THE Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) has not taken steps to blacklist the supplier of the overpriced and outdated laptops worth P2.308 billion purchased on behalf of the Department of Education in 2021.
The 2022 audit report released yesterday revealed the PS-DBM created a review committee based on the recommendation of the Commission on Audit but the panel has yet to take action against the Joint Venture (JV) of Sunwest Construction and Development Corporation, LDLA Marketing and Trading Inc. and VST ECS Philippines, Inc.
While the PS-DBM claimed that its Blacklisting and Termination Review Committee has wrapped up its inquiry and submitted a resolution to the Head of the Procuring Entity for final approval, the audit team’s validation showed this was “not implemented.”
It said the panel has not even started any move against the joint venture.
“The Blacklisting and Termination Review Committee has not yet conducted blacklisting proceedings over the subject contracts, thus a resolution on the termination of the contract or blacklisting of suppliers has not been issued,” the COA noted.
Government auditors said the 39,583 units of Dell Latitude 3420 laptops were bought at P58,300 each although it had an outdated processor of Intel Celeron, making them too low-spec to be of use for public school teachers.
Likewise, the DepEd’s approved budget for each laptop was set at a ceiling of P35,046.50, which means the computers delivered by the supplier were in excess of P23,253.50 per unit.
Because of the jacked-up price, only 39,583 teachers got the low-spec laptops when the DepEd’s budget was supposed to provide for 68,500 teachers.
A subsequent Senate investigation found that there was an overprice of at least P979 million.
At the supplier’s cost of P58,300 per unit, senators said the recipient public school teachers should have received high-end laptops available in the market.
However, the audit team confirmed that the PS-DBM has convened an investigation committee that is looking into the transactions to determine the accountabilities of the members of the Bids and Awards Committee as well as the Technical Working Group.
