COA questions DFA’s P94-M airline tickets, freight services

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) over supposed violations of several government procurement rules in the purchase of airline tickets for foreign travels and availment of freight services totaling P94.3 million.

In its annual audit report on the DFA, the state audit body noted that for 2015, the agency spent P87.843 million for payment of airline tickets for official foreign travels and P6.496 million for freight charges to relocate the household goods and personal effects of DFA personnel from Manila to host countries or to their foreign service posts.

The COA said both the plane ticket purchases and freight service expenses were not included in the approved annual procurement plan (APP) for 2015, contrary to Section 7.2, Rule 2 of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

“Verification revealed that procurement of airline tickets, particularly of those DFA personnel who were assigned in foreign posts or recalled to the HO (head office), and official travels for other purposes like attendance in conferences, workshops, seminars and similar activities was not among the programs/projects/activities that were included in the approved APP for 2015,” the COA report, published on its website on Friday, read.

“Also, procurement of freight forwarders for the shipment of household goods and personal effects was not included in the APP,” it added.                      

The state auditors further noted that the DFA resorted to small-value procurement – also referred to as “shopping” – without the necessary go signal from the agency’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

The COA explained that under the revised IRR of RA 9184, resorting to alternative method of procurement such as “shopping” must have the recommendation of the BAC and the approval of the head of the agency.

The state auditors said this was shown in the price quotations supporting the disbursement vouchers in the procurement of plane tickets and the services of freight forwarders.

The COA said under Government Procurement Policy Board Resolution 09-2009 dated Nov. 23, 2009, a decision to resort to shopping must also be reflected in the agency’s APP.

The COA also took note of the DFA’s failure to post the requests for quotations and the award of contracts in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) website and in the premises of the DFA office.

The state auditors said as admitted by the DFA’s Travel Arrangement Service, the requests for quotations were only sent to travel agencies included in its master list “to the exclusion and prejudice of other qualified entities in the same industry.”

“This condition contravened the very basic principles of competitive bidding,” the COA said. – With Pia Lee-Brago