WHEREAS, on 25 August 1998, a Memorandum Directive was issued requiring the submission to the President for his approval of all contracts involving P50 Million and above;

WHEREAS, on 25 January 1999, Memorandum was issued directing the transfer of all contracts under review and yet to be reviewed to the Legal Office of the Presidential Management Staff;

WHEREAS, it has been observed that many documents in support of proposed contracts are not submitted, or that some documents attached to the referral or endorsement are not properly fastened or bundled together or that the referral or endorsement does not contain the background facts and the evaluation/endorsement of the heads of the departments concerned where the latter are the endorsing officials;

WHEREAS, lack of supporting documents and background information/facts causes unnecessary delay in the review and evaluation of proposed contracts;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby direct:

SECTION 1. All requests for review and approval of contracts addressed to the President should be signed by the head or next ranking head of the agency or government-owned and controlled corporation concerned.

SECTION 2. All such requests should contain or append thereto a complete background of the award of contract, duly signed by the official concerned, as well as copies of all supporting documents, including the contract/agreement, drawings/plans, specifications, invitation to bid, instruction to bidders, addenda, bid form and its annexes as enumerated in the IRR of PD 1594, performance security, pre-qualification statements, credit line, notice of award and contractor's "Conforme" thereto, and other documents that may be required by the agency/corporation concerned, program of works and costs estimates, certificate of availability of funds duly verified by the agency/corporate auditor, approved agency estimate (AAE) and allowable government estimate (AGE), abstract of bids, resolution recommending award, approval of award by approving authority, concurrence of lending institution in case of foreign-assisted projects, and other pertinent documents as may be reasonably required by existing laws.

SECTION 3. In addition to the foregoing documentary requirements, copies of pertinent laws and issuances governing the contract should likewise be attached for easy reference.

SECTION 4. All the above documents should be securely attached or fastened to the request, or bundled together, with the annexes duly indicated for ease checking upon submission.

SECTION 5. Requests that fail to comply with the foregoing requirements shall not be received and shall forthwith be returned to the requesting agency or government-owned or controlled corporation.

SECTION 6. This Memorandum Circular shall take effect immediately.

Adopted: 10 Feb. 1999

BY THE PRESIDENT:

(SGD.) RONALDO B. ZAMORA
Executive Secretary