House of Representatives approves new procurement act
“Two decades since its enactment, we now live in a world with tremendous technological growth that has changed and continues to change the way consumers, businesses, and industries work. Indeed, we need to address gaps concerning the procurement system,” Secretary Pangandaman said.
“Our utmost gratitude to the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, for this development. This only goes to show that the goal of our President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., to improve and modernize the government procurement system across the country is truly turning into reality to promote transparency, accountability and good governance," the budget secretary added.
House Bill No. 9648 proposed to further improve the government procurement system by providing additional measures that will shorten the present bureaucratic intricacies of the system through digitalization. It is also one of the priority measures included in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) common legislative agenda of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Together with the Procurement Service – Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the Government Procurement Policy Board - Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO), amendments were introduced to make government procurement more transparent, competitive, streamlined, sustainable, and inclusive.
Notable among the proposed amendments was the adoption of an electronic procurement system that would promote greater transparency, accountability, operational efficiency, and value for money through the modernization of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).
This served as an electronic or e-marketplace which will expand to both common-use and non-common-use supplies, thereby, promoting transparency, efficiency, and improved public service delivery.
Following the approval of the House of Representatives, the proposed bill will then be submitted to the Senate. (DBM/PIa-Caraga)