Agency under DBM hit over delayed delivery of PAF clothing

December 10, 2012 4:51pm

 Combat clothing and individual equipment (CCIE) procured by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) for P21.44 million through a government agency three to five years ago have yet to be delivered, according to a Commission on Audit (COA) report.

The COA’s 2011 report on the PAF noted that P15.6 million undelivered CCIE were already fully paid for while the remaining P5.84 million dated back to five years ago.

The items — shoes, uniforms, sleeping mattresses, flight suits, among others — were purchased through the Procurement Service (PS), an agency under the Department of Budget and Management.

“…(T)he P21.4 Million worth of supplies and CCIE items could have benefited a lot of PAF personnel three to five years ago had the items been delivered in the year where the Agency Outsourcing Requests or Purchase Requests were issued to PS-DBM,” COA said.

Because of this, the COA recommended that the military service buy directly from legitimate suppliers for its needs considering only their track record on quality and reliability.

It also asked PAF leaders to “demand from PS-DBM the immediate delivery of the items requested and evaluate the capability and efficiency of the PS-DBM as a procuring arm of the Philippine Air Force considering its poor performance.”

The PAF leadership, in a letter to the Air Force internal auditor dated March 14, 2012, said it will no longer allocate funds to PS-DBM for procurement until all transactions have been completed.

PS-DBM was created in 1978 to promote a “most economic and efficient” purchase and delivery of common-use supplies of the national government and its agencies. — KBK, GMA News