Procurement Observers Meet in Davao

29 May 2008 – The Evelio B. Javier Foundation Inc. (EBJFI) organized a dialogue among Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) observers from civil society organizations (CSOs) on May 29-30, 2008 in Davao City. The dialogue is part of the Government and Civil Society Partnership Building for the Institutionalization of CSO Bids and Awards Committee Observers project being implemented by EBJFI. The project aims to develop a system of coordination and deployment of CSO BAC observers to strengthen civil society participation in procurement activities.
 
Since the passage of the RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA), several capacity-building sessions have been conducted for CSO observers to train them on the features of the law and empower CSOs to participate in the bidding process. While there has been an increase in the number of trained CSO observers, their actual participation in bidding activities has been hampered by the lack of an efficient mechanism for their deployment.

Fourteen representatives of CSOs and nongovernmental organizations based in Mindanao participated in the dialogue. The resource persons were composed of representatives from Office of the Ombudsman, Government Procurement Policy Board, Coalition Against Corruption, Bishops Businessmen Conference, Makati Business Club, and Transparency and Accountability Network. The activity resulted in a proposed coordination mechanism through a local Procurement Task Force, with MinCode taking the lead in coordinating the attendance of civil society observers until a secretariat has been formally set up.

The project is supported by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, United States Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Collaboration between Civil Society and Government on Anti-Corruption Efforts in the Philippines being implemented by The Asia Foundation.

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