THE Department of Education (DepEd) is targeting at total of 9,332 new classrooms for Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 2 (Cagayan Valley) and 4A (Calabarzon) through the public-private partnership (ppp) program of the government.

During the Investor Conference held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City on Wednesday, the Education department said that to meet the current shortage of classrooms in the Philippines, the government is calling on possible bidders for classroom construction.

According to DepEd Undersecretary Francisco Varela, the Philippines is exploring various strategies to address the need for more classrooms nationwide.

Under the PPP for School Infrastructure Project (psip), the government, through DepEd, will provide the private sector the business opportunity to invest in the design and construction of classrooms and buildings.

At total of 9,332 new classrooms within 2,528 new school buildings will be built at about 2,262 existing elementary and secondary school sites in different regions.

The DepEd undersecretary added that the PSIP allows the government to fast track the delivery of classrooms. The project intends to address not only the current classroom backlog, but also the future classroom requirements of the Education department. The PSIP allows investors to use their own technology, which is consistent with the Minimum Performance Standards and Specifications (MPSS) set by the DepEd.

MPSS contains the technical details on design, construction and performance of the school buildings to be built. On January 8 last year, the Education department invited interested parties to pre-qualify to bid for the design, financing, construction and maintenance of classrooms and buildings clustered into sub-projects in the three contact packages for schools in Regions 2, 3 and 4A. The aforementioned contract packages will be bidded out separately.

Meanwhile, the Education department said that each sub-project has three components such as school buildings, toilets and classroom furniture.

The DepEd added that there are 12 types of school buildings, which are differentiated by the number of floors and classrooms.

However, the Education department will be the one to prescribe what type of school building will be built in each school. The project will be awarded through competitive bidding through the PPP Scheme and carried out in accordance with the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, DepEd said.

The Education department will bid out and implement each contract package using the Build-Lease-and-Transfer contractual arrangement or modality. The bidding will follow two-stage system: prospective bidders shall first be pre-qualified by the DepEd based on legal, technical and financial capability requirements; the prospective bidders which pre-qualify shall be invited to submit their bids. Submissions of bids are scheduled on June 29, 2012, the Education department said.