The Commission on Audit has called the attention of Department of Finance in connection with the hiring of consultants, saying that it applied a policy that is “not in consonance” with the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9184 or  the Government Procurement Reform law.

In the  2019 DOF annual audit report released the other day, COA also disclosed that the DOF issued to its employees 32 computer laptops costing P1,145,643.20 without ensuring proper acknowledgement of responsibility in having custody of the items. 

Of the 32 laptop units, five could no longer be located”since these were re-issued to end users without proper tagging.”

Auditors said property acknowledgement receipts have also not been issued by DOF as evidence of proper custodianship of the property.

“Non-compliance with several provisions of RA No. 9184 and COA Circular no. 2009-001 for various consulting services totaling P8,686,132.17 affected the regularity of the transactions,” the COA audit report stated.

According to auditors, there was delay in the submission of the consulting service contracts to the audit team.

“Late submission of the contracts precluded the audit team from timely verification of compliance with applicable procurement laws, rules and regulations and the completeness of required documents,” the audit agency reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

According to COA, the policy on the hiring of consultants was not “in consonance with the 2016 revised implementing rules and Regulations of RA 9184.

Reacting to the audit observation, the DOF management said its policy on hiring highly-technical consultants  is consistent with the negotiated procurement of highly technical consultants provided under RA 9184.

“The audit team maintains that the DOF’s policy on hiring highly-technical consultants is insufficient as to the procedures of procuring consultants,” auditors stressed.

In the same audit report, COA found “various deficiencies in the management and reporting of cash accountabilities.”  The audit agency warned that such deficiencies have only exposed public funds to the “Risks of non-indemnification, loss and/or misuse, among others.”

The audit issues raised by COA were non-issuance of fidelity bonds for six cash fund custodians; the delayed submission of monthly Report of Accountabilities for Accountable Forms (RAAF) and the unofficial transfer of custody of check books to unauthorized personnel, among others.