Senators on Thursday, Aug. 25 scored officials from the procurement team of the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Services (DBM-PS) and the Department of Education (DepEd) for agreeing and approving the purchase of laptops at the cost of P58,300 per unit.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano noted that the government could have saved a considerable amount of funds had the DBM-PS considered the DepEd’s original estimated price or the approved budget contract (ABC) of P35,046.50 per unit, bidded in May 10, 2021, from the DBM’s procured price which is at P58,300, awarded in June 30, 2021.
What is puzzling, Cayetano said is the fact that the DepEd yielded to the DBM-PS’s suggestion to buy P58,300 worth of brand new lightweight, mid-range computers as mentioned by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its report.
Noting also the disparity in the specifications, Cayetano said the DepEd could have settled for a less expensive, P22, 490 to P25,000 worth of laptop. DepEd settled for procuring Dell Latitude 3420 laptops with 1.8 GHz, 4MB Cache, 2 Cores, when it requested for units that can run with 1.9ghz Base Speed, and with 2MB Cache.
“So sana Macbook Air na lang ang binili natin (So I wished we just bought a Macbook Air),” Cayetano pointed out during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearing on the DepEd’s P2.4-billion worth of alleged “outdated and overpriced” laptops.
“Why did you agree when DBM-PS increased the unit price of the laptop from P35,046.50 to P58,300 in less than a month? We can pass the accountability to another agency but being the end user, it is in your conscience that a problem like this occurred,” Senator Ronaldo “Bato” Dela Rosa also pointed out directing his question to DepEd Undersecretary Alain del Pascua.
During the hearing, Pascua reasoned out that the DBM-PS did not seek the approval of a specific price of laptops but rather gave DepEd an option that reduced the number of laptops to be procured given a certain amount of price.
Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito also questioned the supposed lack of representatives from the DepEd in the bidding and procurement processes of the DBM-PS.
This was after DBM-PS Executive Director Dennis Santiago admitted that the DepEd—being the end-user of the requested equipment—was clearly outnumbered by DBM-PS officers in the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) which handled the procurement.
“Majority would always prevail,” Santiago admitted of the BAC's practice, adding there was also no IT expert in the group at the time the matter was being deliberated.
“It seems we have a problem in this case because we only had one representative for the end-user agency. What if the purchase was not according to the specifications that they (agencies) have set, they could be outvoted?” Ejercito pointed out.
To which Santiago agreed as he pointed out that there were only two DepEd officers who were present in the technical working group meetings on the procurement of the laptops.
Noting how the DBM-PS was involved from the pre-bid, bidding and eventual purchase of the laptops, Ejercito said he believes that the “dual function” of the DBM-PS should be reviewed by the Senate.
“I think that the dual function of the PS-DBM based on executive orders. The PS-DBM acts as buying agent of other government agencies in the procurement of common used supplies and equipment and at the same time it is the trading arm of the government in buying these materials and equipments. So dapat mukhan ito ang dapat tingnan din natin (I think we should be looking into this), Mr. Chairman,” Ejercito said.
But former DBM-PS officer-in-charge and executive director Lloyd Christopher Lao, who was involved in the laptop purchases, explained that the price change resulted from a market survey conducted by the agency among four suppliers in March 2021.
Lao, who was also involved in the questionable procurement of overpriced and substandard Covid-19 supplies with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. during the 18th Congress, attributed the price hike to the “disparities” between the DepEd’s purchase requirements and the increased demand in desktop computers and laptops due to the sudden work-from-home arrangements during the pandemic.
But Sen. Risa Hontiveros pointed out that the COA itself was able to canvass similar laptop models in the market at lower prices.
“The PS-DBM is a failure we urgently need to rectify. Some in the agency seem to be so emboldened as to commit corruption on such a large scale. They thought wrong,” Hontiveros said.
“I look forward to investigating this in the Blue Ribbon Committee hearings. We must reconsider the existence of the PS-DBM, and bring those accountable to justice,” said Hontiveros in saying she “strongly” supports calls from fellow lawmakers to abolish the DBM-PS.