COA calls out another procurement fumble of public school teachers’ laptops
MANILA, Philippines — Procurement issues have once again led to the delayed distribution of gadgets to public school teachers, this time involving P53 million worth of laptops and tablets purchased by the Cavite provincial government using its special education fund in 2021.
According to its response to the Commission on Audit, the provincial government admitted its failure to distribute the gadgets on time, saying it had to conduct a thorough equipment review following media coverage of the Department of Education's procurement of overpriced laptops.
In its annual report for 2022, COA flagged the delayed distribution of 350 laptops worth at least P17 million and more than 4,000 tablets worth P36 million, which public school teachers received "12 to 19 months from the target completion of procurement."
Significant delay due to late posting of purchase request
Failure to deliver school gadgets on time was "due to a significant delay in the submission of Purchase Request (PR), posting of procurement opportunity and distribution by the Department of Education (Division Office) to public school teachers and personnel," COA said.
“Thus, maximum benefits from the procurement were not achieved,” the state auditors said.
COA pointed out that the purchase request for the gadgets was supposed to be prepared as early as March 10, 2021, yet bidding retails were only publicized on the country's government procurement system after 107 days.
“The lengthy lead time contributed to the delay in the completion of the procurement process,” the state auditors noted.
In its response to the observation by COA, the Cavite provincial government said it had to conduct a “thorough review of the technical specifications” of the gadgets with the help of the Provincial Information and Communications Technology Office (PICTO).
This was done to "ensure optimum efficiency of the IT equipment to be procured and in consideration of the prior publicized COA AOM on DepEd's ‘Overpriced Entry-Level Laptops’ in the mainstream media."
The provincial government, however, said it had still complied with the prescribed procurement timeline required in Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
COA has instructed the provincial governor to implement "effective measures" for timely purchase request submission and procurement opportunity posting.
They also recommended closer coordination among the Provincial GSO, Schools Division Superintendent and Supply Officer of the DepEd to ensure prompt issuance of procured items to its intended beneficiaries.
Alliance of Concerned Teachers Chair Vladimer Quetua said that the delay was a "big inconvenience" to teachers in need of equipment, especially as the laptops were given as the school year was about to end.
A youth group monitoring education spending has called on the government to open its procurement and bidding activities to the public, saying that critical processes in the procurement of items are still not open to monitoring.
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