“The basic requirement of the PAF is a helicopter with a minimum payload of 3,000 lbs.! The PAF has no need for a toy helicopter such as the MD530F.”
by Ducky Paredes
It has to be gullibility on the part of us journalists and our people and plain kawalanghiyaan (shamelessness coupled with pure greed) on the part of out officials when they pull something like what recently happened at a Department of National Defense bidding.
The Department of National Defense conducted a Public bidding (Local & International) on September 5, 2007 at DND, Camp Aguinaldo, Q.C.
There were three pre-qualified bidders: Augusta of Italy, PZL Swidnik of Poland and Asian Aerospace Corporation, a local company representing McDonnel Douglas.
The Technical Working Group disqualified Augusta’s bid due to alleged non-compliance with the delivery period. Nothing technical.
PZL Swidnik was also disqualified by the Technical Working Group due to non-compliance of Special Power of Attorney (SPA) signatory and delivery of Integrated Logistic Support and Training package. There were fully explained in a submitted letter of reconsideration from the manufacturer. Still, Swidnik was disqualified. Again, there was nothing technically wrong with this other disqualified bid!
Asian Aerospace Corp’s bid was opened and declared to be in full compliance by the Technical Working Group. The Financial envelope was opened and the bid amount turned out to be USD 4,320,833.33 per unit. The helicopter model offered was the MD530F.
This particular model, however, is technically non-complying. The tender document requirement was a minimum payload of 3,000 lbs while the MD530F can only accommodate a payload of 1,118 (not even half of what was required). In fact, when one takes into account the weight of the plane, the pilot and the fuel, the MD530F has a payload less than 1,000 lbs. (six persons, max). Of what use will such a light helicopter be as an attack aircraft?
Clearly, the Asian Aerospace bid is technically deficient. But, that was not all.
According to the May 2007 Issue of Business and commercial Aviation, the prevailing international price for a basic MD530F helicopter is only USD1,250,000. If the Philippine Air Force pays US$ 4.3 M for each helicopter, it will definitely be overpaying for a unit that is below specification.
The basic requirement of the PAF is a helicopter with a minimum payload of 3,000 lbs.! The PAF has no need for a toy helicopter such as the MD530F.
To be fair, if the DND had asked for a helicopter that could carry less than 1,000 pounds, instead of 3,000, the other bidders might have been able to meet all of the non-technical requirements they were unable to meet.
After the Sept. 5, 2007 bidding, the failed bidders submitted letters of complaint to the DND BAC, They pointed out that the winning bidder should also have been disqualified. After all, it was delivering a non-compliant helicopter at an overprice!
Up to now, five months and three weeks after the bidding, the post bid evaluation is still not done. Why does it take the DNDBAC so long to discover that the MD530F is not in compliance with the requirement of the PAF for a helicopter with a minimum payload of 3,000 lbs.?
The Philippine Air Force urgently needs a night capable attack helicopter to protect and support the ground troops in the battlefield. This is the reason why the PAF asked for a bigger helicopter (3,000 lbs payload) to carry more armaments and ammo to stretch their time hovering over the combat area. With the dragonfly-sized helicopter that the DNDBAC is seriously considering, the only hope that our troops will have will be if the enemy dies laughing then they see the fleet of dragonflies overhead with very limited capabilities of inflicting damage.
The usual helicopter weapons are a pair of any of several of the following: M134 7.62-mm 6x barrel Gatling type twin MG pods, M260 2.75-in Hydra 70 rocket pods (7 or 12 each), .50 cal MG pods, M75 40-mm grenade launchers, MK19 40-mm grenade launcher TOW missile pods, Hellfire ATGM and Stinger AAM. One wonders how the tiny dragonfly can fly with a full set of armaments and ammunition. After firing a few rounds, will it have to go back down to get a few more rounds?
If the DNDBAC approves this “winning” bid, it can only mean that the government, despite all of its posturing as a warrior, cannot possibly be serious about wanting to rout the enemies of the State and that its main raison d’être is still that of lining pockets and making instant millionaires and billionaires of those should be serving this country and its people.
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The Sixth and Final Leg of 2007 San Mig Coffee Sugar Free Senior Golf Series for the Federation of Philippine Amateur Senior Golfers, Inc. (FPASGI) will tee off at Villamor beginning at 6:30 a.m. on December 28.
As with all of the legs of the San Mig Senior Golf Series, there will be raffle prizes for all participants as well as give-aways of various San Miguel products as well as trophies for age group Champions and runners-up and for the winner of the team competition between competing member-clubs of the FPASGI. Scoring is by the Stableford system.
All FPASGI members are invited to join this tournament, which traditionally is the biggest and the most fun of all FPASGI tournaments with the best entertainment and the best raffle prizes. We always hold this one between Christmas and New Year to give our members time to attend other Christmas tournaments and the many holiday parties to which we seniors are invited.
The FPASGI has just acquired a machine that can create your improved, full-color credit-card type plastic ID for 2008 right there at the tournament. We can also create personalized bag tags for you at minimal cost. So, if you are an FPASGI member, do join us and play in this Christmas tournament.
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“The many measures that have been promulgated by the Government to respond to the problem of extrajudicial executions are encouraging. However, they have yet to succeed, and the extrajudicial executions continue” – Philip Alston, United Nations Rapporteur.
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hvp (12.25.07)
One Comment
When it comes to costs of an aircraft it is easy to mix apples & oranges. For instance, are the costs you talking about per aircraft a ‘fly away’ cost or procurement cost, or acquisition costs? Often people look only at flyaway costs and ignore the can represent 1/3 to 1/2 the life cycle cost of the system. The $1.25 mil for a MD530F is clearly a flyaway cost. But a company who bids an aircraft program knows the buyer needs training, hangers, special tools, test sets, etc, etc, and bids that too. Want weapons or avionics with that? Often those are not flyaway costs either. Bottom line, as far as costs go, the disconnect is probably not as severe as you suggest.
However, if the requirement is 3000 lbs payload (external or internal?) the MD 530F certainly won’t cut it. External payload is a little over 2k pounds. But one thing in the 530F’s favor, it has one of the lowest operating cost per flight hour of any.
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