(Anadolu)
MANILA – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Friday assured the public that its procurement arm is committed to addressing the Department of Education’s (DepEd) procurement of overpriced laptops in a “transparent, just and fair” manner.
The statement came following reports that the DBM’s Procurement Service (PS-DBM) has not blacklisted the supplier of the PHP2.4 billion worth of laptops purchased by the DepEd in 2021.
The Commission on Audit (COA), in its 2022 report, noted that the previous recommendation to come up with a resolution on the “termination of contracts or blacklisting of suppliers” in connection with the laptop procurement deal was “not implemented” by the PS-DBM as of Dec. 31, 2022.
“The blacklisting and termination review committee has not yet conducted blacklisting proceedings over the subject contracts, thus, a resolution on the termination of contracts or blacklisting of suppliers has not been issued,” the COA said.
The DBM, in a statement, clarified that the Audit Observation Memorandum released by COA on April 27, 2022 with regard to the DepEd’s purchase of laptops “did not recommend the termination and blacklisting of the supplier.”
“What COA recommended for that specific item was the creation of an Investigation Committee, which was adopted by previous management and submitted to COA, and was reflected with a ‘complied’ status in COA's Status of Implementation under its 2022 Annual Audit Report (AAR),” it said.
“On top of the creation of the Investigation Committee, the current PS-DBM management, under the leadership of Executive Director Dennis Santiago, endorsed the DepEd laptop procurement to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for an independent probe,” the DBM added.
The DBM also clarified that the recommendation to conduct an immediate contract termination and blacklisting proceedings was for a different laptop procurement involving a “different supplier, not the DepEd contract.”
“The presence of a Framework Agreement expiry date which is only present in common-use supplies and equipment (CSE) points this out. The DepEd contract is a non-CSE procurement,” it said.
It added the PS-DBM is “fully cooperating” with the NBI, noting that the procurement arm has submitted the documents needed for the ongoing probe and allowed the interview of its personnel.
The DBM stressed that the PS legal department is conducting a “thorough” review in adherence to the COA memorandum.
“The PS-DBM assures the public that it is fully cooperating with the COA and concerned government agencies to come up with an honest, transparent, just, and fair resolution to the issue because the Filipino people deserve nothing less,” the DBM said. (PNA)
