In her interview for the "Kapihan sa Manila Bay," a weekly news forum moderated by veteran journalist Marichu Villanueva, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman on August 21, 2024 highlighted the salient points of the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) — one of which is digitalization.
In discussing this, Sec. Pangandaman focused on the creation of the Electronic Marketplace, or eMarketplace, and its "add to cart" functionality that shall serve as the government's official e-commerce platform for the procurement of various goods.
The eMarketplace is an additional feature of the modernized Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) under the Procurement Service-DBM (PS-DBM). With motor vehicles as the pilot product for procurement of client-agencies, including local government units, Sec. Pangandaman said that PS-DBM will ensure that the offered goods and products are sourced only from legally, technically, and financially capable suppliers.
Sec. Pangandaman added that the eMarketplace will primarily offer Common-use Supplies and Equipment (CSE), and eventually non-CSE, too.
In relation to NGPA, Sec. Pangandaman assured that the new law is also designed to strengthen anti-corruption measures to prevent previous issues from happening again, especially with the introduction of new modes and modalities of procurement. In fact, she hails NGPA as "the biggest anti-corruption measure in the Philippines" in modern history.
Apart from NGPA, other topics for discussion included the National Expenditure Program for Fiscal Year 2025, proper and timely utilization of agency's budget, and the country's investment-grade credit rating under the current administration, among others. | August 27, 2024/KR