Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman expressed her confidence that the government can transform its procurement policies and processes through the use of technology.
The Budget Secretary made the statement before the members of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) and Inter-Agency Technical Working Group (IATWG) in the conduct of their Year-End Meeting today, 19 December 2022.
“We still have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of the public and meet international standards of procurement. But I truly believe that with sincerity in service, a focused determination to improve, and with the proper use of technology and digitalization for efficiency and transparency, we can transform procurement policies and processes to be a mechanism that will thrust forward and truly help us achieve our Agenda for Prosperity,” Secretary Pangandaman said.
The Budget Secretary also commended the GPPB-Technical Support Office (TSO), under the leadership of Executive Director Atty. Rowena Ruiz, for promoting the Philippine government’s public procurement reform agenda.
GPPB-Technical Support Office Executive Director Ruiz highlighted that “these government procurement reform initiatives are imperative to promote streamlined, innovative, and agile and responsive procurement for all procuring entities and stakeholders.” She also thanked the Development Partners for their continued technical assistance to these GPPB initiatives.
Currently, the GPPB spearheads the implementation of the Green Public Procurement (GPP) Roadmap which aims to integrate green choices in public procurement and to ensure sustainable management and use of natural resources by 2030.
The GPP is a process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services, and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle. The strategy of the GPP is to integrate green practices harmoniously into the existing procurement processes.
“Coupled with our initiatives to digitalize government processes, records, and databases, this would hopefully help us realize our shared aspiration to take the Philippine procurement regime to the next level,” Secretary Pangandaman expressed.
The GPPB-TSO also has lined-up its FY2023 Action Plan that supports the primary mandates of the GPPB on policy-making, capacity development, and procurement monitoring. (PR)
