COA: 1,678 out of 2,378 DepEd laptops remain in stockroom

The Commission on Audit (COA) on Thursday said that 1,678 out of the over 2,000 laptops which were supposed to have been used by teachers for distance learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic remained in the stock room as of August 2022.

Job Aguirre Jr., the supervising auditor assigned at the DepEd Audit Group, made the disclosure at the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the P2.4 billion laptop procurement of DepEd through the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS).

"We also noted undistributed laptops. Out of the 2,378 units of procured Dell laptops allocated to DepEd Central Office, 1,678 units remained in the Asset Management Division stock room as of August 17, 2022," Aguirre told the Senate panel Thursday.

Senate Blue Ribbon Chairman Francis Tolentino expressed dismay over the non-distribution of the laptops, saying this could have benefitted thousands of students.

"Ibig sabihin 1,678 teachers would have benefitted and per teacher lagyan natin ng times 30 students... Sayang," he said.

"Nakakalungkot ito nagamit sana ito kahit mabagal. Nakatambak don. Ano pong mangyayari pag nakatambak lang ang computer?" Tolentino asked.

Aguirre, in response, said these laptops have their "end of life."

"Sayang. Wastage," Aguirre said.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the DepEd and would publish what it has to say on the issue. 

Tolentino asked VST ECS Philippines Inc., one of the firms in the joint venture that won bid for the project, if the parts of the undistributed laptops would be damaged if they were not distributed.

VST ECS Director Bong Bernas said there would be no issue but added that the matter was already up to the DepEd.

Aguirre informed the panel that the COA had been conducting a fraud audit which stemmed from a complaint of an Alternative Learning System (ALS) teacher in Surigao del Norte.

"The audit team recommended that a fraud audit be conducted on a complaint emailed by an ALS mobile teacher," he said.

Further, the COA official said the audit team has submitted the inspection report to validate the response of the DepEd on the performance of the procured laptops.

At the early part of his presentation, COA showed a video of a parallel simulation test comparing the speed performance of laptops procured by DepEd at P58,300 per unit and a Hewlett Packard laptop with a market price ranging from P50,000 to P60,000.

The simulation test showed the following observations:

Opening of laptop

• DepEd Dell laptop: 48.65 seconds
• HP laptop: 18.97 seconds

Opening of Microsoft Word:

• DepEd Dell laptop: 10.36 seconds
• HP laptop: 1.15 seconds

Opening of Microsoft Excel

• DepEd Dell laptop: 15.50 seconds

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• HP laptop: 2.15 seconds

Opening of Microsoft Powerpoint

• DepEd Dell laptop: 12.72 seconds
• HP laptop: 1.73 seconds

Opening of video conference application:

• DepEd Dell laptop- 22.18 seconds
• HP laptop- 2.96 Seconds

Shutting down of laptop:

• DepEd Dell laptop: 5.53 seconds
• HP laptop: 2.95 seconds

"It was observed that the laptop processor is too slow which prevents software programs like Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint from functioning properly. Relatedly, lags and delays when installing and starting some programs are noticeable, such as video conferencing applications," Aguirre said.

"Further, the lag was also brought about by the absence of a video card and SSD memory which are both needed to support the efficient overall performance of the computer through an increase in the frame per second of the system," he added.

He added that the COA tried to upgrade the operating system of the laptop, as earlier suggested by DepEd ICT Services Director Abram Abanil, but the laptops were still slow because of its processor.

Bernas said he could not ascertain the standards that COA used in the simulation test as the laptops they offered during the bidding met the minimum standard.

"I'm not really sure what they mean and what standards [are] being used because if you go even by the presentation, it's a 20-second difference and it meets the minimum standard," Bernas said.

"For example, your honor with respect to speed, they are not making a reference to the minimum required standard in the bid. Nobody is saying that our submission does not meet that minimum standard. It could have been better," he added.

"And that's why we understand it to mean when we look at bids we understand that to mean minimum or better so even if the specs required 1.9 Ghz, we submitted a processor that was better your honor," Bernas said.

At the latter part of the discussion, Tolentino presented a document showing the shipping cost of VST ECS importation of laptops for the DepEd project.

"I have in my possession though not yet confirmed and authenticated coming from financial institutions as well as the shipping company to show the actual cost which is just one half of the total price including the name of the shipping company coming from the People's Republic of China. Kaya lahat ng computer, ito ay galing sa China, hindi tumaas ng P26,000," Tolentino said.

"Even if you add Custom duties, it will not be more than P27,000 per piece," he added.

Bernas said that the price for the laptops included other services such as onsite support to the DepEd. 

Aguirre said the audit team has already sent a letter to DepEd management last September 1, 2022 as regards the results of the evaluation conducted on the updates or latest actions of the department relative to the audit findings and recommendations.

The letter also asked DepEd to produce additional documents such as the detailed breakdown of the Approved Budget Contract and contract costs to compare the price of the unit.  —NB, GMA News