Gatchalian says P69M service fee paid to PS-DBM ‘not worth the sloppy work’

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday slammed the service fee being charged by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), describing the agency’s services as “sloppy.”

“In my opinion after hearing the foregoing and also the details, the P69 million is not worth the sloppy work. We’re hoping that after the decades existence of PS-DBM, they have perfected the art of procurement, [but] that’s not the case,” Gatchalian said during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the alleged overpriced laptops procured by the Department of Education (DepEd) through the PS-DBM.

PS-DBM executive director Dennis Santiago said the procurement agency charges 3% to 5% of the total cost of the equipment or supplies to be procured for other government agencies.

Santiago said that in the case of procuring laptops for the DepEd, the PS-DBM charged about 3% of the total project cost.

However, Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said the DepEd paid P69 million to the PS-DBM for the latter’s procurement service.

“The contract price is P2 billion. This is where we will compute the 3%… On top of the contract price, we paid P69 million as service fee,” Sevilla said.

In its annual audit, COA said the purchase of the more expensive laptops resulted in the procurement of fewer units, depriving over 28,000 teachers of the benefit.

The audit report said the 68,500 laptops that were supposed to be procured were reduced to 39,583 units mainly due to the huge increase in the estimated cost - from P35,046 to P58,300, anchored on the DBM-PS' recommendation, which was duly accepted by the DepEd.

State auditors said the DepEd settled and agreed with the price and technical specifications provided by PS-DBM.

“Paying as high as 3% of their procurement price, in this case P69 million for work that is very sloppy and a lot of errors throughout the process,” Gatchalian said.

“This is another concept that we need to think about whether PS-DBM is indeed delivering the best possible procurement service to our government agencies,” the senator said.

Earlier, the PS-DBM announced it is suspending the procurement of non-common use supplies and equipment (Non-CSE) for government agencies until further notice to focus on the fulfillment of our primary mandate, which is to procure CSEs.

PS-DBM is mandated to procure common-use office supplies, materials, and equipment such as, but not limited to, ballpens, papers, stapler, paper clips, folders, and the like for all government agencies.

The procurement agency has sought the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) assistance in investigating the acquisition of laptops for the DepEd.

In a separate statement, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III mulled the possible abolishment of the PS-DBM.

“Hindi lang to improve, to abolish. Nakikiusap na nga tayo, talagang wala eh. Billions ‘yan. P42 billion ang DOH, DepEd P2.4 billion ang pinaguusapan. Ganyan kalaki ang budget and then ganito ang efficiency,” he said.

[Not only to improve, to abolish. We’re pleading with them already but there’s nothing. That’s billions. The P42 billion of the DOH and the P2.4 billion of DepEd. That’s how big the budget is but the efficiency is like this.]

“Jobs will be at stake, reputation will be at stake. Give us some reason not to entertain the proposal to abolish,” he added. —with a report from Joahna Lei Casilao/AOL/NB, GMA News