en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has further postponed the release of tender documents for the project to transform the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) into a cargo hub, moving the date from June 30 to July 31.
According to a tender notice issued by the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines on June 30, this adjustment is based on instructions from the Office of the SBMA Chairperson and Administrator. The release has undergone several reschedulings, initially from May 18 to June 17, and then to June 30, aimed at ensuring the technical specifications, financial parameters, and contract framework of the project are fully refined. With the postponement of the release of tender documents, project information memoranda, and related documents, all procurement milestones dependent on this release date will be correspondingly delayed. A complete and updated baseline schedule will be provided in subsequent documents.
Potential bidders for the project will challenge the unsolicited proposal submitted by Cerberus Asia Pacific Investments LLC on March 26, 2025. Cerberus Asia Pacific is affiliated with the U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Global Investment LLC, and together with Agila NY Naval Inc./Agila South Inc., it acquired a 300-hectare area within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone previously occupied by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines, Inc. in 2022.
Malacañang previously stated that Cerberus Global plans to increase its investments in the Philippines, including transforming SBIA into a cargo and logistics hub. After SBMA successfully completed detailed evaluations and negotiations with Cerberus Asia, the latter was granted original proponent status for the project, thereby initiating the comparative challenge process. The project will adopt an Operate-Rehabilitate-Add-Transfer model under Republic Act No. 11966 (the Philippine PPP Code) and its implementing rules and regulations.
The SBIA project includes upgrading, expansion, operation, and maintenance, with a concession period of 25 years, extendable. Its primary objective is to establish an efficient and modern cargo transportation system for Luzon by transforming the airport into a modern, high-capacity cargo hub that meets international standards. The comparative challenge will adopt a single-stage bidding process, where each challenger must submit a comparative proposal including qualification documents, a technical proposal, and a financial proposal. Challengers meeting the qualification requirements will participate in the opening of technical proposals, and only those with compliant technical proposals may proceed to the opening of financial proposals. The challenger whose financial proposal meets the highest benchmark concession fee in the first year of the contract will be declared as having the most advantageous comparative proposal. The challenge is conducted under a "right to match" mechanism, allowing the original proponent the right to match or better the financial proposal of the most advantageous comparative proposal. If the SBMA Pre-Qualification/Qualification, Bids and Awards Committee deems the original proponent's financial proposal more advantageous to the government, or if there are no challengers, the PPP contract will be awarded to the original proponent.
Since its establishment, SBIA has only handled charter and military flights, but SBMA previously stated that the facility is already capable of accommodating commercial flights and can serve as a logistics hub as well as for aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport also handled 82 repatriation flights for Philippine Airlines, transporting over 20,000 passengers from July 2021 to February 2022.
