PTG to ensure that govt. contracts are aboveboard!

In the spite of the latest scandals that has rocked our national experience, specifically, the National Broadband Network (NBN) supposed contract with the Chinese firm, ZTE, the President issued Executive Order No. 662, creating the Procurement Transparency Group (PTG).

The PTG is composed of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bishops-Businessmen Conference for Human Development, Transparency and Accountability Network, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), and two other NGOs involved in training procurement observers and/or procurement reforms.

As mandated by EO 662, the PTG shall monitor and evaluate all proposed and awarded contracts entered into by all national government agencies (NGAs), government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local government units (LGUs), amounting to P100 million or more.

The PTG shall recommend remedial actions, improvements in procurement, contract implementation and monitoring processes to ensure compliance with contractual terms and to safeguard government and public interest.

If the contract is found non-compliant, the PTG shall recommend to the PAGC the imposition of sanctions, implementation of remedial measures, and the filing of criminal, civil and/or administrative charges if warranted.

Reforms in DepEd's textbook procurement.

The Department of Education )DepEd) has reduced to almost half the cost of textbooks following the implementation of procurement reforms.

According Secretary Jesli Lapus, the introduction of International Competitive Bidding (ICB) also helped improve the quality of the paper used for the textbooks. This translates into substantial savings for the government and better textbooks for the public school system. The previous average cost of a textbook was P90, but now it only costs P45.

How does it work? A new process is being done wherein the bidding for the development of manuscript is separated from the printing and delivery. Under this process of procurement, four-level content evaluation in 2005 was adopted.

To further improve the process, in the case of English textbooks, selected titles are being reviewed by the Ateneo de Manila University for elementary textbooks and the University of the Philippines for high school textbooks.

The DepEd's Textbook Procurement Program was recently cited as a best practice by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC), an international forum of donor governments and international multilateral organizations, including the United Nations and the World Bank.

Amendment to the Guidelines on Index-based pricing of Petroleum products

The GPPB has recently passed Resolution No. 011-2007 amending the Revised Guidelines on procurement of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) through index-based pricing.

The original guidelines per GPPB Resolution No. 05-2005 included lubricants as among the POLs that can be procured through index-based pricing. However, the later amendment per GPPB Resolution No. 09-2006, excluded lubricants. Upon the request of the National Power Corporation, the GPPB restored the item lubricants that can be procured through the said scheme hence, the issuance of Resolution No. 011-2007. the said resolution also gives procuring entities the option to use either fixed or index based pricing in the procurement of lubricants as well as to use the Independent Commodity Information System - London Oil Report (ICIS-LOR) index if the procuring entity's cost benefit analysis or assessment indicates that index-based pricing is more favorable in the bulk procurement of lubricants.

Implementing Infra projects by Administration .

Here's the GPPB's latest guidelines on implementation of projects by administration as contained in Annex "A" of Resolution No. 018-2006 dated December 6, 2006:

Definition - "By Administration" refers to the procedure by which the implementation of an infrastructure project is carried out under the administration and suprevision of the concerned agency (or LGU) thorugh its own personnel.

General Conditions and Requirements - Projects undertaken by administration shall be included in the Annual Procurement Plan (APP). If the original mode of procurement for the said project is public bidding, the BAC shall pass a resolution recommending to the head of the procuring entity the change in procurement mode. The Procuring Entity (PE) shall possess a track record of having completed or supervised a project similar to the one to be implemented with a cost of at least 50% of the project at hand. Further, the PE shall own the tools and construction equipment to be used or have access to such tools and equipment owned by another government agency.

Specific Conditions and Requirements - Projects costing Php 5 M or less may be undertaken by Administration subject to the General Conditions and requirements mentioned above. On the other hand, projects costing over Php 5 M may be undertaken by administration only in the following cases:

a. emergency arising from natural calamities or where immediate action is
necessary to prevent imminent loss of life or property;
b. comply with government commitments;
c. failure to award a contract after competitive bidding for a valid cause;
d. termination or rescission of contract;
e. area with critical peace and order problems as certified by the Local
Peace and Order Council.

Approving Authority - Prior authority shall be obtained from the Secretary of the DPWH for projects costing Php 5 M up to Php 20 M, while projects costing more than Php 20 M shall bear the authority of the President.

Lease of privately owned real estate can be procured thru negotiated procurement.

Another item has been added by the GPPB to the enumeration of the items that can be procured through negotiated procurement under Section 53 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations-A (IRR-A) of RA 9184.

Through Resolution No. 2007-04 dated May 4, 2007, the lease of privately owned real estate for official purpose is now included as one of the instances where a procuring entity can resort to negotiated procurement. Prior to the passage of the said resolution, rental of office space can only be procured through public competitive bidding. But feedbacks from procuring entities revealed that public bidding does not usually result to the most advantageous terms for the government. On the other hand, in resorting to negotiated procurement, agencies are afforded the flexibility to consider factors such as location and building structures as well as providing them control measures to ensure reasonableness of rental rates.

With this resolution, there are now nine (9) instances where negotiated procurement can be applied, namely: failure of bidding for the second time; during state of calamity; take-over of contracts; project that is adjacent or contiguous to an on-going project; purchase of goods from another government agency; hiring of consultants that are highly technical or proprietary, and primarily confidential or policy determining; procurement with prior approval from the President; small value procurement (with ABC of P50,000 and below); and lease of privately owned real estate.

Procurement manual for LGUs in the works.

The GPPB will hold a consultation with selected LGUs as part of the preparation for the development of a procurement manual for LGUs. The consultation will be held on July 5th at Iloilo Grand Hotel. A total of 40 participants will be invited coming from Region VI and VII. Preferred participants are those coming from 1st class, 4th and 5th class provinces and municipalities including component cities who are either BAC members, BAC Secretariat or TWG. Invitations will be sent out by the respective DBM Regional Offices.

Use of PhilGEPS facility is now mandatory!

With the passage of Republic Act No. 9401, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for fiscal year 2007, it now becomes mandatory for national government agencies, GOCCs, GFIs, SUCs, and LGUs, specifically, provinces and cities to use the facilities of the Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).

Section 86, General Provisions of the 2007 GAA requires these entities to utilize the GEPS through its electronic catalogue for the procurement of common-use supplies, and that all Invitations to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB), Notices of Award, and all other other procurement-related notices shall be posted in the Electronic Bulletin Board.

On the other hand, regional offices of national agencies and municipal governments are enjoined to "undertake measures to ensure their on-line access and connectivity to the GEPS and its full use by the end of 2007".

No time table was set on the mandatory use of the GEPS by barangays. To require barangays to utilize the GEPS facilities may be impractical at this time considering that many of these barangays do not have computers, and/or internet connections, or that no barangay personnel has the capability to access or manage their accounts with the GEPS.