Transport group urges Congress to look into LTMS glitches
Published May 7, 2023 07:48 am
The National Public Transport Coalition (NPTC) is calling on both the Senate and House of Representatives to investigate the unresolved issues in the implementation of the digitalization of the transactions for driver’s license and car registration at the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
NPTC president Ariel Lim specifically pointed to the implementation of the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS), which he said, resulted in repeated disruption of LTO operations, particularly the processing of documents in getting a driver’s license and its renewal, as well as registration of vehicles.
“After 14 extensions and two-and-half years delay, Dermalog has yet to deliver in full the integrated system of the IT(information technology) infrastructure despite substantial payment made by the LTO, amounting to 80% of the P3.4 billion contract,” said Lim.
The LTMS is a P3.4 billion project awarded to German contractor Dermalog and its local partners in 2018 under a joint venture agreement (JVA) to digitize LTO transactions.
The LTMS , however, has been the subject of complaints in the past few years.
Lim said they want to include Dermalog in the investigation as it called on the Congress to look into the matter.
“Actually we have already requested the Senate and the House of Representatives to look into the failure of Dermalog to deliver the complete system because it is the cause of the recurring glitches in the LTO system,” said Lim.
"LTO's processes are being adjusted to accommodate the functionalities of the new system. These adjustments show the contractor's lack of detailed study before developing the new system," he added.
Lim also noted that the agreed six-month delivery timeline of the said IT system was obviously not met, adding that "more than four years since the December 2018 delivery date, the system is still not fully functional and fully rolled out."
He also noted the 2021 Commission on Audit (COA that issued a red flag on the LTO's questionable payment of P3.15 billion to the Dermalog JVA for its new online licensing and registration portal despite a number of defects that generated massive delays and disruption in the system.
Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Pimentel III has earlier filed Senate Resolution 147 seeking an investigation on the alleged undue payment made by LTO to the LTMS foreign contractor and its local partners.
“It is thus imperative for the LTO to explain why full payment has been made to the vendor of this IT system which has unresolved issues and are clearly not working as intended and is causing massive disruptions to the LTO processes in clear violation of the procurement and auditing rules and to the disadvantage and detriment of our government and country as a whole,” the resolution filed by Pimentel read.