Education Secretary Sonny Angara has signed a new memorandum to speed up the procurement of educational materials and project for the upcoming fiscal year.
Contracts are expected to be awarded by January 2025, allowing schools to receive necessary resources well before the school year starts. Photo by DepEd.
DepEd Memorandum 049, s. 2024, introduces Early Procurement Activities (EPA) across the Department of Education (DepEd). It aims to ensure timely delivery of textbooks and learning tools for students.
According to DepEd’s timeline, bidding for these projects will begin in October 2024. Contracts are expected to be awarded by January 2025.
The streamlined process covers all stages of procurement, from posting opportunities to recommending bids to the Head of Procuring Entities.
The EPA applies to various procurement projects via Competitive Bidding and Alternative Methods but excludes certain exceptions, such as repeat orders, emergency cases, and small-value purchases.
For Fiscal Year 2025, all levels of DepEd will participate in the EPA.
The Central Office will focus on high-priority projects, including textbooks, e-Learning Cart packages, and testing materials.
Regional and Schools Division Offices will also engage in early procurement for their projects. These include smart-TV packages, laptops, school furniture, electrification projects, health facilities, and the construction of last-mile school buildings.
According to DepEd’s timeline, bidding for these projects will begin in October 2024. Contracts are expected to be awarded by January 2025.
Angara emphasized the importance of the initiative during a recent hearing with the House Committee on Appropriations. He said the Department “is making every effort to improve our procurement process and accelerate its pace.”
To recall, Angara expressed interest to allow early procurement in the case of classroom construction. The initiative comes weeks following a Congress deliberation which revealed delayed construction of classrooms and delivery of laptops that had been sitting in a warehouse since 2020 and 2021.
