Gov't saved P2B from medical supply purchases for COVID-19 crisis —DBM

The Philippine government saved around P2 billion from its purchase of essential medical supplies needed by the Department of Health for COVID-19 response, according to the Department of Budget and Management.

Citing its Procurement Service report, the DBM said the government purchased medical supplies in response to the health crisis, such as test kits for the DOH, at “a much lower price than the approved budget.”

Buying at much lower price is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to make the procurement process efficient and economical, the DBM said. 

From from March 26 to August 5, it said, the difference between the allocated budget set by the DOH and the Procurement Service’s actual purchased price from several local and foreign suppliers and manufacturers amounted to about P2 billion.

According to DBM’s Procurement Service, the procurement of initial 4,167 Sansure Novel Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Diagnostic test kits, saved the DOH about P4 million, after the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Pacific Field Hong Kong Ltd. for P6.1 million or P1,464.88 per test on April 20.

Likewise, the Pacific Field Hong Kong bagged the contract for the test kits as it submitted the “most advantageous offer based on the market price surveys conducted by the DOH and procurement service,” the DBM added.

Also, it said, the DOH saved P78 million from the purchase of medical supplies from local distributors Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Lifeline Diagnostic Supplies, Inc.

In particular, Pharmally Pharmaceuticals offered its Fortitude Kit for P1,720 per test, while Lifeline Diagnostic Supplies gave its Macherey Nagel extraction kit for P625 per preparation or P31,250 per kit.

However, the DBM noted that its Procurement Service encountered challenges in getting more qualified local suppliers capable of meeting the requirements of the DOH due to business disruption caused by the community quarantine and high global demand for medical supplies and equipment.

To address the problem and to further lower procurement cost, the procurement service, led by Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, directly negotiated with medical equipment manufacturers in China.

According to the Budget department, it sought the assistance of Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian in procuring Sansure test kits from China at P918 per test, 45.9% lower than its first procurement.

For that purchase, the DOH to save about P178 million.

It said that the Chinese Embassy also helped the Procurement Service facilitate the purchase of MiRXES Fortitude test kits at P925.27 per test, which is 60.09% lower than the first buying price.

The service also bought Macherey Nagel extraction kits at 36.26% lower than the first buying price of P433.22 per preparation, saving the for government some P80 million.

“In total, DOH saved around P1.2 billion for the procurement of test kits, extraction machines, and other consumables, and another P800 million from the purchase of personal protective equipment sets,” the department said. —LBG, GMA News