A total of 96 participants coming from 56 NGAs, GOCCs, LGUs and other Executive Offices attended the activities held at the PS’ main office in Paco, Manila.
The third batch of government buyers that attended the FGDs.
The FGD activities started with a tour of the newly-opened Retail Store. Mr. Sixto V. Antonio, Chief of the Agency Servicing Division (ASD) discussed the objectives of the FGD and talked about the Retail Store as differentiated from the Big Box Purchases, the modes of payment to the PS and the new units of measure (UOM) being adopted. ASD’s Ms. Sharon Baile discussed the Retail Store ordering procedure and the PS Returns and Refunds Policy. Mr. Marc Hordejan of the I.T. Division was tasked with explaining the new APR forms while ASD’s Ms. Gemma Villanueva reiterated and discussed the need for submission of APP-CSEs by client agencies. Mr. Raul Catalan, Chief of the Accounting Division, discussed the issue on unutilized funds with the PS and other accounting concerns. The last topic had the most questions and concerns from FGD participants. Agencies fielded questions about updating and reconciling balances of funds with the PS and how same could be used to fund their prospective APRs. On two occasions, PS-PhilGEPS Executive Director Jose Tomas Syquia had the chance to address the participants and he informed them of the innovations and improvements in processes that has been implemented thus far in the PS-PhilGEPS.
Mr. Allan Raul Catalan, PS Chief Accountant discusses accounting and finance concerns with participants.
During the FGDs, the PS-PhilGEPS distributed survey questionnaires to gather feedback from the participants in the areas of Awareness, Quality of Services, Benefits and Suggestions for Improvement. Majority of the 96 respondents suggested that PS-PhilGEPS should strive to make improvements on the quality of goods sold, time of delivery and stocks availability.
Mr. Marc Hordejan, PS IT staff presents the new e-APR form that will be utilized when buying CSEs from the PS-PhilGEPS.
On a positive note, the FGD and survey disclosed that majority of the participants:
• Acquired their CSEs from the PS;
• Submitted their APP-CSEs;
• Agreed that they are able to save when buying from the PS; and
• Find it easy to transact face to face with the PS
• Are looking forward to availability of CSEs for purchase by government employees and personal gadgets and small appliances at the Retail Store
Furthermore, all participants agreed:
• That PS employees are courteous and respectful; and
• The Retail Store will be used by their respective agencies
• The Virtual Store was a helpful tool in ordering CSEs
The red flags that PS-PhilGEPS should address are:
• Create more awareness for PS-PhilGEPS as Procurement Agent. Only a few agencies that participated are aware that Non-CSEs can be bought by our office;
• There was low level of satisfaction for PS being able to deliver stocks on time i.e. 28 were dissatisfied and 26 were satisfied as against 71 who were satisfied with the amount of time that they were able to pick-up supplies as against 15 that were dissatisfied; and
• While there was no overwhelming negative response to satisfaction in the quality of goods sold, it was an area where participants agreed PS should improve on alongside availability of stock and the timeliness of delivery to agencies.
Mr. Omar Bernal of the PS-PhilGEPS Business Affairs Division facilitates the gathering of feedback and suggestions from the FGD participants.
More engagement activities with client agencies will be scheduled in the coming months by the PS-PhilGEPS. Meantime, agencies may send their queries or feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the Agency Servicing Division at telephone numbers 563-9352 and 689-7750 locals 4010 and 4019.