BSP hits bid to ‘revive’ deal with sacked ID supplier

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Saturday decried supposed “attempts to revive” the terminated contract with AllCard Inc., the previous supplier for the Philippine Identification System project of the government.

The BSP did not elaborate on the supposed attempts, but it issued the statement after the Judge Renato Pambid of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 76 issued on Sept. 9 a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the central bank’s move to end the contract with the sacked contractor.

The central bank said delaying the termination of the contract would only prevent the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the lead agency for the national ID program, from exploring other options to expedite the printing and delivery of the identification cards.

“Attempts to revive the contract with a supplier that has already failed to deliver will only further delay PSA’s plans to address backlogs,” the BSP said.

“The Bangko Sentral reiterates that the termination of the contract with AllCard was justified due to delays on AllCard’s part … Other issues being raised distract from these basic facts,” it added.

AllCard sought the TRO after the BSP issued on Aug. 15 a notice terminating its contract with AllCard “failure to deliver any or all of the goods specified in the contract, amounting to more than 10 percent of the contract price.”

The central bank said only 57.9 million ID cards were actually produced between 2022 and 2023, 58.1 million short of the target 116 million cards for Filipinos.

This resulted in a production loss of P1.06 billion, equivalent to 49.91 percent of the P2.1-billion contract awarded to AllCard, it noted.

BSP computations showed AllCard must pay P640.9 million in total liquidated damages, or equivalent to 30.24 percent of the contract price.

The central bank said it has yet to receive a copy of the TRO, but it will “act accordingly” once it gets the court order.

The BSP said AllCard initiated arbitration by the Philippine Dispute Center Inc. and the central bank was actively participating in the proceeding. “This arbitration is the appropriate forum to resolve the issues,” it added. INQ