EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara said the department will speed up the procurement of more than P12 billion worth of books and other learning tools to be used by learners and teachers for fiscal year 2025 through the Early Procurement Activities (EPA).

In Memorandum Order No. 49 dated September 18, Angara said the EPA will ensure the timely delivery of textbooks and other learning materials, especially in far-flung areas of the country.

“For the Central Office, there are 11 projects for EPA with a total amount of P12, 400,763,013.61,” Angara’s memorandum read, adding this includes the procurement of accreditation and equivalency testing materials, kinder activity sheets, science and mathematics equipment and textbooks and learning materials, and e-Learning car packages.

“Additionally, there are six projects with a total amount of P8,723,229,934 and four projects with a total amount of P10,882,136,000 which are to be directly released or downloaded by the Central Office to Regional and School Division Offices, respectively. The Regional Offices and School Division Offices shall undertake EPA for said projects,” he added.

These include projects overseen by the Central Office such as smart-TV packages, laptops, school furniture, electrification projects, school health facilities, and the construction of last-mile school buildings.

To ensure the materials would be delivered promptly, Angara directed the regional and school division offices to adhere to the EPA, allowing contracts for goods, infrastructure projects, and consulting services to be awarded ahead of the following fiscal year.

Angara said the EPA covers all procurement stages, from posting opportunities for bidding to the recommendation of the Bids and Awards Committee to the Head of Procuring Entities, pending the approval of the budget.

It also applies to procurement projects undertaken through Competitive Bidding and Alternative Methods, except for repeat orders, shopping, emergency cases, take-over of contracts, and small-value procurements.

Angara said the bidding process for the projects will start from October to December this year, with the contracts expected to be awarded and notices to proceed issued by January 2025.

Angara earlier said there is a need to speed up the procurement of textbooks and other learning materials as it usually took three years to print and deliver a textbook, though this was cut short to just one year by his predecessor, Vice President Sara Duterte.

Angara vowed to do better and further reduce the period to less than a year.

Early this year, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said it found that textbooks were not being procured on time even if the funding was available.

Citing data from the DepEd’s own Bureau of Learning Resources, EDCOM said that since 2012 – when the K to 12 program was implemented – up to 2023, only 27 textbooks had been procured for Grade 1 to Grade 10, while only those in Grades 5 and 6 had their textbooks completely procured for Araling Panlipunan, English, Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan, Technology and Livelihood Education, Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, Filipino, Math, Music and Arts, Physical Education and Health, and Science.

EDCOM said Grades 4, 8, 9, and 10 had textbooks procured only for one or a few subjects, while Grades 1, 2, 3, and 7 had none at all in the same period.