Evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the regional procurement service depots in the Philippines : a case of region 1 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Public Policy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2008
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Massey University
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Abstract
The focus of this research is to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of recent
procurement reform done by the Government of the Philippines, particularly the
centralized procurement system for common-use supplies, materials, and
equipment. The centralized procurement system is adopted with the intent of
taking advantage of the savings inherent to bulk purchasing, streamlining
procurement procedures, and reducing opportunities for corruption in the
procurement of the abovementioned items. By legislative authority under
Republic Act No. 9184, the centralized procurement system was made mandatory
among all government agencies, government owned and controlled corporations
and local government units in the purchase of their supplies, materials and
equipment requirements.
With the introduction of tighter budget and the stronger pressure for good
governance, the contributions of procurement policy and institutions of
procurements to the achievement of good governance and potential relation to
development has been gaining global recognition. Given the association of
procurement to the way public money is spent, the issue on corruption is also
central to this research. There has been a growing recognition of the
relationship between corruption and development – the more corrupt a country
is, the more underdeveloped it becomes. With the daunting task of battling
against corruption, the country’s strategy is to direct its efforts in combating
corruption in specific areas, like public procurement.
This thesis demonstrates that the centralized procurement system offers a
significant reduction in processing times in the conduct of procurement.
Additionally, it offers opportunities for savings generation with the cheaper prices
of goods and the reduction of administrative cost associated with procurement.
More over, it provides a procurement framework where opportunities for
administrative corruption are reduced. This leads to the conclusion that the
centralized procurement system is efficient in that it reduces administrative
processing time and concomitant costs. This, in the long run, will benefit the
procuring entities and ultimately the tax payers.
However, the emphasis placed on achieving administrative savings is at the
expense of other measures of effectiveness such as quality of goods being
supplied and the quality of services being extended to client agencies. Moreover,
the lack of effective inventory and control system may pave the way to greater
waste. Without an effective inventory and control system as well as an improved
quality control system, the centralized procurement system that works faster and
cheaper may not be better after all.
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Keywords
Regional procurement service depots, Public administration, Philippines, Public procurement, Centralised procurement system