THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday expressed its readiness to comply with the Commission on Audit’s (COA) directive for it to bid out the catering services for foreign nationals detained at the bureau’s holding facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.
BI Spokesman Dana Sandoval made the statement after the COA flagged the agency’s spending last year of P5.816 million for the food supply of the detainees despite lack of a valid contract.
The COA also noted that the catering services were not part of the agency’s annual procurement plan for 2019.
Sandoval admitted that the basis of the accounting for paying the food is a memorandum of agreement executed between the caterer and the BI 10 years ago.
The cost of meals in the agreement is P60 per inmate per day.
Sandoval recounted that last year COA issued an Audit Observation Memorandum directing the BI to terminate the MOA and have the service bid out instead.
The BI complied by including in the 2020 Annual Procurement Plan the budget for the food supply of its detainees
“It has been included in the agenda for this year’s bids and awards committee but was delayed due to the pandemic. We are unable to discontinue the caterer’s service while nobody has been awarded the bid yet, because it would mean there would be no food served to the detainees, which would be inhumane,” Sandoval stressed.
“We respect the findings of the COA and we are already complying with its provisions. We believe that audits like this help provide the BI an opportunity to improve its systems and processes,” she added.
In its 2019 annual report on BI, the COA noted that payments to the caterer were not supported with necessary documents which made it difficult for the audit team to determine whether the expenses were aboveboard or not.