To : Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Regional/Division Physical Facilities Coordinators (Regions VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, CARAGA,)
All Others Concerned

1. The government of Australia, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID), outlined its intention in its Philippine Development Strategy for 2007-2011 to continue assisting the DepED in meeting the country’s education objectives of enhancing access of more boys and girls to better quality education and enabling them to successfully complete basic education.
2. AusAid has provided grant financing to support the implementation of the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA). Portion of the funds shall cover the construction of schoolbuildings in priority schools in Visayas and Mindanao.
3. The selection of priority schools prepared by PFSED was based on the Instructional Room Analysis of the Basic Education Information System (BEIS) for SY 2008-2009. Individual allocation list for every Division shall be provided by the Regional Office through the Regional Physical Facilities Coordinator (RPFC) or by the PFSED.
4. This project shall form part of the pump-priming School Building Program for CY 2009 and shall be implemented through contracting using the Principal-led School Building Program and following the procurement guidelines of the World Bank as this project is covered in the loan agreement with the Bank under BESRA-NPSBE. Single or clustered projects amounting to $100,000.00 or Php4,750,000.00 (using the current rate of $1=P47.50) shall be implemented using the National Shopping procurement method of the Principal-led SBP Scheme. Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) shall only be released upon contract award has been undertaken. Procurement can push-through without release of SARO. Since this is a foreign assisted project, posting of invitation to Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PHILGEPS) is not mandatory.
5. The fund shall be directly released to the implementing units. To ensure that these facilities can be used at the start of School Year 2009-2010, President Arroyo instructed the Department to frontload the construction of school buildings during the long summer vacation period. Thus, procurement shall immediately commence right after the orientation-seminar workshops.
6. For wide dissemination and compliance of all concerned.

Reference: None
Allotment: 1—(D.O. 50-97)

To be indicated in the Perpetual index under the following subjects:
BUILDINGS
FUNDS
PROGRAMS
PROJECTS

DO_s2009_06