Chalk campaign off to a good start

We received 940 boxes of chalk from the Procurement Service for the Chalk Para Kay Teacher campaign of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs.

The Procurement Service under the Department of Budget and Management celebrated its 36th anniversary. The office was installed by then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos because of an anomaly in a procurement transaction in Cebu.

The mandate of the Procurement Service is to purchase common office supplies used by the different government offices at the most optimum price. They are able to achieve this because they buy in bulk and purchase directly from the supplier. They also promise early payment of deliveries.

I got a closer look at how they operate and evaluate the supplies for consideration when I did a story for the Correspondents.

The Procurement Service is located in Paco, Manila. The office is housed in a warehouse. There are rows and rows of paper stacked to about more than 20 feet high. In one room, there are supplies of ink cartridges and printers.

I was brought to the unassuming room occupied by the technical working group, in charge of evaluating the supplies of those of companies that want to participate in the bidding of office supplies.

For sign pens, for example, the technical working group, literally measures how long a sign pen will last by writing zigzags on a piece of paper until the ink runs out! They shave the pencils until the lead is exposed and measures the thickness using a caliper. They have a small blackboard to test the chalk making sure that it writes smoothly. Using a certain instrument, they test the moisture level. The chalk should also be dustless. They send samples to Department of Science and Technology to test if a chalk breaks easily.

Compared to those available in major bookstores, the price of a piece of chalk in the Procurement Service is P.34 centavos compared to a major bookstore that sells it for P1 a piece! That’s almost 300 percent more expensive.

Despite the obvious savings, less than 10 percent of the P19B common supplies requirement of government offices is coursed through the Procurement Service. According to Procurement Service executive director Estanilao Granados, some agencies complain about the quality and availability of the products that’s why they choose to buy them on their own.

Government agencies are not required to buy from the Procurement Service, but are guided by the Procurement Service price list of common office supplies available in their website. The process is very transparent.

There are 23 depots all over the country, located in remote areas to provide accessibility. Lead time is usually five to 15 days depending on how far the areas are. Costs are inclusive of freight charges (add five to eight percent of the cost).

Director Granados is confident that their prices are lower than supplies sold in Binondo or Divisoria.

I told the director that an Ilocano would be the best person to work in the Procurement Service, because we are naturally prudent. It takes me forever to buy an item because I have to scout for the cheapest price.

Of course, we know that finding the cheapest price is not a problem for the government, but the commissions!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that government offices would heed the call of Pres. Aquino to use the services of the Procurement Service.

To DepEd and our dear teachers: The Procurement Service came out with Teachers Kits, which include chalks, markers, cartolina, staple wires, a lesson plan and much, much more. It only costs over P800, still below the approved P1,000 budget for chalk allowance of our dear teachers. Looks like we have enough after all.

Meanwhile, we made the first delivery of our Chalk Para Kay Teacher campaign to 500 teachers in Calumpit, Bulacan. They wrote to Sagip Kapamilya asking for relief, as most of the teachers are busy with the cleaning of the schools damaged by the flood and thus, neglecting their own homes.

Again, thank you to our generous kababayan for helping our teachers. We were sidetracked with our chalk distributions by the past typhoons, and we will continue with the distribution for our teachers in the coming weeks. You are still welcome to contribute.

Thank you very much, on behalf of our teachers! Mabuhay kayo.

I would also like to feature more groups and individuals doing good work in various areas (women and children, environment, health, animal welfare, etc.) Tell me about your advocacy so that others may know.

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