Rival bidder to ask SC for access to ZTE contract

Amsterdam Holdings Inc. will ask the Supreme Court to order the Department of Transportation and Communications to open access to and provide copies of the contract and other documents related to the controversial $330-million National Broadband Network project. The firm said it will invoke the constitutional right to information in its petition, which will be filed later this afternoon. In a statement sent to the media, Amsterdam Holdings said it will also ask the High Tribunal to issue a preliminary injunction against the DOTC and other government agencies involved in the project to stop them from entering into any agreement implementing the NBN until the legality of the entire contract is determined. Amsterdam Holdings is one of the parties who failed to corner the project which aims to connect national government agencies to local government units through the Internet. Amsterdam Holdings maintains that it should have won the contract as it submitted the first complete unsolicited proposal for the project and offered to undertake the project through the build-operate-transfer scheme. Instead, the DOTC awarded the contract to the Government of China which will be providing a $330-million loan for the network. The Chinese government in turn assigned ZTE Corp. to undertake the project. “Pursuant to Article VIII, Section 5 (1) of the Constitution, to remedy the continuing injury to petitioner AHI and, more importantly, to uphold the people’s constitutional right to information, petitioners respectfully beseech this Honorable Court to make a determination on whether or not respondents are justified in withholding information regarding the multi-million dollar NBN Project," AHI said in its petition, copies of which were furnished the media. The firm will be asking the Supreme Court “to allow herein petitioners access to all agreements entered into with the Government of China, ZTE Corporation, and/or other entities, government instrumentalities, and/or individuals with regard to the National Broadband Network project." In its petition, AHI complained that it has yet to be provided a copy of the NBN contract despite a formal request sent to DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso last August 2, 2007. “Despite having been initially entertained by the DOTC, CICT, as well as by the National Economic Development Authority, AHI was eventually shut out from the NBN project," Amsterdam Holdings complained. Under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, Amsterdam said the DOTC should have acted on its unsolicited proposal and subjected the proposal to a “Swiss challenge" instead of being junked in favor of the government-to-government proposal of ZTE. – GMANews.TV