THE Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of the Cebu Provincial Government after its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) accommodated an amendment to order 6,500 boxes of a certain brand of instant noodles that cost the Province a lot more than its original order.
The accommodation was made by the BAC without securing the approval of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
The instant noodles were for the Province’s “Tindahan sa Kapitolyo,” a program that aims to help the poor and marginalized constituents in the countryside by providing easy access to basic commodities and allowing them to buy goods on ration based on the mandated price ceilings of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
In its 2020 annual audit report, the COA found that 6,500 boxes of instant noodles bought by the Province from Metro Retails Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI), the winning bidder, had an original cost of P2.8 million.
But the Province ended up paying P3.4 million for the purchase, which was P589,680 or 20.6 percent more than the original contract price.