BSP’s subcontract violation, cancellation of national ID deal raised in Senate

Did the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cancel its deal with the supplier of the national ID cards after  realizing that subcontracting is not allowed in its contract with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)?

Sen. Grace Poe (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Did the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cancel its deal with the supplier of the national ID cards after  realizing that subcontracting is not allowed in its contract with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)?

Senator Grace Poe, head of the Senate finance committee, thinks so.

This, after learning from officials of the  Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)  and  the Commission on Audit (COA)  that  subcontracting is prohibited  under a memorandum of agreement (MOA)   between the PSA and the BSP.

Under the  MOA, PSA National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Claire Dennis Mapa said they would pay the  BSP to print the  national  ID cards.

But Mapa said they were surprised  to  learn later  that the printing was subcontracted to  AllCard Inc. (ACI), a service provider of  the  BSP,

“As mentioned, we were surprised na All Cards ang kumuha. Nalaman na namin nung  nagkakaroon ng operation,” he told the  Senate subcommittee on finance  on Wednesday.

(As mentioned, we were surprised that All Cards was the one who took it. We found out about it when the operation was underway.)

“Are we in a violation of an agreement or the law because if there was an agreement between you and  BSP, is there a particular provision that says BSP will print?” Poe then asked.

Mapa pointed out that it was clearly stated in the MOA that  subcontracting  is not allowed.

“So papano ngayon yan (So what happens now)? They violated,”  Poe said.

“This is  actually a grave concern because if they blatantly violated  memorandum of agreement, that’s something that can  cancel out the entire agreement and I mean BSP  might be liable for something here,” she added.

The senator  then asked the  COA  to explain how it happened.

COA auditor Anicleto Boleche Jr.  echoed  Mapa’s  explanation that subcontracting is  prohibit under a Bids and Awards Committee  resolution, which was  attached to the MOA.

“And nung nalaman nga namin  na si AllCard  yung nakuha nya, we raised this issue with the PSA,” Boleche  said.

(And when we found out that it was AllCard who took it, we raised this issue with the PSA.)

Poe later asked the COA if the BSP should be asked to return the PSA’s payment for violating the MOA. But Boleche said they have yet to study this matter.

According to Mapa, the PSA had so fair paid  P1.4 billion to the  BSP for the printing of  90 percent of the 55  million national ID cards.

“So I think we have to investigate further ano ba itong AllCard  na ito,”  Poe said.

“I think the reason why this is terminated now is maybe the Board of  the BSP realized: Teka muna baka they are in violations of something because the memorandum of agreement  is pretty clear. Hindi nila pwedeng i-subcontract yan,”  she added.

In its termination notice dated August 15,  the BSP’s Monetary Board cited various reasons for ending its contract with the supplier.

Among them was the supplier’s supposed “failure to deliver any or all of the goods specified in the contract, amounting to more than 10 percent of the contract price.”

NOTE: The English translations in the article were AI-generated.
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