The Philippines has simplified the bidding process for reinsurers as the country tries for the second time to secure reinsurance protection to protect state assets and infrastructure from natural catastrophes, according to reports from The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Reinsurers will be invited to re-bid one the one-year national indemnity insurance program of the state-run pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), after the government failed to secure protection back in December.
But the documents have now been amended to make it easier for reinsurers to bid, The Inquirer reported.
For example, the GSIS will now only require a statement of sovereign or government clients within the past 10 years, instead of a statement of the prospective bidder of all its ongoing and completed government and private contracts.
Additionally, bidding will require financial statements for 2018, 2019, 2018-2019, or 2019-2020, in line with international reporting standards, instead of being received or stamped by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The government also said the new bidding process will no longer include five technical proposal forms and four financial proposal forms.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told the publication that the timetable for the rebidding is still being discussed.
GSIS had been seeking a one-year source of indemnity to cover largely catastrophe exposures, as well as some other property risks.
The contract, which would have covered a one-year period starting December 19, 2019, allowed interested reinsurers to submit bids until December 11.
The so-called National Indemnity Insurance Program was hoped to provide the government with insurance covering a range of state assets, including schools, roads and bridges, across parts of its eastern seaboard.
Included under the program were roads and bridges across 25 named provinces of the Philippines, as well as schools in 32 provinces, cities or municipalities.
Assets would have been insured against damages from fire, lightning and natural catastrophe events including typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and storm surges.
