Argosy S. Nazareno
RA 9184
Republic Act No. 9184, also known as the Government Procurement Act, aims to put an end to complicity in public bidding, bid fixing, and other anomalies associated with bidding for government contracts for goods, services, and consultancies. A Seminar Regarding its 2016 Implementing Rules & Regulations (IRR) was held at Golden Prince Hotel, Cebu City last December 10-12, 2018. Some of the highlights were the Annual Cash-Based Appropriation under the Budget Reform Bill, Procurement Planning, Standardized Bidding Procedures for Consultation Services, Bidding Procedure for the Procurement of Goods and Infrastructure Projects, Highlights of the 2016 Revised IRR, Bidder’s Administrative Remedies & Benefits of BAC members, Secretariat & Technical Working Group and Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PHILGEPS).
The principles of Public Procurement were stressed, namely: Transparency, Efficiency, Equity, Competition, Accountability, Public Monitoring & Economy. The Five (5) Rights in Public Procurement are also mentioned: source, quality, quantity, price, time & delivery. The agency through the BAC should always “procure-procure-procure” and “award-award-award” to realize the “build-build-build” program of the Government. But if the resources are scarce, the agency concerned should only buy the basic needs. The main cause of the delay of Government procurement is poor planning thus it is of utmost importance to carefully plan in advance supported by the proper study. This way, the BAC will not put the Government in an awkward position.
Bidding Anomalies
When the law was passed, the people believed that from then on, biddings in government would be open, transparent, and free from political influence.
But until now, there are still agreements that are done by canvassers and bidders in order to combine the interest and divide the profit among themselves. How could there be competitive bidding when bidders connive among them and with government employees to rig the bidding process, to allow a bidder who uses various company names or allow another to use other’s name to join what appears most of the time as a ‘show’ in which winners are pre-assigned?Worst, some canvassers call other bidders to withdraw from the bidding giving unwarranted benefit, advantage, or preference to a pre-arranged bidder.
Corruption in public procurement may also go beyond the actual bidding process because of secret agreements among bidders to stifle competition by way of falsifying bidding documents. Other problems arise in the delivery process. There are instances that there is an only partial delivery of materials and takes a long time to complete the entire delivery of materials. Some materials have low or inferior quality. In infrastructure projects, sub-standard materials are being used and projects are delayed and do not meet the target date of completion.
Most irregularities in government procurement occur with the so-called “big” projects, like construction contracts and the purchase of costly equipment and supplies. Competitive bidding is hardly observed as cartels continue to operate in colluding with government officials. There may be bribery of senior officials in connivance with procurement inspectors in certifying that the delivery of goods or a completed infrastructure project conforms to the contract.
Public participation
The implementing rules and regulations of the Procurement Law gave the observers more clout when it provided that the absence of observers will not nullify the proceedings provided that they have been duly invited in writing. This essentially means that the procuring entity has the obligation to send out such invitations to observes. Failure on the government’s part to do so could lead to the nullification of the bidding process.
Unfortunately, there is much less public participation in the procurement process. Representation of the public in the BAC is very low because there is little incentive or support for them to do so.
Problems about lack or absence of transparency, the existence of cartels among bidders, and connivance between government procurement officers and private contractors and suppliers continue to hound almost every contract involving public money.
The rationale behind the requirement of public bidding is to ensure that the people get maximum benefits and quality services from the contracts. Public biddings are intended to minimize occasions for corruption and temptations to abuse of discretion on the part of government authorities in awarding contracts. It promotes transparency in government transactions and the accountability of public officers.
The provisions of the law may be great, but the bigger challenge is in the implementation stage. Some anomalies may not be as big as the other controversial cases we know but we must remember that it’s the small things that breed corruption in government.
The Public should never forget that BAC members, the secretariat and the Technical Working Group (TWG) are the modern-day heroes of the Government Procurement System.