DAGUPAN CITY – In its bid to deliver more efficient service, the city government under the stewardship Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, conducted a two-day seminar on the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, for city hall employees at CSI Stadia on May 29-30.
Among those who attended the seminar were members of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), its technical working group and secretariat and the city’s department heads and division heads, focal persons and key personnel of the city.
“We have to practice good governance. We want to do everything right. Oftentimes there’s fear on how we could deliver the government services faster to the people without violating the law on procurement. Doubts on procurement hamper us. This is an opportune time to introduce change,” said Mayor Fernandez.
She challenged everyone in the seminar to prepare their budget through good planning applying what they have learned from the two-day seminar and make good programs of the city as it observes its platinum year.
Topics discussed in the seminar included an overview of the revised IRR of R.A. 9184, standardized bidding procedures for goods and infrastructure projects, bidding documents for the procurement of goods and infrastructure projects, procedures for consulting services; penal, civil and administrative provisions; protest mechanism, blacklisting guidelines; and alternative methods of procurement.
Executive Director V of the Government Procurement Policy Board – Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) lawyer Dennis S. Santiago reminded everyone that on procurement it is “what you need, not what you want” that should be given utmost consideration.
Santiago was invited by the city government as among the resource speakers. The others are lawyer Tareeq Yahya Timhar A. Radjaie, Procurement Management Officer V, GPPB-TSO and Ryan A. Milanes, Budget and Management Specialist, Department of Budget and Management Regional Office 1.
Mayor Fernandez believes that for the city to deliver more efficient services, it is important that the city must practice efficient procurement, thus the theme of the seminar “Efficient Procurement=Efficient Services”.
“We have delivered and implemented the most number of programs and projects in our city, which is more than what had been implemented by the previous administration, because of cost efficiency minus corruption. We are still targeting the delivery of more services and we want it at the right time. This is why, it is important that we equip our employee with the knowledge and know-how in observing efficient procurement,” said Mayor Fernandez.
As a challenge, Mayor Fernandez wants all department and division offices to apply what they have learned from the seminar as this will serve as her basis in granting the employees their 14th month pay, especially the BAC which is chaired by City Budget Officer Luz F. De Guzman. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/May 31, 2017)