Transparency

Transparency: work of a good leader
By: Rommel S. Reyes

When people bother you, it is because their souls are trying to get your divine attention and your blessing. –Catherine Ponder

Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003 is the law that governs the public bidding. Under the law, it directs the Principles of a Sound Public Procurement System, there are at least six mandates in order to have a sound public procurement. These six are the following; one is transparency, this principle allows all interested participants i.e. government agency, private company and the general public to know and understand the processes of awarding government contracts. Under the law, competitive bidding is preferred in all types of government procurement. Next is efficiency, this refers to spending the least in buying what is needed for the government, the other is integrity, this involves rules to ensure that the bidding is within established rules and regulations. Then also competition; this ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to take part in government transactions. Also the best value and customer satisfaction this is also one of the principles of sound public procurement to ensure that government gets the best value for the taxpayer’s money. And the last one, uniformity this ensures that the law applies to all government purchases and transactions. The bidding for the Integrated Bus Terminal for the City of Zamboanga which was conducted last January 19, 2009 is a bidding that follows the principle of sound public procurement. It was the most transparent public bidding conducted by the City Government of Zamboanga, imagine there are numerous people involved in the conduct of the bidding from the Technical Working Group (TWG) to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) up to the Design Build Committee (DBC) which composes of people from the cross section of the City. Not only people involved, there are also cameras and video recorded during the conduct of the bidding.
I attended one seminar conducted by the University Center on Local Governance at the Western Mindanao State University with its speaker Dr. Socorro Rebecca B. Felonia on transparency in public procurement and her lectures also discuss about the red flags in the bidding process. She explained, the red flags are the following; (A). Same Contractor/supplier gets the award repeatedly; the explanation here was that there will be suspicions that the Contractor is given special consideration and the possibility of corruption. (B). No Invitation to Bid, she explained that the bidding conducted was not posted invitation to bid in public places, in newspapers of general circulation or in the website of the City. (C). No Bid Bulletin, her explanation was that no bid bulletin posted in public places, newspaper of national circulation or the City website and the contract is awarded to a person. Normally, invitation to bid is published continuously for three consecutive publications. (D). No pre-bidding conference, this is required specially for purchases of 1 M pesos and above for goods, 2M pesos for consulting services and 5 M pesos for infrastructure. And it must be held at least 12 calendar days before the deadline for the submission of bids. (E). No bidders and observers in the opening of bids. If the opening of bids is done privately, there is no transparency and this may make the bidding questionable. (F). No announcement of Award, an announcement tells all bidders who won the bids and how much the contract price is. It allows the bidders to verify “on the spot” whether: respective bids are higher than the lowest bidder; or lowest bidder met the minimum requirements under the law. (G) Award of Contract, meaning, the award of contract to relative or “favored person” of the head of the procuring entity, BAC chair or members, members of the technical working group (TWG), BAC Secretariat, members of the project management office (PMO) and designers of the project. (H). Winning bid substantially too low, the reason here is that a government agency must come up with the approved budget for the contracts that will set the reasonable amount that it can pay for its project; or to reflect the most advantageous price for the government; or to safeguard the quality of the project. (I) Bids accepted after the deadline of bid submission, in some cases, qualified bidders, in the case of procurement of infrastructure and consulting services, are already determined even before the bids are closed. In these situations, acceptance of bids after the deadline of bid submission creates suspicion that the contractor is favored. And lastly, (J) Always shopping, shopping is an alternative mode of procurement used when there is an unforeseen contingency requiring immediate purchase for an amount that shall not exceed fifty thousand pesos (P50, 000) or for procurement of ordinary or regular office supplies and equipment not available in the Procurement Service involving an amount not exceeding two hundred fifty thousand pesos (P250, 000). When a government agency frequently resorts to shopping, it creates suspicion.
If I were to interpret the red flags in public bidding for the Integrated Bus Terminal for the City of Zamboanga, the bidding process did not violate the provisions of the law under Republic Act 9184 the process and the manner brought about in the conduct of public bidding was very much transparent, the problem was that, all the contractors wants to win the bid, but there is only one winner in order to award the project, since there are losers, violent reactions will always come up, but their contention to file the case will not prosper, for the simple reason the bidding process were very much transparent which is a work of a good leader.