BEYOND BUDGET
Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
I was thrilled to witness a new era of cooperation between the Republic of Korea and our very own Procurement Service (PS)-Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Last week, together with the Philippine delegation composed of members of the DBM, PS-DBM led by Executive Director (ED) Dennis Santiago, and the outstanding Philippine Embassy team with our gracious Ambassador, Honorable Ma. Theresa Dizon-De Vega, we visited the Public Procurement Service (PPS) Headquarters in Daejeon, South Korea. The visit was aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between our organizations through knowledge-sharing.
Indeed, the trip was a very enlightening experience, and I thank our partners from the Korean PPS headed by Administrator Kim Yoon-sang, Director General Kim Eungkeol, Deputy Director General Lim Huneok, and other members of the PPS for their generosity and warmth.
We had the distinct privilege of being given a tour of the units for cybersecurity, the Korea Online E-Procurement System (KONEPS) Management, and the Call Center for Public Procurement. We were afforded a preview of the KONEPS, an online platform that manages government procurement, including bidding, contract signing, and payment for commodities, services, and construction. It allows suppliers to participate in public bidding, manage procurement procedures online, and share data with credit rating institutions and surety insurance companies. This system reduces the burden on businesses and enables paperless information checks on public institutions. The experience was truly amazing and the system, incredible!
This trip was highlighted by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the PS–DBM and PPS to promote cooperation in the field of Public Procurement. It includes information exchange, expertise sharing, international development cooperation, policy discussions, best practices, exhibition participation, and assistance for public stakeholders. The insights from these initiatives will surely level up our procurement system and process as well as the expertise of our human resources.
I felt especially moved when Administrator Kim Yoon-sang stated their government's gratitude for our aid during the Korean war and expressed eagerness to give back. This demonstrates our countries’ high level of reciprocity — the mutual interchange of support, respect, trust, and care. I was also impressed to learn that as early as 1989, Korea has fully involved their small and medium-sized enterprises in their public procurement, thus supporting their local industries. Certainly, this is something our administration would want to replicate and push to help develop small industries in the country.
As you may know, the procurement process has been identified as a significant bottleneck in budget utilization, with up to 30 percent of the FY 2023 National Budget implemented via procurement. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the consolidation of proposed amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA), from a whole-of-government and whole-of-society perspective, to address public service delivery issues, underspending, and limitations in direct acquisitions.
The Congress is now deliberating to create a game-changing law. But under PBBM’s directive, we are not only joining hands with internal stakeholders but also with our international partners for benchmarking best practices and trends, for us to have a truly transformative procurement system — a model of efficiency with the ability to adapt to the changing times.
During the Public Procurement Forum with PPS, I underscored that DBM and our procurement agencies are working hard to champion world-class budget and procurement reforms by advocating amendments to the GPRA that take advantage of digitalization for efficiency and transparency. It will be a model of innovation, designed to advocate sustainability with green procurement. In addition, our government is undertaking digital transformation initiatives with the Modernized Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (mPhilGEPS), which provides a total e-government solution to procurement bottlenecks. Further, we are digitalizing our Public Financial Management systems through the Integrated Financial Management Information System to act as a consolidated database for all government financial processes, as well as speed up payment and delivery of goods and services, with the Budget and Treasury Management System as an integral component.
Meanwhile, PS-DBM ED Santiago shared the initiatives to further reshape and digitalize our procurement process through the PhilGEPS, a pioneering platform for procurement transparency and accountability that serves as the primary source of information on all government procurements. This will include additional features such as a Virtual Store, eWallet, Annual Procurement Plan, ePayment, and eBidding, a complete electronic bidding facility from Procurement Planning to Contract Management to improve public procurement transparency and streamline the procurement process. Upcoming features include the eMarketPlace, an e-commerce site for procuring entities to procure supplies and equipment offered by registered merchants, and the eReverse Auction where suppliers submit online bids to compete against each other, among others.
In 2022, our government saved ₱681.198 million through this centralized procurement. Imagine how much we may save when we fully digitalize the process! This will certainly help about 66,643 procuring entities and around 286,227 suppliers registered in the PhilGEPS.
Looking forward, we are exploring initiatives with international partners such as the Republic of Korea as part of our commitment to champion innovative, responsive, and sustainable budget and procurement policies and reforms that will enable the government to steer the country toward inclusive economic development.
Beyond budget, we are working very hard to make our procurement systems improve to world-class levels. When I started out as Budget Secretary, I asked for PS-DBM to be given a chance. Since then, I am proud to say that we have turned around our procurement systems. With the amended GPRA that hopefully will soon be passed, and with the support of our international partners both public and private, I am confident that we will achieve our goal of making our procurement systems world-class — a truly effective tool in budget utilization and in achieving our agenda for prosperity.
(Amenah F. Pangandaman is the current Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management.)