THE COMMISSION on Audit (CoA) on Monday said it plans on wrapping up consultations with senators on a proposal to revise the government auditing code with the aim to boost transparency in state procurement before Congress goes on break on Sept. 28.
“Before the break we will come up with the final draft of the bill,” CoA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba told a Senate finance committee hearing on the agency’s proposed P13.42 billion budget next year.
“We are putting it together so that the other parts of the Procurement Act may be part of our scope,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.
He said his agency and the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes would ensure the new auditing code would complement the recently signed New Government Procurement Act, which streamlines government procurement to 27 days from 120 days.
It will also establish new modes of procurement that will allow the direct purchase of goods from suppliers with a good track record, and the direct purchase of goods used for research and development.
Senate Bill No. 2764, the Revised Government Auditing Act, bars cash transfers between government agencies unless specified under a memorandum of agreement. It also seeks to set up a program allowing civil society organizations to assist state auditors in evaluating and monitoring government projects in remote and critical areas. — John Victor D. Ordoñez