Modes of Procurement

The continuous flow of government offices such as University of the Philippines Manila entails the constant influx and outflux of processes and requests requiring procurement. With the changing tides of management from traditional paper-and-pen submission to digital means of application, procurement processes and guidelines have evolved and become complex to learn even if it is really simple in nature. This is why the Procurement Management Office (PMO) and the Information Management Office (IMS) alongside the Human Resource and Development Office (HRDO) of UP Manila conducted a virtual webinar about procurement entitled, “Modes of Procurement Training, From Bidding to Beyond: Mastering Procurement Modes,” held via Zoom on March 4, 2026, from 9AM to 12NN.

Invited resource speakers for this training came from IMS to elaborate on PROCURA updates as well as from PMO to elucidate on the modes of procurement existing within the institution, and negotiated procurement. Acting as the master of ceremony, Ms. Julia Cabalda from HRDO carried out the training with the hopes of informing UP Manila employees, particularly those who are involved with procurement-related matters in their respective units, to enhance their knowledge about it as well as be informed of the latest updates, changes, and developments implemented within the processes involved for procurement.

Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, Dr. Johanna Patricia Adevoso-Cañal, gave her welcoming remarks, thanking the employees behind the execution of the webinar, as well as stating the realities of the procurement process in the government settings. She shared that the design of procurement may not be the best, but we can utilize these moments of collaboration in finding ways to push the system that is still legal and can still do whatever we want and need such as the existence of PROCURA. Thus, she acknowledges that in doing so, some aspects may become very expeditious, a great time saver for projects, and overall in planning the whole procurement processes.

PROCURA is the website handled and utilized by UP Manila employees to request their PPMPs and Purchase Requests for Common and Non-common goods, a creation by the UP Manila IMS. To provide a further explanation of such changes, Mr. Karlo Edison Aurelio, Computer Programmer II from IMS, began navigating the major updates on PROCURA. He highlighted several major and minor updates which were added and implemented based on the feedback of IMS and PMO when it comes to procurement. For the homepage of PROCURA, the user interface has changed in such a way that allows the end-users to easily view and access their PPMP and PR requests. Moreover, the type of requests has been separated vertically, allowing end-users to navigate and view according to what they need. Other than that, Mr. Aurelio gave a simple tour of the buttons and tabs helpful in distinguishing the status and approval paths of the PPMP.

The creation of PPMP using the newly launched interface of PROCURA was also demonstrated and simulated by Mr. Michael Joshua P. Sarmiento, Programmer from IMS. In this demonstration, he showed exactly what it is like to request for a PPMP using the website; reminding the audience about the important buttons to check or click to edit their PPMP details, checking the approval status of the submitted PPMP (e.g., pending, approved, rejected), the finalization status of the PPMP, and in generating a PDF or Excel soft copy of the requested PPMP. The audience was also allowed to follow along with Mr. Sarmiento’s guidance by also providing the development version of the website for the audience to practice creating a PPMP using the new interface. Relevant changes implemented in the creation of PPMP is the division of the items according to classification (i.e., ICT, Infrastructure, Others).

When the PPMP is approved and ready for utilization, comes the Purchase Request for the items. Led by Mr. John Fhilippe Buenaventura, Programmer from IMS, he specified in detail the process of filing a Purchase Request using the PROCURA website. He noted that the interface of the creation of purchase requests is similar to creating a PPMP, allowing the end-users to be more familiar with the entire website. Congruently, Mr. Buenaventura also navigated the website from the requester’s side and the approver’s side for both common and non-common goods, enabling the participants to learn what it is like for requesting and approval. As highlighted from the others, the approval path of the items or requests can be visibly seen in the interface of PROCURA when the request is selected for viewing. 

After the discussion of PROCURA in courtesy of the staff from IMS, Mr. Aurelio took the floor to remind everyone that the actual launching of the new interface will depend if there will be major changes to be added but if none, it was likely to be available during the month of March 2026. He also addressed queries in relation to the website, most of which are clarifications from the hard and soft copy attachments when requesting from the website, missing choices from the dropdown lists of buttons when editing details, and suggestions to include other roles in the website for tracking purposes of the submitted documents.

For the next part of the webinar, the chosen staff from the PMO discussed the different modes of procurement and the specificities of one of the modalities of procurement, the negotiated procurement. The different modes of procurement was brought to light by Ms. Kathlin-Kaye Hidalgo from PMO. In her presentation, she briefly expounded on the background of procurement based on Section 26 or the Modes of Procurement from the Republic Act 12009 or the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA). Consecutively, she began enumerating the different sections from NGPA that tackles about procurement relevant and most commonly used within UP Manila: competitive bidding; limited source bidding; competitive dialogue; unsolicited offer with bid matching; direct contracting; direct acquisition; repeat order; small value procurement; direct sales; and direct procurement for science, technology, and innovation. Throughout her discussion, she showed the various requirements, thresholds, limitations, conditions, and reminders per mode of procurement, particularly those that follows a UP Manila memorandum.

The last topic of discussion was headed by Ms. Shiela Marie Bustamante, from PMO, about Section 35 or the Negotiated Procurement. In her presentation, she outlined the thirteen (13) modalities of the said procurement and outlined the conditions per mode, documentary requirements, as well as relatable examples in UP Manila per modality. The thirteen modalities allowed are as follows: 35.1) Two Failed Biddings; 35.2) Emergency Cases; 35.3) Take-over of Contracts; 35.4) Adjacent or Contiguous; 35.5) Agency-to-Agency; 35.6) Scientific, Scholarly or Artistic Work, Exclusive Technology and Media Services; 35.7) Highly Technical Consultants; 35.8) Defense Cooperation Agreements and Inventory-Based Items; 35.9) Lease of Real Property and Venue; 35.10) Non-Government Organization (NGO) Participation; 35.11) Community Participation; 35.12) United Nations (UN) Agencies, International Organizations or International Financing Institutions; 35.13) and Direct Retail Purchase of Petroleum Fuel, Oil and Lubricant Products, Electronic Charging Devices, and Online Subscriptions. Aside from delving into the procedures for each modality, she also elaborated on clarifications commonly asked by constituents as well as reasons for rejections from PMO. 

The Question and Answer (Q&A) segment of this webinar allowed the audience to raise their queries and concerns, whether specific to their unit or in general. A participant has asked in relation to foreign supplies, another clarified the submission of hard copies even if it is applied digitally via the website, and the remaining participants have inquired about specific clauses under the various modalities under the negotiated procurement. Several employees from the PMO catered to the participants' inquiries as many as they could. Nonetheless, queries sent from pre-registration have been addressed by both PMO and IMS and have consolidated into a file so that participants can view it after the webinar.

To formally close the program, Mr. Martin Racza, the Supervising Administrative Officer from PMO, expressed his gratitude for the HRDO for hosting and letting the webinar to come to fruition. In his message, he also took the opportunity to inform the audience of a new prototype website for the procurement office which will be announced once it is fully completed for dissemination and usage. As aforementioned, he reiterated that there will be a Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQs) document, answering their questions sent from their pre-registration which he hopes would be helpful in addressing general concerns and inquiries. As such, he said that the PMO can always be contacted and ready to assist everyone for their issues and clarifications.

We, the Learning and Development Section of the UP Manila HRDO, strive to deliver training programs and caravans that are both conducive and beneficial to our fellow UP Manila constituents. Look out for more exciting updates on events that we’ve got for you here at our website!