Thread by @znsuzara

THREAD COA audit findings on the Procurement Service which received fund transfers from DOH

I'm skimming through the report tonight. Will share interesting findings as I go along. 1/x

First thing that caught my attention was the failure of the Procurement Service to submit copies of completed contracts/purchase orders to their resident auditor on time.

Out of 112 contracts/POs, PS submitted 80 of them 10-356 day beyond the prescribed period. 2/x

They have not submitted copies of 32 completed contracts/POs to the resident auditor. The 32 contracts amounts to a total of Php8.9B. Dunno what these contracts are.

COA has a circular requiring agencies to submit copies of perfected contracts/POs within 5 days 3/x

COA noted that the documents were submitted to the audit team by different personnel. Report says that resulted in ineffective monitoring of submitted contracts.

Why was PS unable to submit those required docs? How difficult is it to furnish copies to the resident auditor? 4/x

PS failed to post contracts/POs awarded under the two Bayanihans in the GPPB online portal. Out of 105 contracts/PO, PS only posted 62 of them.

COA said that defeated the purpose of ensuring transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. 5/x

The 43 contracts that were not posted in the GPPB online portal amounts to a total of Php13.6B.

COA said the BAC Secretariat is tasked to do this. Last year, GPPB issued a resolution requiring agencies to post ALL contracts awarded via emergency procurement in the portal. 6/x

My goodness. What is up with PS? PS is an attached agency of the DBM. So is the GPPB-TSO.

If there's any department that should be at the forefront of complying with transparency rules, that should be DBM and all its attached agencies.

PS gives DBM a bad name. 7/x

Wait, na-OC ako.

EDIT: "Thread ON COA audit findings on the Procurement Service"

Now the fund transfers to PS:

So based on the audit report on PS, COA noted that PS received Php41.82B from the DOH. But based on the audit report on DOH, COA noted that Php42.4B was trasnferred.

I don't know what accounts for the difference between the two. 8/x

Aside from DOH, PS also received transfer from other agencies in the total amount of Php355.8M.

All in all, PS received Php42.18B from DOH and other agencies so they can buy "COVID-19 supplies" like alcohol, disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer, tissue paper. 9/x

They're also expected to buy:

- extraction machines
- PPEs
- test kits
- thermo guns

How much was actually disbursed (i.e. paid by PS to suppliers)? As of end Dec 2020, PS disbursed a total of Php29.2B (Php28.9B from the DOH funds and Php355.8M from other agencies) 10/x

If PS disbursed Php28.9B from the Php41.8B DOH funds, that means PS hasn't utilized Php12.9B as of end Dec 2020.

If we add the Php11.9B unutilized funds of the DOH, that would bring the total of unutilized DOH COVID-19 funds to Php24.8B as of end Dec 2020. 11/x

No details yet in the COA report regarding the total Php29.2B funds disbursed by the PS.

What commodities did they buy? How much is the unit price for each commodity? Who were the suppliers? Were the deliveries made on time? 12/x

What latest balance of the DOH fund transfers to DOH?
If PS still had Php12.9B left from that Php41.2B transfer, how much did it use between Jan 1 to date?

Okay, I'm also curious how much was left of those funds when Lao resigned.

But that's it for now. 13/13

P.S. I am not a procurement expert. Government procurement is a whole different animal, but with what little I learned from procurement trainings, I’m sure there’s still a lot more we can ask about the procurement processes for those contracts/POs of the Procurement Service.