer center on March 15.

But Paradela said two contractors, namely, Young Builders Corp. of Pitogo, Consolacion, Cebu and Arn Builders Inc. of Banilad, Cebu City, have requested the BAC to postpone it due to an alleged defective bidding process.

In his letter to Paradela dated last March 7, Architect Nelson G. Yu of Young Builders said their request to postpone the opening of bid documents on March 15 is due to the delayed release to the bidders of the complete terms of reference (TOR) documents.

Yu also asked the VSMMC BAC through Paradela to reduce the required track records of participating bidders from the present “track record in designing and constructing cancer center” to “hospital track record.”

Yu said that if VSMMC’s BAC will stick to “cancer center design and construction” on its TOR, only Manila-based contractors will qualify and Cebu contractors can no longer participate.

Arn Builders president Arnold T. Espinoza, in a separate letter dated March 8, said “the similar project requirement to qualify bidder, requiring bidders to have cancer center construction experience or record will be tantamount to selective bidding because there was no cancer center construction done in Cebu.”

“It’s the first time that a 100 percent cancer center hospital is going to be constructed in Cebu,” read their press statement.

Both Yu and Espinoza have requested to postpone the public bidding from March 15 to either March 21 or 22.

They said the bidding on March 15 should be postponed to give them and other interested Cebu contractors time to prepare for the bidding as required under Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act. (PNA) LAP/EB/EDS