Urgently needed: PBDs compliant with the Revised IRR!

It's been a month since the revised IRR on GPRA (RA 9184) took effect but procuring entities cannot fully comply with the revised provisions since the GPPB has not yet officially issued the revised Philippine Bidding Documents (PBD) that is consistent with the said revised IRR.

The Regional Composite Team has the same predicament as the roll-out of the Revised IRR has commenced for LGUs in Region VI. In fact two (2) batches consisting of four (4) schools have been completed as of this post. The participants would like to get hold of the revised PBDs when they go back to their respective stations.

In its website, the GPPB has posted a Notice that the working draft of the PBDs for Goods and Infra has been uploaded, and procuring entities are advised to carefully examine the working daft before using the same for its forthcoming biddings. Per its timetable, the final version of the PBD should be approved by the GPPB by end of September.

The working PBD drafts can be downloaded here: http://www.gppb.gov.ph/downloadables/default.asp.

Training sked for Revised IRR Rollout

The Regional Composite Trainors Team will conduct a series of three-day trainings on the Revised IRR of RA 9184 for BAC members, Secretariat, Technical Working Group and Accountants of LGUs in Region VI starting September 23rd and every week thereafter until October 21st.

Invitation letters have been sent out to target participants. Here's the schedule and groupings of the participants:

- Sept. 23-25 - - - Municipalities, Province of Iloilo
- Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 - - - Provinces and Cities
- Oct. 6-8 - - - - Municipalities, Province of Negros Occ.
- Oct. 14-16 - - - Municipalities, Province of Antique
- Oct. 19-21 - - - Municipalities, Provinces of Aklan, Capiz and Guimaras

Venue of the training is at Punta Villa Resort, Iloilo City. We encourage LGU-participants to send their confirmation to the Training Secretariat c/o Iloilo PBO Office, Provl. Capitol, Iloilo City or to the DBM Regional Office VI.

Revised IRR of RA 9184 takes effect today, Sept. 2

For the guidance of all government procurement practitioners, the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9184 (GPRA) takes effect today.

The Revised IRR was approved by the GPPB in a formal signing ceremony attended by World Bank representative on July 22nd, but the same was published in the Official Gazette later on August 3rd, and by operation of the law, its effectivity shall be 30 days later or September 2nd, today.

The preparatory Trainors' training sponsored by the GPPB-TSO for the Regional Composite Team Members (RCTM) starts today in Ortigas Center,Pasig Metro Manila. In Revion VI, the roll-out training for LGUs by the RCTM composed of accredited trainors coming from the DBM, DILG, COA and PHILLBO - shall be conducted starting the 3rd week of September.

Trainors' training on Revised IRR set.

The GPPB has scheduled the trainors' training on the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the GPRA (RA 9184) on September 2-4, 2009. Venue is the Linden Suites, Ortigas, Pasig. Five (5) participants from the Regional Composite Team of each region have been invited to attend.

After the trainors' training, the roll-out of the revised IRR to LGUs throughout the country shall be conducted.

Revised IRR of RA 9184 finally signed

After several months of waiting, the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) has finally signed on July 22nd, the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulation of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA).

Among those who witnessed the signing ceremony was World Bank Acting Country Director Maryse Gautier. The revised IRR which is contained in GPPB Resolution 03-2009, reduces the documentary requirements on bidder's eligibility; lessens transactions costs for bidders, and provides clearer rules on the scope and application of alternative modes of procurement, thus ensuring transparency and encouraging greater participation from a greater number of bidders.

Among the most notable features of the revised IRR which addresses the common dilemma of procuring entities in resorting to alternative modes of procurement, is to increase the thresholds or the maximum amount of ABC for Shopping and small value procurement.

The revised thresholds are:

1. Shopping during unforeseen contingency per Sec. 52.1(a)- P100,000 for NGAs, GOCCs, GFIs and SUCs. For LGUs, from P50,000 to P100,000 depending on their economic classification;

2. Shopping when the items are not available in the Procurement Service per Sec. 52.1(b) and Small Value Procurement (Negotiated Procurement) per Sec. 53.9 - P500,000 for NGAs, GOCCs, GFIs and SUCs. For LGUs, P50,000 to P500,000 depending on their economic classification.

The rest of the changes in the procurement rules per the revised IRR will be discussed in my next post.

Relevant changes to the IRR of RA 9184 (2nd draft)

This is a continuation of my post on February 3rd about the proposed changes/amendment to the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 9184 or the GPRA.

After the completion of that series of consultation-workshops with procurement practitioners and other stakeholders, the GPPB-TSO came out with the second draft of the IRR and posted the same in the GPPB website for those who would like to download a copy.

Here are the additional changes:

Posting of procurement opportunities: Procuring entities shall also post the bidding documents at its website and at the PhilGEPS website from the time the Invitation to Bid is advertised. Prospective bidders may download the documents from the website and pay the corresponding fees upon submission of their bids.

Alternative Methods of Procurement: Another subsection was added in Section 48, thus: "the method of procurement to be used shall be as indicated in the approved APP. If the original mode of procurement in the APP was public bidding but cannot be ultimately pursued, The BAC through a resolution, shall justify and recommend the change in the mode of procurement to be approved by the Head of the Procuring Entity".

Shopping (Section 52): The maximum amount of goods that can be procured through shopping during unforeseen contingency has been increased from Php 50,000 to Php 100,000. On the other hand, the benchmark for shopping of ordinary or regular office supplies and equipment not available in the Procurement Service, has been increased from Php 250,000 to Php 500,000.

Negotiated Procurement (Section 53): The maximum amount that can be procured through negotiated procurement has been increased from Php 50,000 to Php 500,000. Another type of negotiated procurement is added that is, the procurement from specialized agencies of the United Nations but is limited to small quantities of off-the-shelf goods, primarily in the fields of education the and health; specialized products where the number of suppliers is limited such as vaccines or drugs.