Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) – The Commission on Audit (COA) noted in its 2019 annual audit report to the Senate that its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) failed to submit procurement documents as required by law.
State auditors flagged the Senate BAC’s non-submission of a Procurement Monitoring Report (PMR) and Agency Procurement Compliance and Performance Indicators (APCPI) to the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPRB), a requirement under Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“The assessment of the performance of procurement activities and comparison of its effectiveness against that of the national public procurement systems and international best practices and standards using baseline standards and indicators cannot be made. [Our] interview disclosed that the non-preparation and submission of the PMRs and APCPI was due to heavy workload at BAC office,” the commission said.
According to COA, the PMR covers “all procurement activities specified in the Annual Procurement Plan whether ongoing and completed from the holding of the pre-procurement conference, issuance of notice of award and the approval of the contract, including the standard and actual time for each major procurement activity.”
The APCPI provides a “standard procurement performance monitoring and evaluation tool for use by all procuring entities on a regular basis.” The state audit firm added the APCPI assessment is the responsibility of the Head of the Procuring Entity, BAC and its Secretariat, and other departments/divisions/units concerned within the procuring entity, the Senate in this case.
In its report, the COA said that the Senate BAC agreed last July 15 to submit the PMR and APCPI to the agency.
According to the state audit agency’s interview, the Senate emphasized its failure to submit their 2019 PMR and APCPI was due to the mandatory retirement of the BAC Secretary last June 18. No document had been submitted to the BAC Chairperson relating to the turnover of the documents.
An officer-in-charge was appointed to the Senate BAC Secretariat last July 1 to facilitate the submission of the documents through the Secretariat or an Ad-Hoc Committee.
COA also flagged the Senate for their non-compliance to the requirements for full information in the Transparency Seal, with missing parts such as approved budgets and corresponding targets, contracts awarded to winning supplier, and status of implementation, evaluation and assessment reports of programs or projects, among others.
The state auditors underscored the importance of the Transparency Seal, which has not been updated by Senate since 2015, in ensuring transparency and enforcing accountability in the legislative chamber.
COA also took notice of around ₱1.7 million unliquidated cash advances for the Senate’s operating expenses, payroll, special disbursing officers, and officers and employees. Also flagged by the state audit firm is about ₱2.2 million funds in granting excessive cash advances to Special Disbursing Officers.
