The Commission on Audit (COA) said the National Housing Authority (NHA) had 50 delayed infrastructure projects in 2022 but no liquidated damages had been imposed on contractors despite the mandates of the law. In its audit report, COA said that the projects valued at P7.754 billion had been delayed by 16 to 1,867 days as of Dec. 31, 2022. On the imposition of liquidated damages, COA cited the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, particularly Item 9 which mandates that contractors should be imposed default liquidated damages in the event that they fail to satisfactorily complete their work. In case the liquidated damages reach 10 percent of the total contract price, COA said that RA 9184 provides that the procuring entity can either terminate the contract or allow the contractor to continue but likewise continue imposing liquidated damages. However, COA said that after a review of the Calamity Funds projects of the NHA, only the contractors of the Carigara Housing Project 1 and Pastrana Ville in 2019 have been imposed liquidated damages, as well as the 16 Yoland Permanent Housing Projects (YPHP) for 2017 to 2019 that have been terminated in 2022. It pointed out that it had made similar observations in its audit reports for 2020 and 2021, particularly on the status of the YPHP. "However, the same conditions still exist, which indicate weak internal control over the proper monitoring and validation of the actual status of infrastructure projects, as well as laxity/leniency in the enforcement of the stipulations specified in the contracts and in penalizing inefficient performance of contractors," it said. It noted that NHA’s district managers and regional managers failed to ensure that the provisions of the Procurement Law were observed, and, thus, they should face administrative sanctions as the NHA’s internal rules may provide. "Consequently, the non-imposition of liquidated damages deprived the government of the appropriate indemnification for the damages incurred due to defaulting contractors’ failure to deliver the projects on time," it said. Again, COA recommended that the NHA closely monitor the timelines on the completion of the projects by the contractors and strictly adhere to Item 9 of the IRR of the Procurement Law. It said that NHA should impose liquidated damages on the contractors for each day of delay, and collect these from the progress billings/claims or retention money. For those with liquidated damages that exceed 10 percent of the total price, the COA wants the NHA to initiate the termination of their projects and forfeit the contractor's performance security and failure to do so responsible officials should be sanctioned.