BAC Honorarium guidelines

would like to seek clarification on the manner of payment and granting of honoraria, please consider this situation:
our COA in our office is looking and asking for gppb guidelines on the manner of payment of honoraria to BAC & TWG and but i give them DBM BC 2004-5A & 2007-3 since under sec. 15 of the IRR, it will the DBM who will promulgate the necessary guidelines. Under sec. 3.4 of BC 20007-3 ... "manner of payment of honoraria and overtime pay to entitled government personnel to be charge against collections from successfully completed procurement projects (activities prior to awarding of contracts to winning bidders)". We have bid out 22 civil works projects and only 9 were not yet awarded since we are still awaiting for the SARO. Our COA is not allowing us to utilize the collections from the sale of bid documents (9 projs) to pay for honorarium since the 9 projects are not yet awarded. Out of the 22 projs, we accumulated Php1.3M collections while our honorarium from Jan-Sept would sum up to only Php532,000.00
please help since our COA is asking for gppb guidelines regarding the meaning of successfully completed procurement projects..

The Payment of HOnoraria is for all successfully awarded projects only and there are provisions that honorarium should not not be over the 25% of the salaries...For clear presentations on the payroll you can indicate the salaries of each to be given honorarium and the 25% equivalent amount so that they can see it . Additional attachments will be the notice of awards/notice to proceed for these completed projects.
msm326

Is there a new guideline wherein all sales of bid documents are exclusively utilized for the payment of honoraria and overtime. Management is questioning why related cost incurred during the bidding process such as meals and snacks during the pre bidding and bidding and also the supplies used for the preparation of the bid documents is are being charged against the sale of bid documents.

There were exhaustive discussions of that same topic in this forum. So many that I have to choose only one for your reading (click here.

monalisadomen wrote:
x x x
Under sec. 3.4 of BC 2007-3 ... "manner of payment of honoraria and overtime pay to entitled government personnel to be charge against collections from successfully completed procurement projects (activities prior to awarding of contracts to winning bidders)".
x x x
please help since our COA is asking for gppb guidelines regarding the meaning of successfully completed procurement projects.

The underlined is your interpretation, right? To be able to understand the context of "successfully completed project" we should read the entire text, and not just a section of the guidelines. Careful reading (back) to DBM BC 2004-5a, Sec. 5.4:

5.4 The average amount of honoraria per month over one year shall not exceed twenty five percent (25%) of the basic monthly salary. The honoraria, however, shall be paid only upon the successful completion of each procurement.

Now it is clearer to see that successful completion refers to the process from which a procurement is initiated from pre-proc, advertised, opened bids, evaluated, post qualified, resolved, recommended, and approved award and was issued Notice of Award in effect. Contract signing and the rest of the process will already fall under Contract Implementation. The completion therefore, is not on the project itself but for the procurement process.

However, you should realize that honoraria is NOT mandatory - as it MAY only be granted, not that it SHALL be granted. And be careful in your computations so as not to exceed your 25% cap.

maria dolores a. quinan wrote:Is there a new guideline wherein all sales of bid documents are exclusively utilized for the payment of honoraria and overtime. Management is questioning why related cost incurred during the bidding process such as meals and snacks during the pre bidding and bidding and also the supplies used for the preparation of the bid documents is are being charged against the sale of bid documents.

Welcome Ms.Quinan from the COA,

There are no new guidelines related to the grant of honoraria. The last one was DBM BC 2007-03 which allows 100% utilization but the purpose of the fund raised was still for the sole purpose of honoraria - nothing else. It was continuously been clarified by the GPPB-TSO every now and then.

Please click here for a copy of the Q&A portion with Exec.Dir. RUBY U. ALVAREZ last August 11, 2010 during PAGBA Workshop, particularly Question No.7.

monalisadomen wrote:would like to seek clarification on the manner of payment and granting of honoraria, please consider this situation:
our COA in our office is looking and asking for gppb guidelines on the manner of payment of honoraria to BAC & TWG and but i give them DBM BC 2004-5A & 2007-3 since under sec. 15 of the IRR, it will the DBM who will promulgate the necessary guidelines. Under sec. 3.4 of BC 20007-3 ... "manner of payment of honoraria and overtime pay to entitled government personnel to be charge against collections from successfully completed procurement projects (activities prior to awarding of contracts to winning bidders)". We have bid out 22 civil works projects and only 9 were not yet awarded since we are still awaiting for the SARO. Our COA is not allowing us to utilize the collections from the sale of bid documents (9 projs) to pay for honorarium since the 9 projects are not yet awarded. Out of the 22 projs, we accumulated Php1.3M collections while our honorarium from Jan-Sept would sum up to only Php532,000.00
please help since our COA is asking for gppb guidelines regarding the meaning of successfully completed procurement projects..

The meaning of "successfully completed procurement project" is right there in the circular (B.C. 2004-5A), specifically par. 5.1 which provides that: "A procurement project shall be considered successfully completed once a contract has been awarded to a winning bidder.."

maria dolores a. quinan wrote:Is there a new guideline wherein all sales of bid documents are exclusively utilized for the payment of honoraria and overtime. Management is questioning why related cost incurred during the bidding process such as meals and snacks during the pre bidding and bidding and also the supplies used for the preparation of the bid documents is are being charged against the sale of bid documents.

There are no new guidelines. The provision of item 6.2 of Budget Circular 2004-5A that collections authorized under item 6.1 thereof are "to be used as exclusively for the payment of honoraria and overtime pay" authorized in the said Circular, still applies.

Congress attempted to allow, in the 2010 General Appropriations Act (GAA), R.A. 9970, the use of excess collections of the proceeds from the sale of bid documents "to procure supplies/equipment and other related facilities which are necessary to enhance the functions of the BAC", but said provision (Sec. 12, General Provisions of the GAA) was directly vetoed by then Pres. GMA.

In the President's Veto Message, the use of such proceeds other than for honoraria is "improper". In the same message it was clearly stated that: "The foregoing proceeds are to be used exclusively for the payment of honoraria and overtime services pursuant to pertinent issuances. Any excess thereof should be remitted to the National Treasury in accordance with budgeting rules and regulations."