The bidding process at the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) will undergo a massive change for the purchase of additional firetrucks, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Juanito ‘Jonvic’ Remulla stated on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
From the previous two suppliers, Remulla said they will increase the participating bidders to 10 in a bid to elicit the affordable but best firetrucks that will be used by the BFP.
“Example ng reforms na gagawin namin sa bidding procedures, dati sa BFP ay para maka-bid ka, dapat ten years kang supplier, tapos naging 15 years kang supplier, tapos naging 20 kang supplier ng BFP (Example of the reforms in the bidding procedures that we will implement, in the BFP one to be able to bid should be suppliers for 10 years, then 15 years of being suppliers, then 20 years of being a BFP supplier). Therefore, for the last 20 years, dalawa lang ang supplier ng Bureau of Fire (there were only two suppliers in the Bureau of Fire),’’ Remulla said.
The BFP previously bought fire trucks worth P15 million each but now Remulla said that it will only buy fire trucks at a reduced cost of P8 million each since the bidding will now be opened to other bidders.
"So, from two suppliers, gagawin naming ten suppliers as long as kaya nilang mag-fulfill ng supply at the best possible price, at the same specs – from 15 million, ibababa namin to 8 million dahil bubuksan na namin iyong bidding supply, iyong bidding contracts (So, from two supplies,we will accommodate 10 suppliers as long as they can fulfill the supply at the best possible price at the same specs-from P15 million, we willpower the cost at P8 million since we will open the bidding supply, the bidding contracts),’’ he added.
Remulla also disclosed that the DILG will impose a hotline 911 that is “fully integrated language-sensitive’’ in the whole country.
“So, kung nasa Ilocos ka, Ilocano ang sasagot sa iyo; kung nasa Pampanga ka, Kapampangan sasagot; kung nasa… and so on and so forth. Kung sa Bicol, Oragon sasagot (So if you are in Ilocos, an Ilocano call receiver will answer you, if you are in Pampanga, a Kampampangan operator will answer the call so on and so forth. If in Bicol, an Oregon call center agent will answer you),’’ Remulla explained.
He pointed out that each fire truck will be accompanied by an ambulance since there are 5,000 nurses at the BFP that need to be utilized.
“So iyu-utilize natin iyong capacity nila (nurses) by… ‘pag may dumadating na fire truck, may darating din na ambulance na hindi standard practice ngayon (So we will use their capacity. If a fire truck arrives, an ambulance will follow suit that is not the normal practice at present),’’ Remulla bared.
Remulla remarked that 911 “will have from caller, to caller, to dispatch, which will al be integrated including the body camera and located device of every police car and body camera of each police responder.
He added that there will also have a “hyperlinks to video’’ so if you are in a “WhatsApp video”, you can show what is actually happening.
“May ibibigay lang na hyperlink sa iyo at on the spot may doctor na puwedeng mag-advice or pulis na puwedeng mag-advice kung anong gagawin (A hyperlink will be given to you and on the spot a doctor can provide advice or police officer can give advice on what should be done) So, it will be the state-of-the-art system which will be according to the world standards ang gagawin natin (that we will do),’’ Remulla stressed.