To continue the modernization of its logistics capabilities, the Philippine Army has raised a requirement for a variety of trucks that would allow them to improve their transport capabilities.
The Forward Treatment Unit Acquisition Project is a further plan to improve the medical capabilities of the Philippine Army to support forward-deployed troops, and can also be used during Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
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| Two of the new Surgical Trucks, with the Forward Treatment Unit facility shown in the background, taken during the PA's 126th founding anniversary celebration on 22 March 2023.. Photo credits to MaxDefense Philippines community member who wish to remain anonymous. |
Project Summary:
Forward Treatment Unit Acquisition Project:
Note: Edited as of 23 March 2023.
* Project Number: MED PABAC-005-19
* End User: Philippine Army (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 9th, 10th Infantry Divisions)
* Quantity:
- 8 Mobile Surgical Trucks
- 8 Medical Care (Resuscitative) sets
- 64 Enhanced Frame Type Tents
- 256 Cot Beds
- 32 Air-conditioning Systems
- 8 Generator Sets 75KVA
- 24 Water Systems
* Modernization Phase: GAA2019 Procurement Projects of the Philippine Army
* Project ABC: Php421,048,000.00
* Acquisition Mode: Public Bidding
* Source of Funding: Donation by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) worth Php421,000,000.00. Additional funding by Philippine Army GAA for 2019.
* SARO Release/s: TBC
* Winning Proponent: Joint Venture of Cylix Technologies Inc. and Optima Technic LLC (Turkey)
* Product/s for Delivery: Optima Technic Military Field Hospital, and Mobile Surgical Truck on Dongfeng Tianjin EQ2160 6x6 truck
* Contract Price: Php420,500,000.00
* Residual Amount: Php548,000.00
* First post by MaxDefense: 24 March 2023 (this post)
* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PAFTU2019Acquisition
* Status: First released for tender in 2019, but bidding failed. Another bidding attempt was made on January 2021 which resulted in a bidding failure, and a third attempt was opened on April 2021 which became successful. The project was awarded to the Joint Venture of Cylix Technologies Inc and Optima Technic LLC of Turkey on 10 September 2021. Notice to Proceed was released on 04 January 2022, and the Contract was approved by 12 January 2022. Delivery was made in late 2022. PROJECT COMPLETED.
Overview:
With the modernization of the Philippine Army, among those that were given a chance to improve is on the medical field and support, where the idea is to provide the fastest way to save their soldier's lives especially during combat operations.
According to the Philippine Army, from 2016 to 2018, the Philippine Army recorded an average of 895 soldiers wounded in action and an average of 191 killed in combat. And from January 2018 up to June 2019, the Philippine Army recorded 1,161 casualties from military operations. Of this number, 271 soldiers died because they did not immediately receive proper medical treatment.
This data shows that improvement in medical capabilities should be made to save as many of its wounded troops as possible.
The medical capability's modernization has been done in gradual measures, first with providing improved medical kits to troops as well as the Combat Lifesaver Kits, and providing them at a wider scale to troops in combat operations, which allows first aid to be made.
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| The Philippine Army's Combat Lifesaver Kit, photo credits to Webbingbabel. |
Next is the procurement of field ambulances that allows the quick transport of wounded troops out of the battlefield by land. This was recently supported by the improvement of air ambulance capabilities by both the Philippine Army and Philippine Air Force to enable faster transport of seriously wounded troops into better equipped hospitals.
Improvement of medical facilities on military bases was also made, as well as for the AFP Medical Center in Quezon City.
Then there was the introduction of a forward deployed medical facility that was introduced only a couple of years ago, more like a small field hospital which will allow the establishment of a forward deployed medical facility as close to the area of conflict or emergency as possible.
The procurement of the Forward Treatment Unit is the latest addition, which is an improvement of a field hospital by allowing surgery capabilities. This is a more complicated equipment due to the requirement of specialized surgical equipment and tools.
Prior to the procurement of tis project for a Forward Treatment Unit, the Philippine Army created their own as a proof of concept. One of the Philippine Army's Ural 4320 8-ton truck was converted to a surgical truck, while the Philippine Army also used Enhanced Frame-Type Tents to build a small forward treatment unit.
This was first shown to the public during the Philippine Army's 122nd founding anniversary in March 2019.
