E-procurement saves P1B for government

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration’s thrust in electronic procurement among state agencies has resulted in more than P1 billion in savings last year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said yesterday.

In a statement, the DBM said a total of P1.05 billion in funds supposedly to pay for newspaper ads was saved with the use of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).

“Since the launching of the PhilGEPS, transparency in government procurement has been enhanced and procurement costs have gone down dramatically as a result of savings in advertising expenses,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

Launched in 2003, PhilGEPS serves as an online platform for procurement of state goods and services. National agencies are mandated by Republic Act (RA) 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act to use PhilGEPS from bid announcements to monitoring of delivery of services procured.

In July 2011, President Aquino signed Administrative Order 17 instructing agencies to source all their common-use supplies such as pen and paper directly from PhilGEPS. Originally, the portal is commonly used for bigger procurements such as road and building constructions.

According to the DBM, the use of PhilGEPS reduced the need to publish bid opportunities in newspapers.

Before RA 9184, biddings amounting to P2 million or more for goods and consulting services, and P5 million for civil works were required to be published in two newspapers of general circulation.

After the law took effect, only one paper publication is now required aside from posting in PhilGEPS for one week.

The STAR tried but failed to get a reply from the DBM as to where the savings went.

A Supreme Court ruling prohibiting re-alignment of savings from one agency or project to another was promulgated in July last year.

In particular, the high court said savings may only be realized from unobligated allotments by the end of the year. This means savings generated may only be used to augment other budget allocations after 2014.