COA flags Senate for non-submission of procurement documents

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Senate over its failure to submit procurement compliance documents to the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) as mandated by the Procurement law.

In its annual audit report on the Senate, the state auditor said that the Senate’s Bids and Awards Committee was not able to submit a Procurement Monitoring Report (PMR) and Agency Procurement Compliance and Performance Indicators (APCPI) to the GPPB for 2019.

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 PMR, COA said, should have been approved and submitted by the Head of the Procuring Entity (HoPE) to the GPPB in printed and electronic format within 14 calendar days after the end of each semester.

The APCPI, on the other hand, has the following objectives:

• to provide a standard procurement performance monitoring and evaluation tool for use by all procuring entities on a regular basis;
• to identify strengths and weaknesses in the agency’s procurement systems and to develop an Action Plan for Procurement Improvement to address the areas of risk and weakness;
• to utilize the information submitted by the agencies as part of the procurement database that will be linked to other government related databases to analyze national procurement performance for more effective policy and decision making; and
• to assist in strengthening the GPPB-Technical Support Office capability in monitoring national compliance to procurement regulations and in implementing the agency level action plans.

State auditors said that the APCPI assessment is the responsibility of the HoPE, BAC and its Secretariat, as well as other departments/divisions/units concerned within the procuring entity, in this case the Senate.

“For year 2019, the Senate BAC failed to prepare PMRs for the first and second semesters, supposedly to be approved by the HoPE for submission to the GPPB and ultimately will serve as a tool for monitoring the agency procurement activities and ensuring compliance with the provisions of RA No. 9184 and its Revised IRR. Further, the Senate BAC was likewise not able to prepare an APCPI assessment for 2019, also for submission by the HoPE to the GPPB,” COA said.

“By so doing, 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,” state auditors added.

COA said that Senate agreed with the state auditors’ recommendation which requires the Senate BAC to prepare the PMR and APCPI for approval and submission by the HoPE to the GPPB within 14 calendar days after the end of each semester and within the first quarter of the ensuing year, respectively, and furnish the COA Audit Team with a printed copy.

Senate response

In response to state auditors’ findings, the Senate also reported that the Senate’s  BAC Secretary retired after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 last June 18, and that no document was submitted to the BAC Chairperson relating to the required PMR.

By July 1, an Officer-in-Charge was appointed to the Senate’s BAC Secretariat to continue the operations of the Office until a new BAC Secretary is hired. Per information from the Officer-in-Charge, the previous BAC Secretary did not turn over any document relating to the PMR and APCPI.

The BAC then held a meeting on July 15 to discuss, among other matters, the preparation and submission of the PMR and APCPI. During the meeting, it was agreed that the BAC will submit the required PMR to the COA Audit Team and GPPB to be prepared by the BAC Secretariat through its OIC for transactions beginning July 1.

The BAC will prepare the APCPI for transactions starting July 1, 2020 through the BAC Secretariat or create an Ad Hoc Committee for the purpose. — BM, GMA News