As of May 31, the contract of DLSU’s security provider for eight years, Right 8 Security Agency, had expired, transferring the responsibility of campus security to Aglipay Security Inc., as a result of the bidding process held by the Procurement Office.
The directive for bidding came from the administration as early as last academic year, according to Procurement’s Accreditation and Bidding Coordinator Sabrina Cerrada. “[The Administration] mandated the bidding for security… that there was a need to evaluate the market, as there may have been other standard rates and services that we might have been foregoing,” explained Cerrada in Filipino.
Previously, bidding had been a responsibility of the Campus Development Office under Engr. Aureliano de la Cruz. For the past eight years, DLSU’s security provider had not been subjected to the bidding process, with Right 8’s contract simply being renewed every year. The management of bidding had only been transferred to Procurement, under Director Carmela Semeña, as of last year.
According to administrative mandate, all of the University’s contractual services will be subjected to bidding. These include security, janitorial services, civil and sanitary maintenance work, electrical and mechanical work, as well as air-conditioning services. Security, the largest account, was the first to go, according to Cerrada.
The bidding process took into consideration three main factors in selecting the winner: agency accreditation, technical capacity and the financial proposal drafted by the agency.
Agency accreditation refers to the specific accreditation, permits and certification required to qualify the agency as a legal provider. After passing the accreditation stage, the agency’s capacity to meet the University’s security needs is then gauged, according to the terms of reference prepared by the Procurement Office.
These terms of reference indicate the minimum needed manpower, equipment, training, and technical services to be met by the bidding groups; additional offers by each agency are also examined for this requirement, such as offers of vehicles, tools, weapons and additional training.
After presenting the technical requirements, the bidding groups’ actual rates for the guards are examined in a financial proposal, detailing each guard’s pay rate per rank. The financial proposal includes the agency fee on top of the guards’ salaries.
The technical capacity and financial proposal are submitted to a higher Bids Committee, a committee of four individuals, top administrators assembled specifically for purchasing decisions above P2 million in value.
Security being one of the University’s largest expenses, the Bids Committee deliberates based on both the considerations, as well as other factors necessary to break marginal differences, such as service history, and even alumni relations with the agency, as Cerrada says. Regardless, the main variable factor redounds to rates and cost, as both accreditation and technical capacity stages of the bidding are, according to Procurement, decided only by pass or fail.
A total of nine agencies placed bids, and while official bidding results were not disclosed by the Procurement Office, the real competition in bidding was allegedly only between Right 8 and Aglipay, whose rates were both competitively priced. The final pick settled on by the Bids Committee was Aglipay, although the Committee’s reasons for selection were not expounded on beyond the initial considerations.
Many of the guards and supervisors themselves are not certain as to why the replacement of the guard occurred, as their performance had not been markedly criticized, nor had feedback indicated severe security lapses. “I am not privy to the decisions of administration on the matter,” said Security and Safety Office (SSO) Head Mr. Dionisio Escarez in Filipino. “But it was a result of the bidding that Right 8 will now be replaced.”
Christian Enriquez, supervisor of the North Area up to the South Gate, shares in Filipino, “I have spent all my nine years in DLSU as a part of Right 8, and many of us have known only DLSU. A lot of them are heartbroken because they will miss this community.”
Mr. Oscar Sy, Account In-Charge of the Right 8 detail in DLSU, clarified that the agency will provide jobs for all the guards being phased out of DLSU. “In fact, we have a need for 300 guns, given our agency’s new [contracts],” he says in Filipino. “The group that will be leaving DLSU will be around 80 to 90, and this alone is not sufficient to address our demand.”
“Therefore, these guards will definitely have jobs, and given that we have been hiring only 60 fresh recruits, they will be prioritized for the new assignments,” he furthers. “In fact, we have been getting the addresses of our guards, in order for us to be able to assign them near their homes, be it in Bulacan, Alabang, Parañaque, or even here in Manila.”
New assignments for the guards will include Filinvest Mall in Alabang, the Department of Trade and Industry Office, the Lyceum of the Philippines University, La Salle Greenhills, La Salle Zobel, and De La Salle Araneta, among others.
Guards from Right 8, however, have been given the optional prerogative to leave the agency and be absorbed by Aglipay. The detachment commander and four supervisors, for instance, will remain to ensure that the protocol followed during Right 8’s tenure will be retained.
Enriquez, one of the supervisors who chose to be absorbed, shares, “It will be very difficult if we do not stay. We cannot completely leave our [operating standard] to them (Aglipay).”
The Aglipay guards to serve in DLSU will be on their first detail.
Besides the commander and supervisors, around 20 other personnel from Right 8 will remain in DLSU with the Aglipay guards.
