The Commission on Audit (COA) has urged the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to set a firm deadline for the full nationwide rollout of its Land Transportation Management System (LTMS), after delays led to P438.7 million in avoidable IT fees in 2024.

In its latest report, COA flagged the LTO for continuing to collect computer IT fees through the old system, operated by Stradcom Corp., even though seven core applications of the LTMS had already been accepted.

The audit agency also recommended that LTO work closely with Dermalog Identification System GMBH to resolve remaining system issues, finalize a timeline for the delivery of all LTMS functions, and incorporate penalties for non-compliance.

“The Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) was still not being fully utilized nationwide and was still in parallel use with the old IT System as of 31 December 2024, despite the acceptance of the seven Core Applications, due to the existing issues and problems in the functions/processes of the system,” COA said.

As a result, the public continued to pay computer IT fees amounting to P438,785,773.61 — an expense COA said “could have been avoided had the LTMS been fully functioning and utilized by the LTO offices nationwide.”

Clients under the old IT system were charged P67.63 for every Driver’s Licensing System, ADLES, and Traffic Adjudication System transaction, and P169.06 for every Motor Vehicle Inspection and Registration System and Manufacturers, Assemblers, Importers, Rebuilders, and/or Dealers transaction.

“This resulted in additional burden and expense for the transacting public as they had to pay for computer IT fees which should have not been the case had the transaction been processed under the LTMS,” COA added.

As of end-2024, LTO had already paid P2.59 billion, or 82.58 percent of the LTMS contract cost, to Dermalog for the system’s seven core applications.