PNoy wants savings from bulk purchases, open source technology

Cost savings potential of 35 percent from bulk purchases prompted President Benigno Aquino III to task his economic team to find ways to cut the government’s transportation and communication expenses. At a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Tuesday said the directive was an offshoot of a study presented by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad during the economic cluster meeting Monday. “The directive was issued yesterday. All the agencies of government will now be required to procure from the procurement service… You save on the average 35 percent if you buy from our procurement service, at wala pang bidding, so mabilis pa," Abad said. Abad also said the President wanted them to look into bulk purchases of airline fares, hotel accommodations, telephone subscriptions, and internet connections. According to Abad, Transportation and Communication Secretary Mar Roxas will look into the airline bulk purchase while Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo will explore the options on telephone services and Internet subscription. The budget chief cited the P19.5 billion total expenditure of government on commonly-used office supplies like bond paper, pencils, ballpens, and ink. “So if all of that P19.5 billion [was bought] from procurement service, we multiply that by 35 percent, and that’s about a little less than P6 billion," he said. Bulk mobile phone subscription The administration will also look into bulk mobile phone subscriptions for the 1.13 million government employees. “Just assuming that officially about half of them use government phones, then we can sit down with the telecommunication companies what best rates they can offer us, if we offer them bulk subscription for three to five years, that’s big savings," said Abad. Government has to consider legal issues like having the information database on all those subscribers being with just one provider, Lacierda said, however. Abad also said that P8 billion could be saved over three years by adopting open source technology. “We don’t have to pay anything… that’s just for software subscriptions." The budget secretary also sees savings of 30 percent on electricity costs by introducing energy efficiency measures. Abad said Aquino wants to bring down the overhead expenses of government so that they can use the savings for capital outlay. — ELR/VS, GMA News