DBM Press Release
25 April 2023

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman believes that amending the 20-year-old Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) will help government agencies utilize their budget efficiently.

In her recent interview with business editors and reporters, Secretary Pangandaman identified the procurement process as the biggest bottleneck or hurdle in the budget utilization of agencies.

“That’s why I’m also pushing for amendments in our Procurement Law. It’s been there for the past 20 years, so some of the provisions need amendment. The law itself needs amendment, so we try getting World Bank and also ADB to help us on this,” the Budget Secretary said.

To recall, in October 2022, Secretary Pangandaman met with World Bank officials in Washington DC, USA to seek technical assistance for the study, plan, and implementation of reforms and amendments in the procurement law.

These reforms, according to Secretary Pangandaman, include digitalization and the promotion of sustainable procurement through the Green Public Procurement (GPP) initiative.

"For me, I think it's (procurement law) too stringent. Even the use of digitalization now and payment systems are not provided for in the law. So, maybe we need to put a provision on that and maybe green procurement. When we went to Japan, most of the investors want that their projects are with green specifications. So, we don’t have the specs yet on that. While GPPB (Government Procurement Policy Board) can release the guidelines on this, parang mas maganda ito i-institutionalize sa office (DBM).”

Meanwhile, asked about the current status of the 2023 national budget, Secretary Pangandaman shared that most of the budget has already been released to agencies.

“We have released most of the budget now so hopefully all the procurement procedures are now ongoing so they’ll be able to implement (their projects), especially in the infrastructure sector,” Secretary Pangandaman said.

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