DepEd speeds up textbook, learning tool procurement

Education Secretary Sonny Angara has ordered for the conduct of Early Procurement Activities (EPA) in fiscal year 2025 in a bid to ensure the timely delivery of educational materials, including textbooks. 

Based on DepEd Memorandum No. 049, s. 2024, the central, regional, and schools division offices of the Department of Education (DepEd) shall adhere to the EPA, allowing contracts for goods, infrastructure projects, and consulting services to be awarded ahead of the following fiscal year. 

This process covers all procurement stages, from posting opportunities to the recommendation of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to the Head of Procuring Entities, pending the approval of the budget. 

It also applies to procurement projects undertaken through Competitive Bidding and Alternative Methods, except for repeat orders, shopping, emergency cases, take-over of contracts, and small-value procurements.

For fiscal year 2025, DepEd said that its central office will focus on high-priority projects, including textbooks, e-Learning Cart packages, testing materials, and learning tools and equipment. 

The regional and schools division offices, meanwhile, will also conduct EPA for their respective projects, including those overseen by the central office such as smart-TV packages, laptops, school furniture, electrification projects, school health facilities, and the construction of last-mile school buildings.

Based on DepEd’s indicative timeline, the bidding process for these projects will be from October to December 2024, with contracts expected to be awarded and Notices to Proceed (NTPs) issued by January 2025.

Angara earlier said that it used to take three years to print and deliver a textbook for learners, until his predecessor, Vice President Sara Duterte, shortened it to just one year.

“It takes a year to do the manuscript, another year to proofread it and to send it out. And then another year, iba-iba pang bidding ‘yun [it has to undergo different biddings]. So, my predecessor narrowed that down to one year,” he said in an event last July. 

“But I think, we can probably do better still and we'll continue pushing the envelope,” he added. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News