The Philippine Statistics Authority – Regional Statistical Services Office 7 (PSA-RSSO 7) conducted a virtual training on Republic Act No. 9184 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations on 28 January 2021 with the Theme “Better Understanding of the Procurement Process for an Efficient Service Delivery under the New Normal.” This is in line with Section 16 of the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the RA 9184 which states that "The Head of Procuring Entity (HoPE) shall ensure that the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), its Secretariat and Technical Working Group (TWG) members, including other relevant procurement personnel are sent to attend procurement training or capacity development program within six (6) months upon designation.” Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) recognized Trainer and Procurement Specialist Atty. Zenaida Beting served as the resource person.

In his welcome remarks, Chief Statistical Specialist (CSS) and the Vice-Chairperson of the PSA 7 BAC, Leopoldo P. Alfanta, Jr. underscored the importance of procurement work to the operations of the office. “We need to learn from this [training] so that all of our activities and procedures in relation to doing our BAC duties will be in accordance with the law…”, he added.

PSA 7 Regional Director Ariel E. Florendo thanked Atty. Zenaida Beting for accepting the invitation to be the resource person. In his message, Director Ariel Florendo emphasized the importance of attending the procurement training of the personnel involved to avoid the risks of incurring penalties associated with the procurement law. He said that if everyone is knowledgeable and implements the learnings in this training, the office will be blessed, problems in procurement will be prevented, and eventually achieve its goal towards improved quality of life for all.

PSA 7 BAC Chairperson and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Edwina M. Carriaga discussed the rationale of the training. She said that the training is anchored on the theme “Better Understanding of the Procurement Process for an Efficient Service Delivery under the New Normal.” She acknowledged that in the context of procurement under the new normal, this has brought some changes or modifications in the implementation of RA 9184. There were several resolutions already released by GPPB regarding some modifications in the requirements.

Atty. Zenaida Beting started the training with discussions on the general overview of RA 9184 and its revised IRR and procurement organizations. In history, according to Atty. Beting, the country’s practice of public bidding was first introduced in the year 1900 by the Americans based on American Laws on Procurement in which no contract shall be entered into without public bidding. Prior to the enactment of the Government Procurement Reform Act, there were already several laws in procurement passed such as the 1917 Administrative Code of the Philippines, NEDA Guidelines on Procurement of Consulting Services, Presidential Decree (PD) 1594 on Procurement of Civil Works, and Executive Order (EO) 262 on Procurement of Goods. Atty. Beting discussed the different methods of procurement, compositions of the TWG, members, and secretariat of BAC including their roles and responsibilities, procurement requirements and standards, and penalties.

During the discussion and open forum, the participants were given the chance to ask questions and/or clarifications on the procurement practices. In fact, many questions and clarifications were being raised which were all answered by Atty. Beting. Surprisingly, there were previous practices that were corrected and cleared. It became an eye-opener to beginners and those who have taken part in the procurement process.

In his closing remarks, PSA 7 BAC member and Supervising Statistical Specialist Felixberto M. Sato, Jr. is hopeful that the participants are ready to implement their learnings from the training especially those who were first-timers or just recently designated as members of the procurement process. He reminded everyone to be serious about exercising their roles in the procurement activity following the procedures and standards set by the revised IRR.

The training was participated by designated personnel involved in the procurement process including the Designated Budget Officer and selected personnel from the regional and provincial offices. Participants from the regional and Cebu provincial offices were made to attend physically at a venue in Cebu City while participants from other provinces attended the training via online platform at their respective training venues. Moreover, participants were made to take the pre-test and should pass the post-test to receive their certificate of completion.