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Lowest price still primordial in bidding?: Sen. Sonny Angara, chairperson of the Committee on Finance, stresses that lowest price will be primordial in public bidding. Continuing his defense of Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2593 or An Act Revising Republic Act No. 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, Angara said competition in public bidding is important in ensuring that the government gets good value for taxpayers' money while recognizing other modes of procurement that are better suited for defense procurement, medical equipment, artistic, and scientific types of procurement. The senator pointed out that even in the newer concept such as the “most economically advantageous responsive bid (MEARB),” the lowest bid remains one of the factors being considered in procuring supplies. “So really the dominant paradigm was really the lowest price (under RA 9184)... but under the MEARB (of SBN 2593), it is meant to inject some element of quality. There’s a quality to price ratio and there are upper and lower limits on how much quality and price... in the MEARB, it’s quality which is 60 percent to 85 percent, whereas for price, it is 15 to 40 percent” Angara said. “But for due process or for fairness, the agency must indicate what is the criteria to be used so that bidders, or businesses or contractors who are going to enter into the bid, there is due notice to them as to what is going to be the criteria in the bidding,” he added. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)