Approval of DOH Customized Procurement Manuals

Section 6 of Republic Act No. 9184 (R.A. 9184) directs the GPPB to systematize procurement by pursuing the development of generic procurement manuals and standard bidding forms for mandatory use by government agencies.
R.A. 9184 requires the GPPB to develop procurement manuals that promote systematization, avoid confusion, and ensure transparency.
The GPPB had previously approved and adopted the Generic Procurement Manual (GPM) for all agencies, effective January 2007.
The Department of Health served as one of the nine (9) Pilot agencies for pilot-testing and customizing the Generic Procurement Manual.
The GPPB Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) receives and processes the customized manuals for final GPPB action.

The GPPB approves the Customized Agency Manuals (CAM) of the Department of Health for adoption and official use.
The CAM approval covers the DOH customized manuals intended to operationalize R.A. 9184 procurement requirements for the DOH.
The CAM approval is made by the GPPB Members by virtue of the powers vested on them by law.
The approval is made final upon completion of GPPB-TSO processing of the revised draft submitted by DOH.

The approval is based on a unanimous recommendation by the Government Procurement Policy Board Inter-Agency Technical Working Group (IATWG) during its regular meeting on 17 October 2007.
The IATWG recommends approval subject to the following revisions to the DOH CAM:
- Incorporate the latest amendments to the provisions of the IRR-A of R.A. 9184.
- Clarify the role of the procurement service unit in the monitoring function of the Central Office Bids and Awards Committee under Section 2.1.2.6 of Volume 1.
- Confirm whether the Essential Drugs Price Monitoring Systems discussed in Section 2.2.3.3.1 of Volume 2 captures the “prevailing market price”; if it does, incorporate a statement to that effect.
- Qualify all provisions/sections prohibiting posting of surety bonds by adding a statement that such prohibition is temporary or pending issuance by the GPPB of guidelines on criteria for surety bonds.
- Incorporate a provision/section in Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 mandating supplier’s registration in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS).
- Clarify the purpose of requiring proof of purchase of payment of service engineers/technicians stated in Section 4.5.4.1.1 of Volume 2.
The GPPB-TSO receives the revised DOH CAM draft on 23 October 2007, after the IATWG review and recommended revisions.

The DOH CAM is approved expressly for the Department of Health’s adoption and official use.
The resolution provides that it shall take effect immediately.
The resolution is adopted on 26 Oct. 2007 and signed by the authorized GPPB members and board officials with required attestations.