Forward Support Equipment (Horizon 2) Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army
To continue the modernization of its logistics capabilities, the Philippine Army has raised a requirement for a variety of trucks that would allow them to improve their transport capabilities.
The Forward Support Equipment Acquisition Project under the Horizon 2 phase is a continuation to the earlier project of the same name under the Horizon 1 phase, with both procurements actually related to each other closely.
With the Horizon 1 phase project pushing for the acquisition of forklifts to allow easy movement of palletized and containerized cargo, the project under Horizon 2 phase focuses of the trucks that would deliver these goods.
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| A MAN TG-MIL 6x4 10-wheel tractor head truck, which is widely accepted globally as one of the most versatile and durable trucks in the market, which is essentially a militarized MAN TG truck. The Philippine Army uses such model for its ATMOS 155mm self propelled howitzer and ammunition trucks. Photo credits to Truck World. |
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| A MAN TG-MIL Tractor with a tanker trailer, similar to what the Philippine Army has specified as one of the requirements under its Forward Support Equipment Acquisition Project. Photo credits to Truck Planet. |
Project Summary:
Forward Support Equipment (Horizon 2) Acquisition Project:
Note: Edited as of 04 February 2024.
* End User: Philippine Army (Combat Engineering units)
* Quantity:
- 32 Trucks, Equipment Transporter Heavy (tractor head and trailer);
- 30 Trucks, Fuel / Water Tanker Lorry, Heavy (tractor head and trailer);
- 24 Trucks, Wrecker Medium;
- 3 Operators and Maintenance Training (1 for each type)
* Modernization Phase: Horizon 2 Phase of RAFPMP
* Project ABC: Originally Php956,552,000.00, reduced to Php872,952,000.00
* Acquisition Mode: Public Bidding
* Source of Funding: AFP Modernization Program Trust Fund
* SARO Release/s: TBC
* Winning Proponent: TBC
* Product for Delivery: TBC
* Contract Price: TBC
* First post by MaxDefense: 24 September 2022 (this post)
* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PAFSEH2Acquisition
* Status: Originally planned to include the acquisition of 32 Trucks, Heavy Trailer Low Bed, 28 Trucks Water Lorry, 24 Trucks Wrecker Medium, and 16 Mobile Kitchens. The Acquisition of Mobile Kitchens were separated and to be acquired separately. 1st bidding attempt failed, 2nd attempt published on 28 February 2023 and SOBE on 07 March 2023. Bidding failed as of 05 June 2023. TWG to re-review the technical specifications of the project before undergoing another bidding process.
Overview:
The Philippine Army has always had mobility issues especially when it comes to moving heavy vehicles, palletized or containerized cargo, fuel or water, and providing towing or wrecker support despite having a fleet of hundreds of small, medium and heavy trucks in its mobility fleet.
It has been pushed to get the services of private transport contractors, and this has been more evident when the Philippine Army participates in military exercises like Balikatan where heavy equipment and cargo are moved from bases to staging areas.
This project aims to address some of that issues to reduce the reliance on private contractors, while also giving itself freedom to move without letting contractors know of their plans.
Based on the technical specifications, the Philippine Army is not looking for militarized trucks, but would probably accept civilian-spec trucks and trailers similar to the ones they already have in its fleet, like those used by Engineering units.
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| The Philippine Army already procured several wrecker trucks using Daewoo truck bodies back in 2018, although these appear to be smaller than what the Philippine Army specified this time. Photo credits to SooSung Motors. |
The tractor heads for both the equipment transporter and tanker trailers are 10-wheeler 6x4 heavy trucks, while the wrecker truck has almost similar specs to the tractor heads, which means that it is likely that the trucks are of the same model but different variant only.
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| A MAN TG 6x4 truck with semi trailer for Army transport use. |
The possibility of also having a Russian brand like Ural is highly likely if their local representatives would also join the tender. Their price are competitive against Chinese brands, and Ural have trucks that appear to meet the tender requirements.
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| An Ural NEXT 6x4 truck. Photo credits to Ural. |
We also believe that it would be better if the Philippine Army selects a brand or model that is already in service with them, so they can take advantage of existing logistics support lines or spare parts supply.
The first attempt for bid the project will have its Submission of Bids scheduled on 11 October 2022, subject to changes or time extensions.
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15 October 2022:
Interesting developments on the project as the Supplemental Bid Bulletin DND/PA-FSE-2022-02 was released by the DND on their website.
It appears that several companies have posted queries, including MAN Concessionaires Corp (distributor of MAN trucks), BJ Mercantile (distributor of Scania trucks), MCX International (distributor of Shacman Chinese-made trucks), Civic Merchandising (distributor of Volvo trucks),
MAN's distributor appears to have some problems with meeting some administrative requirements as well as having a service center in Mindanao, and MAN trucks meeting ground clearance requirements for the Wreckers.
Scania's distributor appear to only have issues with the trailers, which are expected to be supplied by others and not made by Scania itself.
Shacman's distributor appears to have issues for being not the sole distributor of the brand, which is a requirement of the project. Chinese-brand trucks are widely sold by several companies in the Philippines.
Volvo's distributor have issues with regards to truck tire sizes, and meeting ground clearance. They recommended the use of a different tire size but these were denied.
It is very interesting to see that European trucks are mostly contending for this project. MAN, Scania and Volvo are all deserving brands, although MAN appears to have an advantage due to the Philippine Army (and Philippine National Police) already using their trucks, although there seems to be problems with meeting the administrative requirements.
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| Example of Scania trucks in service with the Danish Army (wrecker top) and French Army (tanker above). |
Based on an earlier Supplemental Bid Bulletin, the Submission and Opening of Bid Envelopes (SOBE) have been moved from 11 October to 25 October 2022. Based on answers from the latest SBB, requests to move the SOBE date have been denied by the DND BAC.
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11 March 2023:
The Forward Support Equipment Acquisition Project has been re-tender after failure of the first bidding attempt, with the new attempt published as of 28 February 2023 and having a submission date of 07 March 2023.
Again, the turn-around for this project is rather quick, so honestly, we expect another bidding failure which may push the DND to change the procurement process to Negotiated Procurement which allows easier and faster processing.
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06 January 2024:
The project was declared a failure as of 05 June 2023, with the DND's Procurement Monitoring Report mentioning that the project would undergo a review of its technical specifications before proceeding again with public tender.
It appears that proponents may not be able to meet the requirements of the project versus the allocated budget, which resulted to the failure of the bidding process.
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First edit and release: 24 September 2022
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource
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