DepEd laptops procurement process ‘defective,’ says senator

The procurement process for the P2.4 billion laptops of the Department of Education (DepEd) was "defective," Senator Sherwin Gatchalian pointed out Thursday.

This was confirmed by Marcelo Bragado Jr., director of DepEd Procurement Service, as he testified that the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was only signed on May 28, 2021 or after the invitation to bid was posted and the quotation for the laptops were requested.

Bragado, who was required by the Senate blue ribbon committee to physically attend the probe, narrated to the panel that the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS) and the DepEd have a general MOA for the projects that the Education department transferred to the procuring agency.

Apart from the P2.4 billion laptop project, Bragado said there were around P13 billion worth of projects that were transferred by the DepEd to PS-DBM.

There was even a task force created to monitor the transferred projects to the PS-DBM, he added.

Since the laptop project has a different funding source, which is the Bayanihan 2 Law, Bragado said  the PS-DBM officials and the DepEd officials who were part of the task force agreed that another MOA should be drafted for the procurement of the laptops.

But initially, the proposal by former PS-DBM officer-in-charge Jasonmer Uayan was to amend and revise the 2017 General MOA to make the PS-DBM only a contract administrator and not the contract implementor.

This proposal has been debated by the DepEd and the PS-DBM officials from March to April in 2021.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III asked Bragado to summarize his testimony, pointing out that the gist of his narration corroborated the previous testimonies of PS-DBM Officials Ulysses Mora and Sharon Bailey that there was no MOA when they executed documents related to the laptop procurement.

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"So ang gist ng testimony niyo, Atty. Bragado, April nagne-negotiation pa kayo, May 6, ang ibig mong sabihin at that time, wala pang final MOA in spite of the fact na ang aming diniscuss dito for more than two hearings na e akala namin February 16, 2021 may MOA na signed. So is that what you are saying by April, May wala pa, kasi negotiations ongoing pa?" Pimentel asked to which Bragado answered in affirmative.

"Kaya pala in fairness kay Sharon Baile na nagtestify noon kinonfront natin sila, nag-execute sila ng March document na mali ang kanyang service fee rate kasi hindi in accordance with February MOA, e in fairness to these people wala pala talagang MOA that's why nagpasaklolo siya sa testimony niya 'If the management can help me' sabi niya e. So anyway it is getting clearer if the testimony is to believed," Pimentel added.

Gatchalian then backed Pimentel's position that the issue is getting clearer after Bragado's statement.

"In fact, Mr. Mora was telling the truth that at that time when he was quoted in the transcripts that there was no MOA and the MOA was still pending. That goes to show also Mr. chair, that Mr. Uayan is lying to this committee," he added.

Gatchalian cited Uayan's previous testimony where he stated that "the first MOA was executed sometime in February and after its execution since I saw that it was the role of PS was in an end to end capacity, I talked it over with (former DBM) Usec. (Christopher Lloyd) Lao that it should be only as a what we call a procuring agent."

"So malinaw ho dito na sinabi ni Mr. Uayan na sometime February the MOA was already executed but the two gentlemen mentioned now and last time Mr. Mora and now Mr. Bragado, na wala pa hong MOA by May, last may of 2021," Gatchalian said.

Although Mora was "telling the truth," Gatchalian pointed out that he violated the law because he knew that there was no legal basis for the procurement and yet he issued a invitation to bid in May of 2021.

"So in effect, Mr. chair, this whole procurement is defective. Wala hong legal basis. Gumastos tayo ng P2.4B pesos na walang MOA. Humingi ng quotation, nag-file ng invitation to bid ng wala pong MOA. Is that an accurate description, Atty. Bragado?" he asked.

Bragado responded: "It would appear that you are correct because based on the documents that I have and my personal recollection I have the MOA signed only last May 28, 2021."

COA supervising auditor of the DBM audit group Teresa Ronquillo said the MOA that was used was the 2017 MOA and they did not receive the 2021 MOA.

Ronquillo also said they did not obtain a copy of the 2021 MOA.

"Ang akala namin yun lang din ang MOA nilang nagawa because The MOA of 2017, is a general MOA including... there is a provision there for the laptop," Ronquillo said.

Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Francis Tolentino asked if this 2017 MOA is an "unli MOA," Ronquillo answered in the affirmative.

Prior to his narration of events, Bragado was given immunity of the Senate blue ribbon committee so he could testify freely on the hearing.—LDF, GMA News