MANILA– A total of P53 million in laptops and tablets were delivered late to teachers in Cavite because of delays in the procurement process, according to the latest Commission on Audit (COA) report.
State auditors said in the 2022 annual audit report on the province that there was a significant delay in the submission of purchase requests and other procurement processes by the Department of Education (DepEd) Division Office.
“The very long process from PR (purchase request) preparation to the distribution of purchased laptops and tablets deprived the end-user schools of the immediate use of said PPE (property, plant and equipment) and cast doubt on the efficiency of the procurement process of the province and accordingly, the attainment of the program objectives,” the auditors said in the report.
The auditors noted that the 350 laptops costing P17.43 million and 4.148 tablets costing P36.49 million were only used and enjoyed by teachers and other intended recipients 12 to 19 months from the target completion of procurement.
“Thus, maximum benefits from the procurement were not achieved,” the auditors said.
The audit report recommended to the provincial government to instruct the provincial administrator and the Bids and Awards Committee to institute effective measures for the timely submission of purchase requests as well as the proper coordination of various offices so that items are issued to end-users within a reasonable time.
The provincial government for its part told the audit team that a thorough review was done in light of the “prior publicized” audit memorandum on the DepEd’s “overpriced entry-level laptops” in mainstream media.
The provincial government also noted that they followed the prescribed procurement timeline mandated in Republic Act no. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“Nevertheless, upon the instruction of the governor, we will continue to institute controls to further ensure timely procurement activities in accordance with the approved PPMP (Project Procurement Monitoring Plan),” the provincial government told the audit team.
The COA earlier flagged the DepEd for the purchase of P2.4 billion worth of laptops, which were deemed overpriced and “too slow” because of “outdated” processors.