Atty. Jun de Zuñiga   I would have already shifted to a different theme for this article but I received feedbacks requesting for more experience sharing on procurement. A reader also asked what book I can recommend for their guidance. I replied that my comments were based purely on my hands-on experience on the subject. Procurement does not require rocket-science formula but mere adherence to basics. As my concluding coverage, therefore, here are some broad strokes we implemented. For a start, we added new blood within the group, hiring fresh graduates from college who are energetic and full of idealism. They all proved themselves to be worthy of the trust. They performed very satisfactorily and it is gratifying to see later on many of them moving to higher positions and even attaining masteral and other professional degrees. Their entry was a productive blend with the existing staff. Next, we reinforced our corporate culture, merely focusing on the values stated in our corporate vision, notably, excellence, integrity and dynamism. To facilitate the program and save money, we relied more on in-house resource experts who are more familiar with our people and processes, rather than engage external parties who may just impose their high-sounding paradigms with which an ordinary employee may sometimes get lost. What resulted were down-to-earth, practical and achievable solutions signed on by everybody. The more crucial part would be the follow-through activities where we expected the staff to live these values as they go through their daily routine. We consistently practiced the standard methodologies such as role modelling, conduct of staff meetings, training, mentoring, effective flow of communication, and bonding sessions. Participation was widely encouraged and it contributed to the streamlining of procedures, unclogging of bottlenecks and adoption of many process improvements. Some of our innovations were even adopted by the government oversight policy procurement board. I would place much importance on bonding because it can give signals if an employee is deviating from the norms or is changing his or her lifestyle. What complemented our culture build-up were our institution’s strict “no-gift policy” and the mandatory surveys which would rate the level of satisfaction on a department’s performance in dealing with its clients. All of the above were just really a part of our institution-wide crusade for good governance. Our corporate goal was to integrate values into our decision-making systems and to make good governance our way of life. In closing, doing procurement work, as one reader said, is “daunting”, but with good governance the challenges can be overcome and, from my seven years’ experience in this work, I received a touching compliment from a staff member (now in a director position) who said that our stay there was a “golden age” for them. I thus realized that my assignment in procurement was a fulfilling mission.

* The above comments are the personal views of the writer. His email address is [email protected]