The Department of Education’s (DepEd) practice of seemingly circumventing the government’s procurement law came under scrutiny at the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearing on Thursday, September 15.

During the panel’s hearing, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada noted how the DepEd made a possible violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act, particularly on the splitting of contracts after finding out that the agency has undertaken repeat orders of laptop units and other information technology (IT) requirements from only five suppliers.

Since 2013, Estrada noted that these five companies—Advance Solutions, Inc. (ASI), Columbia Technologies, Inc., Reddot Imaging Philippines, Inc., Techguru Inc. and Girltekki Inc.—have been constant suppliers of the agency’s IT requirements, in effect, shutting out other potential bidders.

Abram Abanil, DepEd Director for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services, however, defended the agency’s decision saying the five suppliers “have submitted the lowest bids.”

But Estrada questioned the DepEd’s move saying the department could have welcomed new players to join to facilitate better competition and level the playing field.

“My point is that we should be more welcoming of new players since that would make for better competition. But don’t you think we are discouraging these new players from participating in government biddings if they are being singled out for investigation?” Estrada pointed out.

Abanil, however, said he could not comment on the issue, but assured the blue ribbon committee that the DepEd has always “gone through competitive bidding with regards to the process of awarding contracts to these suppliers.”

To this, Sen. Francis Tolentino, Senate blue ribbon committee chair, and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, made a commitment to look into the DepEd’s practice of doing “repeat orders” on its previous laptop procurement deals to determine possible amendments to the procurement law.

Under Section 51 of the government procurement law, repeat orders as a method or procurement is allowed, provided that these “will not result in splitting of contracts, requisitions, or purchase orders.”

When Estrada asked if ASI is only “sourgraping” now because it failed to bag a DepEd contract. Abanil replied: “it’s possible, your honor.”

But when asked what his definition of “splitting of contracts” is, Abanil said he would “defer to his colleagues” in the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (DBM-PS) to explain their interpretation of the procurement law.