Two groups, Megawide Construction Corp. and the BSP & Co.-Vicente T. Lao Construction consortiums, recently received a Notice of Award (NOA) for Phase 2 of the PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP II) from the Philippine Department of Education for the construction of school buildings under the country's public-private partnership (PPP) program.

The Department of Education's Secretary approved the said recommendation made by the Department's Project Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) last September 13, 2013.

Megawide was warded contract package A, and BSP & Company, Inc. and Vicente T. Lao Construction were awarded contract package E.

Megawide will construct 2,240 classrooms in 928 schools in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Cordillera regions while BSP and Company Inc. while Vicente T. Lao Construction will construct 1,930 classrooms in 750 schools in Northern Mindanao and Caraga Regions.

Based on the project's instruction to bidders, both firms should submit within 20 days upon receipt of the NOA the prescribed documents under the BOT Law.

Upon compliance of the post-award requirements, the Deparment of Education will schedule the signing of the contract for all packages.

PSIP II is the second school building project of the Deparment of Education done through a PPP mode. Each of the packages of the Project consists of the following activities:

1. Upfront financing of the design and construction of the project;
2. Preparation of the detailed engineering design (DED);
3. Construction of project facilities;
4. Transfer of project facilities and ownership of these assets to theDepartment of Education after construction.