The Public Financial Management Committee (PFMC) composed of the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Commission on Audit (COA), recently approved the adoption of an integrated information and communications technology solution that would allow for a more transparent way of monitoring the disbursement and appropriation of public funds.
In a press release, the DBM said that the adoption of an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) would facilitate the generation of vital information on all aspects of government financial transactions and payments, which will be made publicly accessible through information technology.
An integral part of the IFMIS is the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), a fully-automated, web-based, and centralized database that will facilitate the generation of vital information on all aspects of government financial transactions. It will also serve as an online ledger where government transactions can be mapped out in real-time from purchase to payment.
“Through this digital transformation program and the development of a convergent hub, we will be able to have real-time and consolidated reports, achieve efficiency of government systems as well as ease of doing business and sustainability of systems and establish conditions that would help reduce corruption and poverty incidence,” said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman in a press statement.
She points out that the PFMC already drafted a proposed Executive Order (EO) to direct all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities including government-owned and controlled corporations to adopt and implement IFMIS in the processing of government financial transactions.
The new EO updates EO No. 55 which aims to direct the integration and automation of all government financial management systems to make them more effective.
Using digital technology to reform public financial management
Aside from the IFMIS, the PFMC has also adopted the administration’s draft of the proposed Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized (PBBM) Governance Act that aims to institutionalize public financial management principles for best practices in cash budgeting.
“With the transition to the full adoption of IFMIS, we hope to secure the digital transformation objectives in our 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda,” the budget secretary said.
Pangandaman has been very vocal in the past about using digital technology to pursue public financial management reform agenda.
Through proper use of technology, the budget secretary believes that the country could achieve not only transparency and accountability, but also bureaucratic efficiency, sustainability, and ultimately, economic growth.
Transforming the government’s procurement policies and processes
Speaking during a year-end meeting with members of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) and the Inter-Agency Technical Working Group (IATWG), Pangandaman expressed confidence that the government can transform its procurement policies and processes through the proper use of technology.
“We still have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of the public and meet international standards of procurement,” she said. “I truly believe that with sincerity in service, a focused determination to improve, and with proper use of technology and digitalization for efficiency and transparency, we can transform procurement policies and processes to be a mechanism that will thrust forward and truly help us achieve our Agenda for Prosperity.”
“Coupled with our initiatives to digitalize government processes, records and databases, this would hopefully help us realize our shared aspiration to take the Philippine procurement regime to the next level,” the budget secretary added.
Pangandaman also commended the GPPB-Technical Support Office (TSO), under the leadership of Executive Director Atty. Rowena Ruiz, for promoting the Philippine government’s public procurement reform agenda which aims “to promote streamlined, innovative and agile and responsive procurement for all procuring entities and stakeholders.”
At present, the GPPB spearheads the implementation of the Green Public Procurement (GPP) Roadmap whose goal is to integrate green choices in public procurement and to ensure sustainable management and use of natural resources by 2030.
The GPP is a process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle. The strategy of the GPP is to integrate green practices harmoniously into the existing procurement processes.
The GPPB-TSO also has lined up its fiscal year 2023 Action Plan that supports the primary mandates of the GPPB on policy-making, capacity development and procurement monitoring