Govt agencies shun centralized procurement – COA

The Procurement Service — put in place for transparency purposes in government transactions — does not seem to be working, the Commission on Audit said, noting the steady decline in the sales from the service’s depots and sub-depots in the past years. To curb corruption in government transactions, all national government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are required to purchase “most commonly used supplies" like paper and office items from the Procurement Service. However, government offices more often opt to take advantage of an exception allowed under Section 52, Rule XVI of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003 that says they can buy from other sources if regular office supplies and equipment are not available in the Procurement Service, the COA said. “Despite of these policies, procurement from the PS depots appears to be unpopular among the different government agencies which resulted, in one way or another, to the consistent declining sales performance of the depot," auditors said. According to COA, sales in the regional depots and sub-depots of the Procurement Service dropped from P741.6 million in 2008 to P659.53 million in 2009 and down to only P576.81M last year. Taken altogether, auditors computed the total decline at P164.83 million or 23.61 percent since 2008. COA, in report, cited as reasons for the decline the lack of effective marketing strategies, alleged poor quality of products. and unavailability of adequate stock inventories in the depot, among others. Unfamiliarity was also a factor as COA said some government offices even said they were not aware of the processes or policies requiring them to source common supplies from the PS. “Client-agencies appear to be not aware of the government policy that requires government agencies to procure their needed common use supplies, materials and equipment from the Depot where the goods are offered at the most economical prices despite of the non-requirement for a competitive public bidding or canvass of prices," it noted. - KBK, GMA News