Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) – The Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) on Friday said the Commission on Audit (COA) has no order to blacklist or terminate the contract of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) supplier of “overpriced and outdated” laptops.
“The Audit Observation Memorandum released by COA on 27 April 2022 on the DepEd laptop did not recommend the termination and blacklisting of the supplier,” the PS-DBM said in a statement.
The PS-DMB said COA’s recommendation to conduct contract termination and blacklisting proceedings was for a different laptop procurement involving a different supplier, and not the DepEd contract.
What the state auditors recommended was for the education department to form an investigating committee to look into the overpriced and outdated laptops that were bought in 2021, costing ₱2.4 billion, it added.
READ: DepEd seeks fraud audit on ‘pricey, outdated’ laptops
On top of this, the PS-DBM said it sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for an independent probe.
“PS-DBM is fully cooperating with the NBI by complying with specific subpoenas requesting for documents, and by allowing PS-DBM staff to be interviewed on the matter,” it added.
READ: Ex-PS-DBM chief Lao seeks immigration clearance amid Senate probe into pricey laptops
The PS-DBM said the NBI investigation is ongoing. It also said that its legal department is thoroughly reviewing the matter to comply with the COA memorandum.
