Requesting Entity: Department of Health – Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Issues Concern: Chief Administrative Officer as Regular Member of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC)

Details

Whether the position of a Chief Administrative Officer who supervises the accounting, budget and finance sections is covered by the prohibition in Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 2003-004, prohibiting the Chief Accountant and personnel of accounting units under her to be regular members of the BAC.

[T]he Chief Administrative Officer is not a personnel under the Chief Accountant and her duties and responsibilities do not cover payment functions, i.e., she does not certify as to the availability of funds and approve vouchers in payment of procurements made by the agency.

[T]he Chief Administrative Officer of FDA directly supervises the operations of the budget, finance and accounting Sections of the Finance Department and evaluates the performance of the personnel thereof. Clearly, her position is different from the Chief Accountant or Accounting Unit personnel under her, and is not engaged in any payment function prohibited under the rules. Accordingly, x x x the Chief Administrative Officer of FDA may be designated as a regular member of the BAC.