COA flags P3.14-billion LTO technology project due to irregularities

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) due to delays and irregularities.

A 2022 COA report cited that the P3.14-billion LTMS project remained incomplete and was still not fully used due to several functionality issues despite full payments for core applications and at least 15 contract extensions.

The LTMS was developed by a joint venture agreement of a German technology firm,  Dermalog, and its local partners, Holy Family Printing Corp., Microgenesis, and Verzontal Builders Inc., after the project was awarded in May 2018 through competitive bidding.

The missing processes of the LTMS were deemed necessary by the users of the system, citing for example the absentee and overseas Filipino workers’ driver’s license renewal under the driver’s licensing system.

The new or initial registration of motor vehicles under the motor vehicle inspection and registration system (MVIRS) module of the LTMS remained dysfunctional.

The  COA said that some LTO sites still used the current LTO-IT system developed by Stradcom, another information technology company that had previous dealings with the LTO.

The Department of Transportation, in a Sept. 23 Senate budget deliberation, said the foreign-made LTMS still lacked several functionalities needed in LTO’s daily operations, including a payment feature.

Last Sept. 27,  LTO issued a memorandum, directing all LTO sites to utilize both the LTMS and LTO system in their transactions until Oct. 31 to ensure the uninterruptable delivery of efficient public service to all LTO clients.

Despite the missing functionalities, LTO made an undue payment to Dermalog for the maintenance of core applications for the period of October 2019 to October 2020 even though the first acceptance of core applications was only made in December 2020.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, LTO has already paid a total gross amount of P385.6 million for the maintenance of core applications, data center and generator set under the Component B of the project.