Requesting Entity: Office of the Executive Secretary Strategic Initiatives Management Office (OES-SIMO)

Issues Concern: GPPB Resolution No. 34-2013 dated 17 December 2013

Details

Whether the GPPB Resolution No. 34-2013 dated 14 November 2013, includes in its coverage the request of the DPWH Secretary, Honorable Rogelio L. Singson, authorizing the DPWH Secretary to conduct Negotiated Procurement under Section 53 of Republic Act No. (RA) 9184 and its revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), without securing the opinion of the GPPB and approval from the NEDA Director-General, pursuant to the requirements under Executive Order (EO) No. 423, S. 2005.

It should be emphasized that the grant of authority in GPPB Resolution No. 34-2013 is limited to the use of Negotiated Procurement under Section 53.2 of the IRR of RA 9184. In this regard, we wish to clarify that procurement activities for contracts amounting to at least Five Hundred Million Pesos using alternative method of procurement other than Negotiated Procurement under Section 53.2 of RA 9184 and its IRR are still subject to the requirement for prior GPPB approval pursuant to Section 4 of EO No. 423, s. 2005, even if the purpose is to provide rescue, recovery, relief, and/or rehabilitation efforts for, or to continue to provide basic services to victims in areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

Notably, the request of the Honorable DPWH Secretary is for authority to use Section 53 of RA 9184 and its IRR. Without specifying the instance or condition for its use, we presume that the request is for authority to use Negotiated Procurement in any of the thirteen (13) instances provided in Sections 53.1 to 53.13 of the IRR of RA 9184. Based on this, we are of the considered view that GPPB Resolution No. 34-2013 does not fully cover the request of the Honorable DPWH Secretary considering that such resolution only applies to procurement activities using Negotiated Procurement under Section 53.2 (Emergency Cases) of RA 9184 and its associated IRR.