The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is studying ways to quickly resolve the supply issue on license cards, including a government-to-government approach.
According to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, parallel to the ongoing P250-million competitive bidding for the procurement of driver’s license cards for the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the agency “is exploring the possibility of engaging the services of other government agencies to supply the said plastic cards.”
Bautista is now in talks with the National Printing Office (NPO) on its technical capability to supply 5 million cards in 60 days.
He noted that the meeting was “exploratory at this time to determine possible scenarios in the event that their services will be engaged.”
The agency is also looking into discussions with the APO Production Unit for the same purpose.
The DOTr Central Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) will require further details before an agency-to-agency arrangement can be finalized through a Memorandum of Agreement, as required under existing laws, rules and regulations.
The DOTr Central BAC has an ongoing competitive bidding for the license cards. Deadline for submission and opening of bids is on May 24.
Meanwhile, the Central BAC is currently addressing the issues and comments received from prospective bidders on the Terms of Reference (TOR) submitted by the LTO to the BAC last March 21.
Last month, LTO Chief Jay Art Tugade admitted that there is a “shortage” of license cards in the country.
As such, Tugade said the agency is allowing drivers to use their official receipts as “temporary driver’s license” in lieu of the physical cards.
The LTO on Thursday said it will “wait” for the procurement process of the DOTr.
“As earlier stated, we will await the arrival of the supplies of plastic cards that the DOTr is procuring to ensure the continuous printing of driver’s license cards,” the LTO said.
Meanwhile, to eliminate the reliance on fixers, the LTO is now reviewing the examination for driver’s license applicants.
Tugade has acknowledged that the lengthy procedure is one of the reasons why many driver applicants resort to patronizing fixers.
Upon learning that the current exam takes an hour to complete, Tugade formed a committee to analyze the exam questions and instructed them to condense the content without sacrificing the purpose which aims to license competent drivers with emphasis on knowledge, skills and attitude.
“The instruction I gave to our committee was to compress the exam. This exam reportedly takes about an hour. The agency is now studying how to shorten the exam. I believe that by reducing the exam duration, our applicants will not seek out fixers and will opt to take the exam themselves,” Tugade said.
Among the exams being studied are for those obtaining a new non-professional license, new conductor’s license, changing classification from non-professional to professional, and adding driver’s license code.
In addition to shortening the examination duration, the committee is also studying to make the questions “customized,” depending on the license classification or driver’s license code the applicant is applying for.