Case Digest (G.R. No. L-29171)
Facts:
Industrial Power Sales, Inc. v. Hon. Duma Sinsuat, etc., et al., G.R. No. L-29171, April 15, 1988, First Division, Narvasa, J., writing for the Court.The petitioner-appellant was Industrial Power Sales, Inc. (IPSI); the respondents included Duma Sinsuat in his capacity as Secretary of General Services and Delta Motor Corporation (Delta) as respondent-appellee. The dispute arose from two Invitations To Bid issued in April 1965 by the Bureau of Supply Coordination, Department of General Services, for eight line-construction trucks requested by the Bureau of Telecommunications. The first invitation (April 6, 1965) limited offers to foreign-made, CIF Port of Manila units; a second invitation (April 29, 1965), issued after letters from IPSI and an indorsement by Acting Undersecretary Lachica (April 22, 1965), expanded acceptable offers to include locally manufactured bodies on an FOB-Manila basis.
Bids were opened May 11, 1965. The Committee on Awards, with two authorized representatives of the requisitioning Bureau of Telecommunications present, recommended award to IPSI at P52,500 per unit (FOB Manila) as the lowest complying bid, and Letter-Order No. B-207495 in IPSI’s favor was issued June 10, 1965. Delta protested that IPSI’s trucks were not “factory built” as required; the Acting Director of Supply denied Delta’s protest in a June 23, 1965 decision, and informed the requisitioner that delivery would be within sixty working days.
Acting Undersecretary Lachica attempted to recall his April indorsement on July 16, 1965, asserting the requisition called for “special factory built” trucks, but the Acting Director of Supply reaffirmed IPSI’s award and the Director of Telecommunications later concurred, urging prompt delivery. Delta filed a protest with the Secretary of General Services accompanied by a protest bond; Secretary Sinsuat issued a 1st Indorsement (September 3, 1965) directing award to Delta, opining that only Delta complied with original requisition specifications and citing alleged lack of authority for the Undersecretary’s modification. After correspondence concerning price comparisons, Letter-Order in favor of Delta was prepared and released (September 17, 1965).
IPSI appealed administratively to the Office of the President and the Auditor General (September 9–10, 1965) and then filed a petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus in the Quezon City Court of First Instance (CFI) on September 21, 1965 (docketed Q-9477), with a prelimina...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did IPSI need to exhaust available administrative remedies before seeking judicial relief?
- Was Undersecretary Lachica’s April 22, 1965 modification of the Invitation to Bid valid and within his authority?
- Did Secretary Sinsuat exceed his jurisdiction or commit grave abuse of discretion in reversing the award to IPSI and directing that Delta be awarded the contract?
- Did the award to Delta, including its post-bid price adjustment, violate statutory preferences for locally manufactured articles or the Flag Law, and was IPSI entitled to domestic-entity preference?
- Were the dama...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)