MANILA - The Department of Budget and Management said the new administration of its Procurement Service has suspended the procurement of non-common use supplies and equipment (NCSE) until further notice.

The Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) issued an advisory after the Commission on Audit flagged the purchase of overpriced laptops for the Department of Education.

“I issued a directive suspending the procurement of non-common use supplies and equipment, effective immediately,” PS-DBM Executive Director Dennis Santiago said in a statement.

“During the suspension, the PS-DBM shall not accept new requests for Non-CSE procurement until further notice. This will allow us to focus on the fulfillment of our primary mandate, which is to procure CSEs,” he added.

He added that the agency will finish procurement of requests on the pipeline but no new orders will be accepted.

The PS-DBM is the centralized procurement of CSE for the entire Philippine government. Non-common used supplies are goods that are not part of the common supply list which include but not limited to ballpens, papers, stapler, paper clips, folders and the like, the DBM said.

In 2021, COA flagged the purchase of P2.4 billion worth of laptops on its Department of Education report, which it said were overpriced and "too slow" due to outdated processors.

The DepEd said it will also investigate the complaints regarding overpriced laptops.

• DepEd welcomes proposed probe on 'outdated, pricey' laptops
• DepEd to look into complaints on 'slow, outdated' laptops
• DepEd asks COA for fraud audit over 'pricey, outdated' laptops

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