USTDA Partners with the Philippines to Promote Value in Procurement

(USTDA) MANILA, Philippines – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, in cooperation with the Philippine Government Procurement Policy Board’s Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO), kicked off a three-day procurement workshop under USTDA’s Global Procurement Initiative: Understanding Best Value (GPI). As part of the GPI Procurement Assistance Program, USTDA will provide training and technical assistance to help the Philippine government incorporate life-cycle cost analysis and value for money elements into its procurement practices, which will help increase international competition and facilitate improved procurement outcomes for infrastructure projects in the Philippines.

“This program is an invaluable step in strengthening economic cooperation between the United States and the Philippines,” said Michael Klecheski, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy, Manila. “The program supports all the efforts of the Government of the Philippines to promote transparency and good governance, with the overarching goal of obtaining the best value and quality for government funds.”

“As the Philippine economy further accelerates, it becomes even more crucial for government to work efficiently to support the country’s growth,” stated GPPB-TSO Director Dennis S. Santiago. “This workshop not only represents further efforts to reform public procurement in the Philippines – it also reflects the government’s purpose of bringing more efficiency to public transactions. Through this program, we can fine-tune existing procurement practices and make them more responsive to the needs of the larger bureaucracy and the ordinary Filipino.”

The three-day workshop, which was developed in collaboration with GPPB-TSO, is providing training to 50 public procurement officials from GPPB-TSO and other Philippine government departments. Led by USTDA, the workshop will include sessions taught by the George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Law Program and technical specialists in the transportation sector. It will focus on how to obtain the best value for the Government of the Philippines in civil works by incorporating tools such as life-cycle cost analyses, total cost of ownership and savings over time into its procurement practices.

The Procurement Assistance Program will advance the Government of the Philippines’ 2016 agenda to reform public procurement and increase infrastructure spending. It also supports USTDA’s goal of leveling the playing field for U.S. companies seeking to compete in large-scale infrastructure tenders around the world.