COA says LTMS project is yet to be completed
The Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project, valued at P3.14 billion and managed by the Land Transportation Office (LTO), remains incomplete and underutilized, as reported by the 2022 Commission on Audit (CoA).
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) has highlighted several functionality issues, despite full payments for core applications and at least 15 contract extensions.
According to the DoTr, the foreign-made LTMS still does not have essential functionalities required for the LTO’s daily operations, including a payment feature. The LTMS project was developed through a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with a German technology firm, Dermalog, and its local partners, Holy Family Printing Corp., Microgenesis, and Verzontal Builders Inc. The project was awarded in May 2018 through competitive bidding.
For three consecutive years, the CoA has raised concerns about the LTMS project due to delays. In its latest report, the CoA emphasized that the LTMS was not fully utilized despite complete acceptance and payment due to missing functions, processes, and implementation issues.
Users of the system, including absentee and overseas Filipino workers (OFW) seeking driver’s license renewal under the Driver’s Licensing System (DLS), require the missing processes to be addressed.
Furthermore, the initial registration of motor vehicles under the Motor Vehicle Inspection and Registration System (MVIRS) module of the LTMS remains non-functional. As a result, some LTO sites continue to rely on the current LTO-IT system developed by LTO’s long-time IT partner, Stradcom.
To address the situation, the LTO issued a memorandum dated September 27, 2023, instructing all LTO sites to use both the LTMS and LTO-IT systems in their transactions until October 31, 2023. This directive aims to ensure uninterrupted delivery of efficient public service to all clients. The LTO acknowledged that essential requirements are still needed for the LTMS to fully align with existing LTO policies and meet the requirements of its frontline services.
Despite the missing functionalities of the LTMS, state auditors observed that the LTO made an undue payment to Dermalog for the maintenance of core applications from October 2019 to October 2020, even though the first acceptance of core applications occurred in December 2020.
As of December 31, 2022, the LTO has paid a total of P385.6 million for the maintenance of core applications, data center, and generator set, falling under Component B of the project.
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