Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Honoraria in Government Procurement can now be paid out of savings!

For BAC, Secretariat and TWGs of Procuring Entities, the DBM has recently issued Budget Circular No. 2007-3 expanding the funding source for payment of honoraria and overtime pay of those involved in government procurement.

The previous issuances, Budget Circular Nos. 2004-5 and 2004-5A, restricted the funding sources of honoraria and overtime pay to income generated from procurement activities such as sale of bid documents, registration fees, protest fees, and forfeiture of bid security. BC 2007-3 added as funding source the savings realized from the current year's budget of national agencies, GOCCs and LGUs. The circular also reiterates that honoraria and overtime pay can only be paid for successfully completed procurement, and that in case of deficiency in collections and non-availability of savings, payment shall be adjusted proportionately.

This is good news to BAC members, Secretariat and TWGs. At least, they can now be compensated for services rendered related to procurement which are more tedious and risky than their regular assignments.

Copy of the BC can be downloaded from the GPPB web site