Photo/Illutration A train of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, an urban railroad line that runs through the main business district of the Manila metropolitan area, on Sept. 22 (Toshiya Obu)

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said an employee leaked estimated costs and work details to a Tokyo-based construction consulting firm before the bidding process for a Japanese government-supported project in the Philippines.

The Philippine government awarded the railroad project to a joint venture that included the consulting firm after a “competitive” bidding process in 2019, JICA said on Oct. 15.

In July this year, JICA suspended the employee who leaked the information for a month in accordance with employment regulations.

JICA said the leak of confidential information concerned an improvement project of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, an urban railroad line in the Manila metropolitan area.

The project is connected to a yen loan of about 38.1 billion yen ($255.5 million) agreed upon between the Philippine and Japanese governments.

The Philippine government set the estimated bidding prices by referring to estimates made by JICA.

The JICA employee leaked the estimates and the work plans prepared by the Philippine government to the consulting firm several times via email before the bidding stage.

According to JICA and the Foreign Ministry, bidding for the project was held in June 2019.

A joint venture involving four companies, including the consulting firm, won the bid and signed the contract in February 2020 for about 1.5 billion yen.

JICA said the employee has told JICA’s investigation that the motive for leaking the information was “the need to expedite the project.”

The agency said it took disciplinary measures “because the employee leaked confidential information related procurement procedures.”

A JICA representative said: “We take this situation very seriously. We will work to ensure compliance and prevent a recurrence.”

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki said at a news conference on Oct. 15, “We take the fact that an information leak has occurred very seriously and will closely supervise measures taken by JICA to prevent a recurrence.”

JICA is an independent administrative agency under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry and is responsible for providing financial and technological assistance to developing countries as part of the government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects.

(This article was written by Ai Asanuma and Mika Kuniyoshi.)

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