Crackdown on erring agri suppliers intensifies

MANILA  -The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) is keen on eliminating unreliable and noncompliant suppliers to improve the procurement of agri-fishery machinery and infrastructure.

In a statement, PCAF said stakeholders agreed that blacklisting should not be automatically revoked upon completion of the ban period for the errant supplier or constructor.

It also said suppliers whose certificates of accreditation had been suspended or revoked and those who had been blacklisted by the Government Procurement Policy Board should be posted on the PCAF website.

So far, the National Agricultural and Fisheries Machinery Assemblers, Manufacturers, Importers, Distributors and Dealers Accreditation and Classification (Namdac) board has accredited a total of 128 suppliers out of the 181 applications as of June 30.

“The ultimate goal of Namdac is to eliminate ‘fly-by-night suppliers’ to ensure that legitimate suppliers will be able to participate in bidding and provide after-sales services,” said Francia Macalintal, chief of PCAF’s Policy Development and Coordination Division.

“Namdac also aims to give small-scale suppliers a chance to upgrade their accreditation status and participate in joint ventures with large-scale suppliers,” Macalintal added.

Namdac was created by Department Circular No. 17 issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in 2018 to address the proliferation of “fly-by-night” contractors in the sector.

It also guides farmers, land owners and other stakeholders on the procurement of equipment and machinery from accredited suppliers.

PCAF said 77 agri-infrastructure projects nationwide had already been subjected to the Constructors’ Performance Evaluation System (CPES).

Mara Segreid Bustos of PCAF’s Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanization and Infrastructure Support Section said that in the first half of 2023, nearly half of the suppliers had obtained a “very satisfactory” rating while 60 percent of the infrastructure projects gained a “satisfactory” rating.

PCAF, an attached agency of the DA that facilitates broad-based participatory processes in the agriculture and fisheries sector, recently held a series of performance reviews.

It sought to update industry players on the CPES implementation and discuss the standardization of infrastructure project monitoring forms and the minimum test requirements for agriculture projects. INQ