Andaya questions bidding role of DBM unit

From buying office supplies, such as ball pens and pencils, a “small, really small” purchasing unit under the office of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno grew to supervise the bidding of some P198 billion in big-ticket contracts in 2018, House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. divulged on Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference, the Camarines Sur representative questioned the role of the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in awarding multibillion-peso contracts in 20 government agencies, including P168 billion in major  projects under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.

“A huge amount of projects were [bid out] by a small office with no expertise in the matter,” Andaya said.

“We will see as we go along … who agreed to have these huge projects be procured by a small office unknown to most members of the House. How did it go there?” he said.

DOTr projects

Andaya said most of the projects were funded by loans extended to the Philippines by China and should have been undertaken by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Andaya said Bingle Gutierrez, PS-DBM executive director, admitted during the hearing of the House rules committee on Tuesday that her office had supervised the bidding for the construction of new airports, subways, bridges and mass transport systems.

Gutierrez, he added, disclosed that the PS-DBM had been in charge of awarding various government contracts worth P7 billion  yearly since Diokno became budget secretary.

Under Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, Andaya said, the PS-DBM was only authorized to purchase “common use” office goods and supplies for the national government like computers, inks, printers, envelopes and writing instruments.

He claimed the PS-DBM was never involved in bidding out big government projects when he served as budget secretary during the Arroyo administration.

“I concede that PS-DBM has the best people capable of conducting bidding for commonly used government supplies. They are doing this for years,” he said. “But bidding for airports, railways and mass transport systems?”

Andaya asked: “Are the personnel of PS-DBM better than the experts from the DOTr in bidding out airports and subway systems? Are they better in scrutinizing the technical specifications of helicopters and other military hardware than the personnel of the Department of National Defense?”

He said Diokno, who has been embroiled in allegedly irregular disbursement of funds for flood control projects in Sorsogon, should explain why he allowed the PS-DBM to take over the bidding process from the DOTr.