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Singaporeans bag P200-M textbook deal(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) A SINGAPOREAN FIRM HAS BAGGED A P200-million contract to print English textbooks for public elementary and secondary schools nationwide, Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus has announced. Alkem Company (S) Private Ltd. won one of the four lots that were bid out (in May), Lapus said in an interview. The World Bank was on top of this, Lapus said. Which is why, he added, hindi dapat pagdudahan(it should not be doubted). The Department of Education will repeat the bidding for the failed lots (worth over P1 billion), but based on new bid documents... and new rules, Lapus said. Alkem won DepEd textbook deals in 2002 and 2003 worth P413,877,675.60 and P292,863,850.36, respectively. Lapus said local companies like Vibal Publishing House Inc. and Rex Bookstore, as well as Vibals supposed foreign partner, Watana Phanit Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd. of Thailand, failed to garner any of the lots. They were disqualified for many reasons, like noncompliance with (bid) documents, among other things, Lapus said. Earlier, Lapus had told the Inquirer that from 25 in the pre-bid, only 10 submitted bid documents. From the 10, (the World Bank and DepEd) checked out those that were compliant and responsive... This is a simple printing contract. The textbook content is a different matter... This is a World Bank-funded, World Bank-supervised international competitive bidding, he said. The other failed bidders were Book Media Press Inc., DAlco Printers, Main Choice International Development Ltd., Pitambra Books Private Ltd., Tan Prints (India) Private Ltd. and Thomson Asia Private Ltd. Top contractor is Thai With over P906 million worth of contracts received from the DepEd in the last eight years, Alkem is currently in third place (on the departments list of suppliers of textbooks and other instructional materials). Watana Phanit tops the list with contracts totaling more than P1.42 billion, according to DepEd documents furnished this paper. The Thai firm has cornered 24 out of 109 contracts, according to records of the agencys Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (IMCS). In the meantime, the DepEd National Employees Union, the militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and the Philippine Public School Teachers Association have challenged Lapus anew to break the alleged textbook cartel that corners most of the textbook contracts. The groups assailed Lapus and his predecessors for looking the other way and letting the cartel thrive. On hearing of the groups challenge, Lapus assailed the critics of the DepEd, particularly those who were in previous administrations, saying they are the ones who should apologize. Why? All the (textbook) errors happened during their watch, he said. Antonio Tinio, chair of the 15,000-strong ACT, said the DepEds centralized procurement system was to blame for the problem. Copyright 2007 INQ7 Interactive Inc, Source: The Financial Times Limited |