The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said it is all set to open the financial proposals submitted by bidders for the P1.72 billion Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project this Monday, Dec. 9.
The AFCS project aims to upgrade the present LRT and MRT ticketing scheme to a tap-and-go system, which will substantially lessen queuing time and allow seamless transfers from one rail line to another.
?We are fast-tracking the technical evaluation. We expect to finish it by the end of this week so we can open the financial proposals by Monday,? said DOTC spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal.
After opening the financial proposals, the transport agency will conduct a financial evaluation of each opened submission over the next couple of weeks, in accordance with the Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) Law.
Five groups submitted bids for the auction of a contactless common ticketing system for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) systems last November 18, namely:
? AF Consortium of the Ayala and Metro Pacific groups;
? ComWorks group;
? E-Trans Solutions Joint Venture;
? The ComWorks consortium; and the Megawide-Suyen-Eurolink Consortium; and
? SM Consortium led by the Sy family;
The on-going technical evaluation will determine the viability of each bidder?s technical proposal, including whether the DOTC?s minimum requirements will be met and whether each submission will result in affordable and efficient services for the public.
?The bidders? proposals must be able to demonstrate the ability to satisfy our project criteria through a sound and viable technical solution,? added Sagcal.
