Re: Office of the Chief Attorney Report on Cd Asia's Online Bench Companion

April 10, 2018

EN BANC

A.M. No. 18-04-03-SC

RE: OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ATTORNEY REPORT ON CD ASIA'S ONLINE BENCH COMPANION

NOTICE

Sirs/Mesdames :

Please take notice that the Court en banc issued a Resolution dated APRIL 10, 2018, which reads as follows:

"A.M. No. 18-04-03-SC(Re: Office of the Chief Attorney Report on CD Asia's Online Bench Companion). — In a letter dated September 25, 2017 addressed to Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on Libraries and Research of the Supreme Court, CD Technologies Asia, Inc. (CD Asia), through its President Atty. Ma. Lourdes D. Sitaca, and its Vice-President Atty. Ma. Theresa G. Libunao, offered to the Court the use of its latest product, the Online Bench Companion. It is intended to be a parallel product to CD Asia Online, but exclusively for members of the Judiciary, Prosecutors under the Department of Justice, and Solicitors in the Office of the Solicitor General. The use of the Online Bench Companion will provide courts nationwide access to the comprehensive databases of Philippine Jurisprudence and Laws with the same search functionalities as CD Asia Online. Should the Court favorably consider their proposal, CD Asia will no longer commercially offer the Online Bench Companion. Further, the interface of the system may be designed according to the specifications of the Court. CD Asia will, however, continue to maintain the system, update the database and provide technical support to the users. For these services, CD Asia will charge the Court a monthly maintenance fee of P275.00 per account, exclusive of VAT, for a minimum of 1,000 accounts for a period of at least two (2) years.

On October 4, 2017, the Office of the Chief Justice, per recommendation of Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, endorsed CD Asia's proposal to the Office of the Chief Attorney (OCAt) for evaluation, report and recommendation within forty-five (45) days from receipt thereof.

On March 23, 2018, the OCAt submitted its Report on the Proposal of CD Asia.

In its Report, the OCAt observed that the offer of CD Asia for the Court to use its product, Online Bench Companion, with the guaranteed maintenance of the system, updating of the database and provision for technical support to the users, calls for an Approved Budget for the Contract of at least P6,600,000.00, plus an additional amount to cover the VAT. It entails a procurement under the Government Procurement Reform Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

The OCAt stated that to determine whether the Court needs to procure the Online Bench Companion, there is a need to review the Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP), which is explained as follows:

In pursuit of the policy of the state to adopt an Information Systems Planning in Government (ISP) as a "tool to ensure IT application in strategic areas of government concern" and as part of the Judicial Reform Support Project (JRSP), the Court developed, through the management and consultancy services of Indra Sistemas S.A. (INDRA), the Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP). This EISP was approved in the Resolution of June 23, 2009 upon the recommendation of the Committee on Computerization and Library (CCL). The same Resolution introduces the plan thus:

The EISP is intended to serve as the framework of ICT initiatives of the Judiciary for the next five years (Yr. 2010-2014). It contains the present ICT needs of the Judiciary and proposed solutions vis-à-vis the organization's mandate, objectives and programs through the development of a new Information Systems (IS) and provision of additional state-of-the-art IT equipment. It also includes functional and technical requirements of the systems, cost estimates, and a discussion on the implementation plan and change management framework.

Eventually, the EISP was updated and the same was approved in the Resolution of September 16, 2014. And for its full implementation, the CCL was reorganized.

The OCAt stated that among the major components of the EISP is the Legal Resource Management System (LRMS), which, like the Online Bench companion, is a research tool. This EISP component is provided for in the Plan, thus:

4.23 LEGAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The judiciary currently uses the E-Library, which contains Supreme Court and Appellate Court decisions, articles of law, legal journals and other significant resources such as the manual for Clerks of Court. The system being recommended contains these functionalities and in addition, intends to be more comprehensive through a link with the JCMS for automatic transfer of all (promulgated) decisions from all levels of the Judiciary, to provide resource services to the public and lawyers and to be used as the basis for clearance issuances. To distinguish this more comprehensive system from the existing E-library, it shall be called the Legal Resource Management System (LRMS) in this document.

