Requesting Entity: National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM)

Issues Concern: Commission on Audit (COA) Observers

Details

Whether the attendance of COA’s representatives as Observers is not mandatory, and whether it will not nullify the proceedings of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

Section 13.3 of the IRR, x x x, mandates that Observers shall be invited at least three (3) calendar days before the date of the procurement stage/activity and the absence of Observers will not nullify the BAC proceedings, provided that they have been duly invited in writing. It is clear from Section 13.3 of the revised IRR that the Procuring Entity (PE) should extend an invitation to the intended Observers so that the representatives are duly informed of the planned bidding. If any of the Observers fail to attend the bidding on the indicated schedule, the procurement process should continue since the absence of any of the observers is not a ground to delay the proceedings. Conversely, in case the PE fails to properly invite and/or inform the Observers of the planned procurement process, then the bidding could not proceed without the PE satisfying this requirement.