To standardize and ease the process of government procurement, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to come up with e-Marketplace platforms similar to Lazada and Shopee.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presides over a sectoral meeting in Malacañang on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. (Photo from the Presidential Communications Office)

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said during a Palace press briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 22, that in the next two weeks, the agency will finalize the “specific amendments (per) provision” of the guidelines so local government units (LGUs) can start testing how to use the e-Marketplace for their benefits.

“And then ano po si President doon sa marketplace – gusto niya po talaga ma-develop and ma-institutionalize iyong e-Marketplace po natin, iyong e-government platform natin para pong Lazada or Shopee iyong concept noong platform, ganiyan (And then the President really wants to develop and institutionalize our e-Marketplace, our e-government platform whose platform is like Lazada or Shopee),” she added.

The official explained that the President himself, who had agreed to the amendments, had given suggestions on how to retrofit the guidelines to the needs of the LGUs.

“Nag-local government unit po siya, so naiintindihan po niya iyong proseso ng procurements (He has headed a (s)local government unit, so he understands the process of procurements),” Pangandaman said.

“So, he was able to explain po anong mga areas nahihirapan iyong mga katulad po ng mga LGUs at saka iyong mga tao sa gobyerno when they procure, ganoon po (the areas where LGUs and government people are having a hard time in terms of procurement),” she added.

Meanwhile, Procurement Service-DBM (PS-DBM) Executive Director Dennis Santiago disclosed that the e-Marketplace for government procurement will be part of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), an electronic commerce service operated by the DBM to serve as the central portal for all procurement information and activities of the government.

Motor vehicles would serve as the pilot products in the new e-Marketplace as the official explained that government officials needing vehicles can simply go through the platform as long as they comply with the “limit set forth by DBM” or the “threshold amount to procure the motor vehicle” and the technical requirements.

“And then moving forward, hopefully, iyong mga ibang produkto naman po ang maipapasok sa (other products can be launched in the) e-Marketplace where procuring entity can directly buy. Ang mawawala po rito ay iyong mahabang proseso ng pagbi-bid (What will be streamlined here is the long process of bidding). Okay? Because they will buy directly from the e-Marketplace,” Santiago said.

He assured that “we will have mechanisms to qualify” the right suppliers and products.

To make the e-Marketplace more “efficient,” the PS-DBM head said they came up with the PhilGEPS Certificate of Registration and Membership to simplify the “legal, technical, and financial” eligibility of the bidders.