Owing to its experience when the Marawi siege suddenly broke out in 2017, the Department of National Defense (DND) is buying P11.707 billion worth of ballistic helmet and military body armor for the Philippine Army (PA) as it looks to keep the soldiers ready despite the security situation in the country being under control.
The DND posted the invitation to bid for the procurement of 115,000 units of ballistic helmet and 115,000 units of Model 2 military body armor on its website.
The submission and opening of bid envelopes from interested bidders will be held from Tuesday, Aug. 6, to Aug. 20, at the DND Building in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
According to the DND, 23,000 units of ballistic helmet worth P575 million per year and 23,000 units of military body armor worth P1,776,400,000 per year shall be delivered by the winning bidder for a period of five years.
“The procurement is programmed in the Philippine Army as part of its modernization,” Army spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said.
“This is for the protection of our personnel, that’s the purpose. Since time immemorial, we have no such procurement. We only started buying these things when the Marawi siege started,” he added.
In May 2017, Islamic State (ISIS)-linked Maute Group (MG) and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) laid siege in the Islamic City of Marawi when government forces tried to capture ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon. The urban battle lasted for five months, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 individuals including 165 soldiers.
According to Dema-ala, the target is to equip all Pa personnel with a complete set of body armor and helmet as part of their uniform.
“The body armor and helmet expire after a certain period so we need to replace them to make all our ballistics reliable,” the Army spokesman explained.
The DND said that the bidding will be opened to foreign and local suppliers, and conducted through “open competitive bidding procedures using a non- discretionary ‘pass/fail’ criterion” as specified in the 2016 revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184 or the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.