The Other Side of the Coin

Pahimakas
Jayson Edward B. San Juan

THERE IS nothing new in the public perception that the Bureau of Internal Revenue is one of the most corrupt government agencies, and its tax collectors the most crooked.

But while unscrupulous tax collectors pocket huge amounts of money and remit a mere fraction of their collection to government coffers, we should not forget the other side of the coin: how does government spend that small amount that accrues to its own pockets?

Systemic Distortion
The prevalence of corruption in procurement is nothing new. Numerous reports document the extent of procurement corruption, which starts from the bidding process and ends in actual contract implementation.

Government loses as much as P21 billion in procurement leakages annually. These loses translate to shorter roads and fewer public construction, smaller quantity of books for students, and lack of modern technology that could have made government service more efficient and effective.

These loses takes place because the present procurement system creates a symbiotic environment where corruption thrives. Public bidding remains to be a private affair that results to fewer bidding parties, where potential collusion among bidders can occur.

Furthermore, we have a procurement policy that gives wide discretion to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), which make subjective judgement based on subjective criteria rather than objective standards. The system makes it easy for some BAC members to patronize a bidder in exchange for a juicy "cut" in the contract.

Institutional Reform
To answer the need for procurement reform, four executive actions governing procurement have been enacted. But being mere executive orders that are easily changed or repealed whenever the President has a change of heart, institutionalized measures are necessary.

Thus a government procurement reform act should be adopted to make procurement reform more difficult to reverse. At present, two bills are deliberated in both chambers of Congress. The House measure is expected to be approved for Second Reading, while its Senate counterpart is expected to be discussed in the Committee on Finance.

The procurement reform bill underscores five criteria: transparency in both bidding process and contract implementation; competitive bidding through equal opportunity; efficiency by streamlining and simplifying the procurement process; accountability of both public and private parties; and public monitoring and public awareness in the specifics of an intended project.

Aside from institutionalizing a procurement system, the bill covers the whole bureaucracy, from the national down to local government units. The bill also provides stiffer penal sanctions for parties involved in collusion and other corrupt practices.

The procurement reform bill attempts to address corruption within the process of public acquisition of goods and public works. If passed and implemented as it should be, it could minimize the incidents of corruption that eats large chunks of scarce government funds intended for books, roads, buildings, and government efficiency and effectiveness.

Government procurement should not be a beauty contest where candidates are judged by subjective qualifications. It should be a horse race where candidates are judged by a single objective criterion: the first to cross the finishline.

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