Opening Bidding
For the Landing Docks Acquisition Project which conducted the Bid Submission and Opening last 26 November 2019, the lowest bidder was local shipbuilder Megaship Builders Inc., which is joint-ventured to a Malaysian shipbuilder, Sing Kiong Hong Dockyards Sdn Bhd.
The problem is, Megaship Builders or even its joint venture partner Sing Kiong Hong Dockyards has never built a Landing Platform Dock-type ship before. Both companies appear to have no experience either in installing, integrating and supporting military equipment and subsystems.
But they were able to join the bidding because the Philippine Navy's TWG simply required bidders to have experience in building ships of around 7,000 tons or higher displacement, without specifying on the type of ship they built before.
In short, it is the Philippine Navy's fault that such was able to join and even become the lowest bidder for the project due to their vague and incomplete details on the technical specifications and requirements.
Post Bidding
While Megaship Builders Inc. - Sing Kiong Hong Dockyards JV was the lowest bidder for the Landing Docks Acquisition Project of the Philippine Navy, it appears that they might have hit a wall during the Post Qualification Inspection (PQI) stage which was conducted this month.
And based on information MaxDefense received after posting the news on Megaship Builders - Sing Kiong Hong Dockyards JV being the lowest bidder for the project, it appears that they failed the Post Qualification Inspection (PQI) due to financial and technical reasons, which may have included their lack of experience in building an LPD-like vessel or military transport vessels of similar size and design.
If the joint venture was Post-Disqualified, it means that the second lowest bidder will be given the chance to steal the show. And in this case, the second lowest bidder is Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL (Persero), which was the builder of the Tarlac-class LPD already in use with the Philippine Navy.
It now remains to be seen if PT PAL will be able to pass the Post Qualification Inspection to be conducted by the DND-Bids and Awards Committee (DND-BAC) and Philippine Navy Technical Working Group (TWG).
PT PAL previously passed the PQI for the Strategic Sealift Vessel (SSV) Acquisition Project, which means PT PAL has experience in how PQIs are done, and how to pass it.
Should PT PAL pass the PQI, it would become the basis for the release of Notice of Award (NOA), which in turn will lead to PT PAL receiving the contract for the project.
A win by PT PAL is also advantageous to the Philippine Navy, as both parties already had previous working experience in building similar ships, and PT PAL's offered design is actually an improved version of the Tarlac-class. This means the retention of design which will make commonality and logistics support simpler and more efficient, compared to having a different LPD design from the existing ones the Philippine Navy already operates.
MaxDefense just hopes that the Philippine Navy would be able to improve further on the ship's design, considering they failed to include improvements on helicopter deck capacity to allow future helicopters of the Philippine Air Force, which may include medium and heavy lift helicopters like the Russian Mi-17 Hip and American CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
Here is images from video posted by PT PAL of what it could be offering to the Philippine Navy. Take note that items not included in the technical requirements will not be delivered by the winning shipbuilder, including the 76mm Super Rapid main gun, CIWS, etc.
(PHDefenseSource)