President Marcos has signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 12009 or the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) which seeks to promote greater transparency, competitiveness, efficiency, and sustainability in the government procurement process.

Marcos signed the law, along with RA 12010 or the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), in a ceremony in Malacañan on Saturday morning, July 20.

In his speech, the President hailed the new law as it would move the country closer to attaining a strong, more responsive, and efficient bureaucracy.

The NGPA is seen to address loopholes in the government procurement system and prevent wastage in public transactions by clamping down on illegal practices to eliminate opportunities for corruption.

The new law particularly streamlines the procurement process from three months to 60 days by standardizing procurement forms and institutionalizing electronic procurement.

One of the salient features of the law that Marcos highlighted is the provision of 11 new modalities of procurement.

"This will afford greater flexibility for government agencies in choosing how to best acquire how to best acquire goods and services," he said.

The NGPA also introduces a new concept— the most economically advantageous responsive bid— which considers the qualitative economic value of any proposal. This serves as an alternative to the prevailing practice of choosing just the cheapest product.

"This frees us from the obligation of selecting the lowest-priced bid when there is a better choice," President Marcos said.

"This will ensure that we get not only the best prices but the best deals for our clients: the Filipino people," he added.

Another important feature, according to Marcos, is the conduct of strategic procurement planning which mandates more detailed and purposeful planning to increase the success rates of procurement transactions.

Meanwhile, the President lauded how the NGPA takes into account the environment.

"The inclusion of sustainable and green public procurement practices in this law demonstrates the country's commitment to addressing the worsening pollution and challenges of climate change," he said.

The NGPA is one of the priority bills of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).