G/Procurement: What to do in case there’s a tie among bidders?

It’s easy to determine and declare who among the bidders is the Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bidder (LCRB), for the procurement of goods and infrastructure projects, or the Highest Rated and Responsive Bidder (HRRB) for the procurement of consulting services, since all the criteria and specifications are readily available to the Procuring Entity (PE).

But, what if after evaluation of the bids, the PE determined that two or more bidders have exactly the same bid? What the PE should do to resolve this?

The Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) provided the guidelines on this thru GPPB Circular No. 06-2005.

The Circular provides the guidelines on how to resolve cases where an occurence of a tie among bidders takes place. (download GPPB Circular No. 06-2005, here)

In accordance with the Circular, in view of the considerations advanced/maintained by the GPPB in Policy Matter No. 02-2005, all procuring entities are required to identify at the onset of the bidding process, and thereafter include in the bidding documents as instruction or a matter of information to prospective bidders, a ready and clear measure to be used in the event two or more of the bidders have been post-qualified as LCRB or HRRB.

In all cases, however, the measure determined by the procuring entity shall be non-discretionary and non-discriminatory such that the same is based on sheer luck or chance.

The procuring entity may use “draw lots”, “toss coin” or other similar methods of chance.

However, the procuring entity may opt to bring the concerned bidders to agree on a better selection criteria, instead of the pre-determined criteria set and declared in the bidding documents, which should also be non-discretionary and non-discriminatory and is similarly based on sheer luck or chance.

You may download the 2016 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 9184, here.