Requesting Entity: Department of Agriculture (DA)

Issues Concern: Requiring Tax Clearance when Resorting to Alternative Methods of Procurement

Details

Clarification on the necessity of requiring Tax Clearance as eligibility document in any of the alternative methods of procurement, particularly for Small Value Procurement and Shopping.

[T]he Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184 is silent whether the eligibility documents for competitive bidding required under Section 23.1 must be submitted when resorting to any of the Alternative Methods of procurement, except those where a semblance of competitive bidding is still present. Thus, the Procuring Entity (PE) has the discretion to require the submission of the legal, technical and financial eligibility documents or not.

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However, it is incumbent upon the Procuring Entity to validate whether it is entering into a contract with a technically, legally and financially capable supplier, contractor or consultant by requiring the submission of only a few, but the most relevant, eligibility documents at the initial stage of the procurement activity so as not to defeat the principles of Alternative Methods of Procurement, which is couched upon economy and efficiency.