Gov’t to launch e-procurement system next month

The Department of Budget and Management will launch next month the electronic procurement system to govern all the procurement processes of all government agencies and corporations.

A DBM official said this new system is financed by a Canada-based investment fund and would not be covered by the World Bank-funded Social Expenditure Management Loan (SEML).

The SEML, worth $100 million, was approved by the World Bank board in February this year. The loan aims to help the government maintain non-personnel social expenditures for the poor within the budget and improve financial management and procurement systems.

Under the loan terms, the DBM should develop a comprehensive procurement reform that will not only involve government-wide administrative systems but also changes in procurement laws.

The pilot adoption of standard bidding documents, international competitive bidding and simplified but more transparent procedures under the World Bank-assisted project, are already yielding substantial savings and better quality purchases in the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) and Department of Health (DOH), two departments involved in delivery of key social services.

For instance, in the DECS purchase of textbooks for 1999, involving the purchase of some 17.9 million academic textbooks worth P504 million for elementary and secondary schools, savings of about P100 million are expected to be generated from the 20 to 47 percent reduction in prices.

The new system will tentatively be operational on Nov. 15 and will cover all aspects of procurement process of government supplies. "This will not only involve bidding and public tender board. It will cover all government-wide procurement services," the official said.– Donnabelle Gatdula