PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the rollout of an electronic procurement system at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to address transparency and competition issues, eliminate collusion and political interference, and reduce delays.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told reporters in Malacañang that the e-Marketplace platform — set for a July or August launch — would further streamline the acquisition of common-use supplies of agencies and local government units.

"It serves as a virtual marketplace where transactions and interactions occur electronically," she said, describing it as "similar to Lazada, Amazon and Shopee."

"It is a significant component of digital transformation as it leverages the power of the internet and technology to connect businesses, consumers and suppliers in the digital environment," Pangandaman added.

"This is our part of our efforts to digitalize the government's procurement system and address concerns on the procurement process — which is the biggest bottleneck or hurdle in the budget utilization of our agencies."

Pangandaman cited other ongoing procurement reforms, such as proposed amendments to the 20-year-old Government Procurement Reform Act, which she said would make the system "efficient, transparent, reliable, sustainable and future-proof."

Dennis Santiago, executive director of the DBM's Procurement Service, said the e-Marketplace would be an additional feature of the existing Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System or PhilGEPS.

"[W]e're focusing on the e-Marketplace that we will launch around end of July or early August this year to allow for ease of the procurement or ease of procurement in government," he said.

"[S]ellers, market operators and, of course, government [agencies] as buyers can look into products, multiple products in one platform where they can choose, where they can select and, of course, order and actually pay. Everything will be through the system, he added.

He stressed that the system would only be for common-use supplies and equipment and that the bids and awards committees of agencies and LGUs would also not be eliminated as competitive bidding would still be utilized.

Santiago noted that the shortest time for procurement under competitive bidding was 26 days and could extend up to 136 days.

"Now, with the e-Marketplace, you have products already in the system; then the government procuring entities will have to select from those products and then make an order right there," he said.

For the initial launch, the DBM will be focusing on the procurement of vehicles.

"We are looking at our manufacturers and distributors. We are not dealing with dealerships; we are dealing with manufacturers and distributors of motor vehicles," Santiago said.

Around 2,000 vehicles will be purchased for different agencies and LGUs totaling P8 billion "for quarter one alone."