The Philippine consortium formed by Megawide Construction Corp. and World Citi Inc. could soon be declared the winner for the new Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) PPP project deal after its technical and financial proposals were, on June 24th, deemed "compliant" by the Health department.

Health Undersecretary Teodoro J. Herbosa, bids committee chairman, said Megawide and World Citi's offer would now be evaluated by the National Economic Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC).

A notice of award will be issued if the NEDA-ICC gives its approval, he added.

The consortium bid P5.672 billion  (US$131 million) for the project, which the government had said would cost P5.7 billion (US$131.5 million). Megawide and World Citi also asked for an annual subsidy of P600 million (US$14 million) for five years.

However, Mr. Barbosa cited Republic Act (RA) 7718 or the amended build-operate-transfer law, which states that "direct negotiation shall be resorted to when there is only one complying bidder left".

The POC project involves the construction, operation and maintenance of a 700-bed facility that will be built inside the National Kidney Transplant Institute compound along East Ave. in Quezon City, Manila.

Megawide has already bagged one PPP project, one of the Phase One segments of the PPP School Infrastructure Project (PSIP). It has also qualified to bid for phase two of the PSIP.

Since the launch in November 2010 of the PPP program, a total of three projects worth roughly P28 billion (US$678 million) have already been awarded:

• Daang Hari-SLEx link road concession
• NAIA Expressway PPP Project 
• PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP)