Senate report on DepEd's 'overpriced' laptops reaches plenary

The Senate blue ribbon committee report on the "overpriced" procurement of laptops for the Department of Education has reached the plenary.

Panel chairperson Senator Francis Tolentino on Monday sponsored the Committee Report No. 19 which found that the 2021 DepEd Laptop for Teachers Procurement Project was overpriced by at least P979 million.

The Blue Ribbon panel also recommended graft and perjury charges against former and current officials of DepEd and the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM).

The other recommendations included in the report are:

• Abolition of PS-DBM
• Requiring government departments, agencies, offices, including the government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges and local government units to conduct their own procurement as an exercise of fiduciary duty to be accountable for public funds appropriated for their respective offices
• Amending the Government Procurement Reform Act to provide for transparency and accountability  requirements for joint venture entities or arrangements participating in  public biddings and to provide for transparency and accountability  safeguards during the planning and pre-bidding stages of public  procurement, including but not limited to the setting of the Approved Budget for the Contract and  technical specifications or goods, services or infrastructure to be  procured
• Immediate conduct of a Special Fraud Audit by the Commission on Audit
• An investigation by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on the overpriced procurement, including an inquiry into bank deposits of the public officials identified in the investigation
• Special Tax Compliance Audit or a tax fraud audit inquiry to determine whether the proper taxes were paid on the income of the Joint Venture consortium partners

In his sponsorship speech, Tolentino said he has filed two separate bills seeking the abolition of PS-DBM and amendments to Section 23 of the Government Procurement Reform Act.

He said Senate Bill 1803 or the bill amending the Government Procurement Reform Act aims to provide in the law clear requirements as to the eligibility of a joint venture to join procurement projects, primary of which is the requirement that the primary purpose of ever member must be similar and related to the requirement of the project to be bidded out to ensure that each member of the joint venture is competent to comply with the requirements of the project.

The bill further seeks to require the joint venture to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and specifies that the liability of each of the members shall be joint and several with the joint venture itself.

Out of the 20 members of the committee, the following senators have signed the report: Tolentino, Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go (with reservations), Sherwin Gatchalian, Jinggoy Estrada (dissent), Imee Marcos, Raffy Tulfo, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros (to interpellate), Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel (to interpellate).

In August 2022, the Blue Ribbon committee launched its investigation into DepEd's purchase of "outdated and pricey" laptops through PS-DBM.

The probe focused on the memorandum of agreement (MOA) used for the procurement and the bidding process that the PS-DBM and the DepEd conducted.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier tagged the laptop procurement deal as "defective" after a DepEd official testified that the MOA was signed only after the invitation to bid was posted and the quotation for the laptops was requested.

In its 2021 annual audit report, the Commission on Audit flagged DepEd for purchasing more expensive laptops than the ones indicated in their budget, which resulted in the procurement of fewer units, depriving over 28,000 teachers of the benefit.

Earlier, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said the agency will cooperate with any proceedings that will provide documentation as needed.

Poa likewise said that the department will "look closely” into the recommendations of the blue ribbon panel in a bid to strengthen its procurement process following the controversial laptop procurement.—LDF, GMA Integrated News