President Marcos (center) signs into law New Government Procurement Act during simple rites held Saturday morning at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañang Palace. Witnessing the event were House Speaker Martin Romualdez (right) and Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero. (Speaker’s office)

A new era of transparency. 

That's what the signing of Republic Act (RA) No.12009 or the New Government Procurement Act means for House Speaker Martin Romualdez. 

“This legislation ushers in a new era of transparency, integrity, and accountability in our government's procurement processes. It reflects our unwavering commitment to the Filipino people to ensure that every peso is spent wisely and responsibly,” Romualdez said after witnessing President Marcos' singing of the law on Saturday, July 20. 

The new law, which updates RA No. 9184, aims to strengthen the integrity and accountability of government procurement processes by promoting transparency, competitiveness, efficiency, proportionality, accountability, public monitoring, procurement professionalization, sustainability, and value for money. 

Romualdez expressed his strong support for the law as he underscored its role in ensuring the effective and responsible use of government funds. 

“The signing of the New Government Procurement Act is a landmark achievement in our commitment to uphold good governance and transparency in government transactions,” said the leader of the 300-plus-strong House of Representatives. 

“This law will streamline and standardize procurement processes, making them more transparent and efficient, and ensuring that public funds are spent wisely and judiciously,” he pointed out. 

The law applies to procurements by all branches and instrumentalities of the national government, including departments, bureaus, offices, agencies, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), and local government units (LGUs). 

It covers the procurement of goods, infrastructure projects, and consulting services, regardless of whether funds are sourced locally or internationally. 

Key features of the revised law include the standardization of procurement processes and forms, requirements for proper planning and budget compliance, and mandates for detailed engineering investigations and surveys before bidding on infrastructure projects. 

It includes reforms such as shortening the time for the whole procurement process, from 120 days to just 27 days, starting from the advertisement up to the notice of the award, notice to proceed, and the signing of contract. 

The new law also aims to adopt the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) as the central platform from the planning to implementation stage of the procurement process. 

It also includes many other reforms such as the Green Public Procurement approach, a move geared towards achieving sustainability as it requires procuring entities to align procurement towards goods, projects, and services that would have a lesser environmental impact through their lifecycle. 

It also introduces provisions for market scoping, lifecycle assessment, and the use of framework agreements and pooled procurement to achieve economies of scale. 

“The revised Act introduces essential safeguards to ensure that procurement activities are conducted with the highest standards of integrity and accountability,”  Romualdez said. 

Meanwhile, Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro, one of the principal authors of the New Government Procurement Act, thanked President Marcos and Romualdez for their efforts in pushing for law's passage, 

"With the passage of the New Government Procurement Act, we aim to cut the red tape that remains one of the factors that slows down the progress of our country and the delivery of services to our countrymen," Luistro said.