PPADB awards P2.1bn in tenders
Isaac Pinielo | Friday January 9, 2015 15:11
According to the recently released 2013/14 annual report, this figure represents a decrease of P2.6 billion or 59 percent, on procurement that was approved by PPADB in the previous financial year. The report states that 35 tenders awarded by the board were through open competitive bidding, translating into 43 percent, which were valued at P1.3 billion, representing 59 percent of the value of tenders awarded by the board during the year under review.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications had the highest value of awarded tenders at P518.1 million followed by the Ministry of Local Government at P415.4 million. The Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture had the least value of awarded tenders which stood at P415,800, owing to maintenance of an existing contract previously awarded by the board.
However, the report indicates that during the period under review the board did not receive requests to award tenders from four ministries, thus, Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Ministry of Finance and development Planning.
“This implies that during the period under review these ministries did not have projects that exceeded the threshold of their Ministerial Tender Committees,” reads the report.
On the other hand, during the 2013/14 financial year, the board committees adjudicated on 9,720 which is higher than the previous year’s 9,546 submissions while the board adjudicated on 536 submissions. Of the 9,720 submissions, the Ministerial Tender Committees adjudicated on 7,392 submissions while the District Administration Tender Committees adjudicated on 2,208 submissions.
The Central Medical Stores (CMS) Tender Committee adjudicated on 120 submissions. The report says this is an indication that a large number of submissions are already being handled at board committee level, which is regarded as a positive step towards full devolution that would allow PPADB to become a regulatory authority.
In total, the board and its committees adjudicated on 10,256 submissions which is higher than the previous year’s figure of 6,816 submissions. “Of these, 72 percent were handled by Ministerial Tender Committees, 21 percent by District Administration Tender Committees, while the board and the CMS Tender Committee handled 5 percent and 1 percent respectively,” says the report.
Moreover, the value of procurement approved by the board amounted to approximately P2.17 billion, while tenders approved at Ministerial Tender Committees amounted to approximately P2.5 billion. The value of procurement handled by the District Administration Tender Committees, Special Procurement and Asset Disposal Committee and the CMS Tender Committee amounted to approximately P298 million, P660 million and P96 million respectively. The total value of procurement for the 2013/14 financial year amounted to approximately P5.7 billion which is lower than the previous year’s value of P7.6 billion against a development budget of P12.1 billion which is about 44 percent of the budget. The report reveals that the rest of the developmental budget was spent through Local Authorities and other entities of government.
Further to tenders awarded by the board and its committees, the report says there was also procurement that was awarded by accounting officers in ministries under the micro-procurement threshold which is P300,000.
Expenditure through micro-procurement during 2013/14 financial year amounted to P185 million. The ministry with the highest value of micro-procurement was the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture at approximately P17.6 million and the lowest was the Ministry of Justice Defence and Security at P2.8 million.
The report reiterates the need for PPADB and accounting officers to clearly monitor micro-procurement transactions to prevent abuse and unnecessary splitting of purchases to avoid following tender procedures as there has been an increase in the value of procurement undertaken using micro-procurement from P102 million in 2012/13 to P185 million in 2013/14 financial year.
Meanwhile, a total of 30 retroactive requests were submitted to the board during 2013/14, which is a reduction in the number of requests by procurement entities from the 43 requests submitted during the 2012/13 financial year.
The board only approved seven retroactive requests. The Ministry of Health submitted the largest number of requests at 13, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of State President at four respectively.
The report also notes that there were several ministries that submitted two retroactive requests, which included the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, as well as the Ministry of Lands and Housing.
“Only five of the 16 government ministries did not submit any retroactive request during the financial year under review. These were the Ministry of Finance and development Planning, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, and Ministry of Minerals Energy and Water Resources,” states the report.
The cost of retroactive requests amounted to P11.6 million of which P4.2 million, which is 36 percent, was approved compared to P440, 000 approved in 2012/13.
During 2013/14 the total value of retroactive requests decreased when compared with the previous year’s value of P53.4 million.
The report acknowledges that this is a good sign that procuring entities are improving in terms of seeking prior authorisation of procuring and adhering to the requirement of the PPAD Act. In addition, there has been an increase in the value of retroactive requests which the board approved on the basis of emergency to save lives, as those could not have been foreseen.