The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probe on the alleged overpriced and outdated laptops worth P2.4 billion revealed a possible violation of the law particularly on government procurement.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, during yesterday’s resumption of a Senate hearing, presided by Committee chairperson Sen. Francis Tolentino quizzed Department of Education (DepEd) director Abram Abanil on the DepEd’s practice of repeat orders and splitting of contracts.
“In the case of these suppliers, why did we not just bid for the goods in a single lot? “ Estrada said while referring to technology suppliers Advance Solutions, Inc. (ASI), Columbia Technologies, Inc., Reddot Imaging Philippines, Inc., Techguru Inc., and Girltekki Inc.
“Was there a lack of planning here or was the DepEd deliberately dividing the contract so that it can use repeat orders as an alternative mode of procurement?” Estrada further said.
Estrada said that the violation of the government procurement law stemmed from the splitting of contracts when the DepEd undertook repeat orders of laptop units and other information technology (IT) requirements only from the said five suppliers.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian added that the procurement process was “defective,” based on the statement of Marcelo Bragado Jr., director of DepEd Procurement Service, as he testified that the memorandum of agreement was only signed on May 28, 2021 or after the invitation to bid was posted and the quotation for the laptops were requested.
Bragado, in a Senate hearing, said that the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS) and the DepEd have “a general MOA for the projects that the Education department transferred to the procuring agency.”
Bragado further said aside from the P2.4 billion laptop project, there were “around P13 billion worth of projects that were transferred by the DepEd to PS-DBM.”
Estrada meanwhile noted that since 2013, the five companies have cornered billions of pesos in procurement deals from DepEd. He pointed out the said companies have apparently been favored by the DepEd over the past years in supplying its IT requirements which deprived other companies from competing.
Estrada also said based on his research, the DepEd made several repeat orders “favoring these suppliers.” He further said this gave the five the convenience of dispensing the need for public biddings to secure new contracts. “Does that not circumvent the law against splitting of contracts?” Estrada said.
Abanil said it was the DepEd’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) which decided to divide the lots in the procurement if the laptops.
Abanil also told the Senate panel the DepEd was worried that the bidders cannot comply with the contracts’ requirements.
Tolentino and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III were unconvinced with Abanil’s explanations. They said the committee will pursue Estrada’s questions on DepEd’s practice of doing “repeat orders” on its previous laptop procurement deals to determine possible amendments to Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.
Under Section 51 of RA 9184, repeat orders as a method or procurement is allowed, provided that these “will not result in splitting of contracts, requisitions, or purchase orders.”