A PETITION for payment of unpaid brokerage services totaling about P9.56 million filed by the Nonpareil International Freight and Cargo Services Inc. (NIFCSI) against the Department of Health (DOH) has been approved by the Commission on Audit.
In an en banc decision released this week, the COA said NIFCSI is entitled to compensation for services rendered as the DOH’s broker under the Philippine COVID-19 Emergency Response Project (PCERP) during the pandemic.
Records showed the DOH issued a notice of award dated Feb. 6, 2020 to NIFCSI for brokerage services with a total contract price of P18,603,200 with a notice to “immediately commence” until December 2020 or until the funding is depleted, whichever comes first.
By Aug. 11, 2020, the DOH Supply Chain Management Service (SCMS) informed the DOH Central Office Bids and Awards Committee that the contract price was already 92 percent used at P17.04 million.
Anticipating more high-volume shipment from international donors of COVID-19 commodities, the SCMS recommended that the contract with NIFCSI be extended until a new service provider can be signed up.
Meanwhile, the DOH secured a loan facility from the World Bank under the Philippine COVID-19 Emergency Response Project (PCERP) to help the country’s effort to control the threat of COVID-19. A major component of the project is the procurement of equipment, vehicles, and commodities for distribution to health facilities.
Since the World Bank has not yet contracted a third-party logistics firm for brokering, warehousing, and hauling portable x-ray machines, the PCERP requested the DOH to use its brokerage services, causing the NIFCSI’s contract to be extended a second time for P15 million, and for a third time worth P11 million from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2021.
However, when the World Bank was asked if its funds will be used to pay for the brokerage services, the WB said the unpaid billings of the NIFCSI are considered GOP counterpart expenses.
NIFCSI then filed a petition before the COA to compel the DOH to pay.
“When NIFCSI rendered brokerage services for PCERP, there were no more funds available to cover the services. Unfortunately, the brokerage services cannot be charged against the WB funds. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that NIFCSI rendered actual services from which DOH and PCERP have benefitted,” the COA said.
