To:     Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units
Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Heads, Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
All others concerned

1. The provisions stipulated in DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2015 entitled Revised Guidelines for the Basic Education Research Fund (BERF) shall remain in force with some specific amendments to better implement the policy, to wit:
   1. Under Section VI, page 5, Non-Eligible Activities and Expenditures, the Basic Education Research Fund downloaded to regions may also be utilized for the orientation on the use of research funds and meetings of Regional Research Committees.
   2. The following Annexes shall be replaced with an enhanced version to facilitate efficient evaluation of research proposals:
      • 4.a. and 4.b – Criteria and Scoring Template for Research Proposals for the District, Division, Region and National Level; and Action Research, respectively shall be replaced with an enhanced version (Annexes 1 and 2)
      • 6 – Format for Approval Letter for Regions, Divisions, Districts and Schools, shall be replaced with Annex 3. A format for Letter of Disapproval will also be included as Annex 4.
   3. On the release and liquidation of funds, the release of research funds to the researcher based on the approved proposal and cost shall be based on the submission of required deliverables per tranche (output-based tranches) both described in the flow chart in page 7 and Table 2 in page 10.The fund is considered self-liquidating using the submitted and accepted required documents per tranche as basis for liquidation. The submission and acceptance of required documents for the last tranche completes the process in the flow chart and marks the full liquidation upon complete submission of liquidation documents.
   4. Under III.1
      • Call for proposals. The research proposal should be in PDF format. The mode of submission of schools and divisions may include any of the following: by courier, electronic mail and personal delivery. The cover letter mentioned in 1.2 need not be signed by the immediate supervisor of the proponent.
      • Evaluation and approval of proposals
        • Page 8. Delete “with no score below 60% in any of the criteria”.
        • Page 9, line 5. The same evaluation criteria and scoring template in Annex 4.a (instead of Annex 5) shall be used. Note that Annex 4.a  is now Annex 1 in the amendment.
        • Pre-implementation. Delete “This will trigger the release of the first tranche”
   5. Under Areas of Research, per level of Governance
      • Regions, divisions and district – may include secondary data analysis; review/synthesis of existing research
      • Schools – may include intervention study, case study of learners
   6. Under Table 2
      • Schools (Action Research), initial findings and analysis should be a deliverable under the Last Tranche.
2. A BERF Tracking Mechanism will be used to monitor the progress of BERF implementation. The tracking system will be disseminated to PPRD through official electronic mail.
3. All clarifications and queries on DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2015 shall be directed to Policy Research and Development Division (PRD-PS), Department of Education, 2/F Teodora Alonzo Bldg., DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City at telephone number (02) 6353976 or at telefax number (02) 633-7275 or email at ps.prd@deped.gov.ph.
4. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

(Sgd.) BR. ARMIN A.LUISTRO FSC
Secretary

Encls.: As stated

Reference: DepEd Order: (No. 43, s. 2015)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
BASIC EDUCATION
CHANGE
FUNDS
POLICY
RESEARCH OR STUDIES

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