To address this requirement into a wider project, the Philippine Army opened a tender to procure eight more Forward Treatment Units which will be assigned to a division-level units. This is just an initial step as the Philippine Army plans to have additional FTUs to provide to other division-level units (currently the Philippine Army has 11 Infantry Divisions, 1 Armored Division, and several regimental-sized independent units).
According to our parent page MaxDefense Philippines, the ultimate goal is for the Philippine Army to deploy these FTUs to brigade-level units, and creating larger FTUs for division-sized units.
Based on the bid documents, the units to receive a Forward Treatment Unit each are the following:
* 5th Infantry Division based at Camp Melchor F Dela Cruz, Upi, Gamu, Isabela;
* 7th Infantry Division based at Fort Ramon Magsaysay, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija;
* 9th Infantry Division based at Camp Elias Angeles, Pili, Camarines Sur;
* 8th Infantry Division based at Camp General Vicente Lucban, Catbalogan City, Samar;
* 1st Infantry Division based at Camp Major L San-an, Puacan, Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur;
* 4th Infantry Division based at Camp Edilberto Evangelista, Patag, Cagayan de Oro City; Misamis Oriental;
* 6th Infantry Division based at Camp BGen. Gonzalo H Siongco, Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao; and the
* 10th Infantry Division based at Camp Gen. Manuel T Yan Sr, Brgy Tuboran, Mawab, Compostela Valley.
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U P D A T E S:
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19 June 2019:
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) confirmed that it donated Php421 million for the procurement of Forward Treatment Facilities for the Philippine Army.
This was held on 13 June 2019 with DND Assistant Secretary for Logistics and Acquisition Jesus Rey Avilla receiving it from PAGCOR's Chairman and CEO Andrea D. Domingo.
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| DND ASec Jesus Rey Avilla receiving a check worth Php410 million from PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo. Photo credits to PAGCOR. |
21 March 2019:
The Philippine Army displayed their new Forward Treatment Facility as part of the display during the service's 122nd founding anniversary.
The display is a proof of concept of what the service wanted to have as standard using Enhanced Frame-type Tents, and a converted Ural truck serving as a surgical truck.
The video below from the 122nd founding anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army shows the tour inside the Forward Treatment Facility.
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12 December 2019:
A tender was raised by the Philippine Army Bids and Awards Committee, with tender no. MED PABAC-005-19 with SOBE on 18 November 2019. But it appears that the bidding failed for still unknown reasons.
18 January 2021:
A second bidding attempt was opened on 20 February 2020, with the SOBE originally scheduled on 11 March 2020. But several bid bulletins were made that pushed the SOBE date to 16 April 2020.
As of 05 January 2021, PhilGEPS confirmed that the bidding has failed and the project placed on hold. So far no new Invitation to Bid was raised by the Philippine Army as of this writing.
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05 July 2021:
A third bidding attempt, has been raised by the Philippine Army on 05 January 2021. SOBE was scheduled on 26 January 2021.
PhilGEPS posted that this bidding attempt failed, and another attempt was opened on April 2021, with a SOBE scheduled on 28 April 2021 and making this the fourth attempt to publicly tender this project.
As of this writing, the tender is considered closed, which means that there is a chance that the tender is successful since its been 3 months and no failure confirmation has been posted.
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23 March 2023:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines received confirmation that the Forward Treatment Unit Acquisition Project has been procured and was awarded to the Joint Venture of Cylix Technologies Inc and Turkey's Optica Technic LLC.
Optima Technic manufactures mobile and field hospitals, and other facilities used by militaries.
Photos below shows the Forward Treatment Unit from Turkey during the 126th founding anniversary of the Philippine Army last 22 March 2023. It also turns out that the Philippine Army showcased its new surgical trucks last 10 March 2023 at the recently concluded Philippine Army Health Service and Wellness Expo.
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| Photo credits to MaxDefense Philippines community member who wish to remain anonymous. |
Based on the photos, it can be seen that the Mobile Surgical Trucks, in which 8 units were acquired, are using a Chinese-made Dongfeng Tianjin EQ2160 6x6 truck, associated trailers and part of the tent-style unit.
Optima Technic has a standard layout for mobile surgery trucks in its website, which shows that it can accommodate a surgery room.
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With the Optima Technic Forward Treatment Units already delivered and formally inducted with the Philippine Army, MaxDefense and Philippine Defense Resource officially consider the Forward Treatment Unit Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army as COMPLETED.
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First edit and release: 24 March 2023
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource
