Gov’t moves to speed up spending

THE GOVERNMENT has ordered agencies to prepare targeted spending measures to fast-track disbursement for public goods and services, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

In a statement Monday, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad noted that the reforms that the DBM introduced during the past four years to facilitate faster release as well as efficient spending of government agencies’ budgets “had revealed broad operational issues—ranging from weaknesses in project planning and procurement to insufficient capacity and compliance.”

It did not help that recent judicial decisions that were not favorable to previous, although controversial, sources of additional funding such as the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF as well as the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP made agencies “hesitant” to implement projects, according to Abad.

Philippine Statistics Authority data showed that last year, government consumption grew by just 1.8 percent, slower than the 7.7-percent increase in 2013.

As the DBM pledged to reverse last year’s anemic spending, the agency is putting in place its courses of action to enhance planning and coordination among government agencies to meet this year’s disbursement targets.

For one, Abad disclosed that “[t]o address the matter of planning and project preparation, we have tasked departments and agencies to disaggregate their project listings from 2014 and 2015.”

“We expect them to facilitate the documentary requirements for fund releases before the end of this month. These requirements include proper network plans, geo-tagged photos and implementation guidelines,” Abad added.

The DBM is also enjoining local government units (LGUs) to efficiently spend their allocations under the P22.5-billion supplemental budget for this year.

“Local governments will need to employ measures to ramp up their spending, all while remaining faithful to budget rules. Together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the DBM will initiate financial management workshops for LGUs with government projects. The goal is to capacitate our local government units for effective project planning and efficient implementation,” Abad said.

“The plan is also to equip regional offices of various departments with the means to provide technical assistance. This specifically refers to the preparation of fund liquidation requirements and other activities designed to improve project planning,” he added.

Also, the DBM would ask the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) as well as the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) to “proactively assist departments and agencies in expanding their capacities for planning and procurement,” the budget chief said.

“In particular, it might be best for departments to assign full-time support staff to their respective bids and awards committees (BAC). At the moment, the secretariat for each BAC is manned by department staff who are already preoccupied with their regular tasks. A dedicated pool of people for each bids and awards committee will go a long way in expediting the procurement process for implementing agencies,” Abad said.

The GPPB will also have to coordinate with major procuring agencies in order to resolve recurring problems in procurement, he said.