Bids open for Philippine PFM programme

14 Jan 14
Philippine and international providers have been invited to bid to deliver a flagship project that is central to the Philippine government’s public financial management reform

By Vivienne Russell | 14 January 2014

Philippine and international providers have been invited to bid to deliver a flagship project that is central to the Philippine government’s public financial management reform.

The Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is at the heart of the administration’s attempts to integrate fiscal oversight and reporting systems. It will collect and organise financial information in a central database, which will be used to support budget preparation, management and execution as well as accounting and financial reporting.

Florencio Abad, the government’s budget and management secretary, said that as well as providing reliable, accurate and up-to-date financial information, GIFMIS would reduce administrative costs.

‘We cannot emphasise the importance of the GIFMIS enough,’ he added. 

‘For the longest time, fiscal management across the bureaucracy was composed of disparate systems, without a single unifying programme supporting a whole body of related processes.

‘Once we have the GIFMIS in place, we can expect improved efficiency in the way we manage public funds, from budget planning all the way to auditing and financial reporting. It’s really a programme that strikes at the heart of transparency and openness issues in the country’s fiscal processes.’

Sitting under the GFIMIS are programmes including the Treasury Single Account and the Unified Account Code Structure. This aims to harmonise transaction and payment procedures to employees and suppliers, as well as helping improve the accuracy and timeliness of government transactions.

Richard Moya, chief information officer at the Department of Budget and Management, said the government was ‘steadfast’ in its commitment to transform the bureaucracy. 

‘We are pleased that the onset of our reforms, particularly the GFIMIS, comes at a remarkable time of citizen engagement and participation where there is increasing demand for transparency and access to government data.’

Bidding for consulting services for GIFMIS opened on January 10. The Department of Budget and Management said it had already received nine expressions of interest.

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