A congressman is seeking a cap on the bid prices of winning bidders for government projects to prevent delays in their completion, a press release from Congress said.

The proposal came from Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol)  who said that contractors jockeying for government projects tend to understate the price of the project in their bid proposal to corner juicy projects.

Some even venture to propose bid prices costing less than 50 percent of the Approved Budget for the Contract or ABC just to ensure that they will get the project according to him, the press release said.

Aumentado said while this may sound beneficial to the government as it would translate to substantial savings on the part of the implementing government agency, it is not actually the case.

Under the present set-up, he noted Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, only provides for a maximum ceiling of bid prices for bidders to observe, while there is no cap or minimum limit of bid prices that shall be awarded, the press release said.

In House Bill 6337, Aumentado proposed the amendment of Section 31 of RA 9184 so that the ABC shall be the upper limit or ceiling for the bid prices, provided that the floor bid for the winning bidder shall not be lower by 25 percent of the approved ABC.

It also provides bid prices that exceed the upper limit or ceiling, or below the floor limit shall be disqualified outright from further participating in the bidding, the press release said.*

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