The content of the LRMS may be made available to the Lower Courts through the internet or through CD distribution for courts without internet access. Content may also be made available to the public depending on the court's discretion.

As this is part of resource management, the LRMS also has an additional sub-system managing actual library operations such as the safekeeping and lending of books and other library resources. This may also be used by all libraries, including those at the RTC level, via downloading or through the distributed CDs.

The OCAt reported that along with the other EISP components, the LRMS is now with the Court's Bids and Awards Committee for Goods and Services for procurement. The Terms of Reference for the LRMS (Annex C of the Report) states:

At present, the Supreme Court of the Philippines (SCP) maintains the Electronic Library (E-Library), a searchable repository of decisions and resolutions of the SCP and the appellate courts. The E-Library also contains SCP circulars and issuances, the Rules of Court, SCP manuals, executive issuances, laws, journals and other legal research materials. The E-Library's search engine is DtSearch. The Library Services of the SCP manages and maintains the contents of the E-Library.

The SCP intends to upgrade the E-Library to a more comprehensive Legal Resource Management System (LRMS). The LRMS would feature, among others, a link to the eCourt System for the transfer of promulgated decisions from all levels of the Judiciary, as well as an expanded capability to contain and manage a variety of resource materials, such as audio and video files. The LRMS resources may be made available to lawyers and the general public through an online public portal.

The OCAt conferred with the Management Information Systems Office (MISO) as the matter relates to its key role in the implementation of the EISP. As a result of an interview with Mr. Joselito N. Enriquez of the MISO, and its appreciation of the Terms of Reference for the LRMS, the OCAt found that the features of the Online Bench Companion are already subsumed in the LRMS. The LRMS once developed would, among others, contain research materials on Philippine Jurisprudence as it would be capable to do the following:

(1) compile and organize the legal resource materials of the Judiciary;

(2) compile decisions of the courts from the different levels of the Judiciary from the eCourt system;

(3) compile other Supreme Court information materials, e.g., training materials and other resources from the Philippine Judicial Academy;

(4) assign indices to case decisions and other Supreme Court information materials for easy retrieval;

(5) sort decisions and other Supreme Court information materials in various categories, e.g., case type, date of promulgation, date of filing, training, title, etc.;

(6) compile the latest Supreme Court decision in CDs (or other appropriate types of storage) for quarterly distribution to all lower courts;

(7) link and cross refer case with another document; CAIHTE

(8) download, print and email the search results;

(9) link case citations to the scanned image of the corresponding book volume and page number in the Philippine Reports;

(10) support the development of syllabi for decisions based on selected case information in the eCourt system;

(11) link to the syllabi prepared by the Office of the Reporter and included in the Philippine Reports;

(12) store journals, articles and other materials with assigned indices;

(13) create associations/relationships/hyperlinks among related articles, decisions and other Supreme Court information materials; and

(14) customize display screen to suit user needs, i.e., with menu/explorer, list of related articles, full view of article, etc.

In summary, the OCAt reported that based on the study of the pertinent documents and information gathered from the MISO, the Online Bench Companion is a duplication of the LRMS.

The Court appreciates the offer of CD Asia for the Court to use the Online Bench Companion and if accepted, CD Asia will no longer commercially offer the product. However, in view of the findings of the OCAt, the Court has to forgo the offer.

WHEREFORE, considering that there is a pending procurement of the Legal Resource Management System, which functions like the Online Bench Companion, the Court regretfully DECLINES the offer of CD Technologies Asia, Inc." Sereno, C.J. and Del Castillo, J., on leave. Reyes, Jr., J., on official leave. (37)

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) EDGAR O. ARICHETAClerk of Court