Title: Revised SOP on Palay Procurement

Digest: .

A. Rationale

C. Scope
D. Basis

a. Buying Price;

b. Palay Quality Deliveries;

c. Equivalent Net Weight Factor (ENWF) Table for Palay;

d. Palay Classification (Quality Standards for Palay – MC, Purity, Discolored and Damaged Kernels);

e. Drying services of NFA; and

f. Buying Stations

a. Procurement target per buying station;

b. Municipalities to be served; and

c. Masterlist of IF and members of FO who sold their palay to NFA indicating quantity procured and date of procurement.

The quantity to be procured shall be based on the approved Marketing Plan and prevailing market situation in the area.

The PO shall determine the harvest schedule and expected yield of the different municipalities by coordinating with the DA-LGU and by conducting ocular inspection. The Harvest Schedule (Exhibit 1) and Schedule of Cereal Procurement Fund (CPF) Remittances (Exhibit 2) shall be the bases in preparing the procurement calendar which shall be validated by the Regional Office (RO).

This shall include the manpower, facilities and other logistics needed in the effective implementation of the procurement program such as warehouse/buying station, dryers, weighing scales, moisture meters, empty sacks, trucks, manpower, and other materials/equipment. This shall help the RO/PO in the proper allocation and programming of all available logistics needed in procurement operations.

a. Stationary Mode (In-warehouse/Buying station) - procurement teams are stationed in strategically located NFA owned/leased warehouses. The IF/FO will deliver their palay produce directly to NFA designated warehouse/buying station.

b. In-field mode (Mobile) - this applies to the gathering/pooling of stocks from IF/FOs pre-assembled at designated collection centers on scheduled basis.

a. Procurement thru Palay Marketing Assistance Program for Legislators and Local Government Units (PALLGUs);
b. Procurement thru Payment-in-Kind (PIK) - a procurement scheme whereby the IF/FO delivers their palay produce to NFA as payment for their existing loans with various financial institutions and government agencies with a corresponding service fee. A Memorandum of Agreement shall be prepared for this purpose. The NFA, upon receipt of such produce, shall notify the institutions of the amount delivered by the IF/FO for them to credit the IF/FO’s accounts.

a. Team Leader (TL)
b. Classifier
c. Regular Disbursing Officer (RDO)/Special Disbursing Officer (SDO)

3.2.1 Team Leader

All designated TL must be a regular employee with a Salary Grade Level not lower than 10 and has sufficient training/knowledge and background on procurement operations. He/she shall meet the fielding requirements provided in the latest approved Implementing Guidelines on Designation, Fielding, Reassignment and Relief of Senior Grains Operations Officers (Warehouse Supervisor II) and Acting Senior Grains Operations Officer (WS II).
The following shall be his/her duties and responsibilities:

a. Directly supervises and coordinates procurement operations of the team members;
b. Sees to it that all necessary facilities/equipment in the operation such as platform scales, moisture meters, empty sacks, accountable forms and other logistics needed by the procurement team are available;

c. Arranges for the trucking, handling, and other warehousing needs of the procurement team;

d. Prepares an activity schedule covering stock pick-up dates from IF/FO, material requirements and manpower;

e. Holds accountable for palay procured; and

f. Checks the authenticity of the passbooks presented prior to procurement of palay.

3.2.2 Classifiers

All designated Classifiers must be any regular quality assurance personnel or member of the quality assurance pool.

Classifiers shall be directly responsible/accountable for the inspection and classification of palay in accordance with the procurement quality standards in item II.B.4.

3.2.3 Regular Disbursing Officer (RDO)/Special Disbursing Officer (SDO)

All designated RDOs/SDOs must be regular employees and have undergone briefing/training on Policies on Cash Procurement with Disbursing Officers. He/she must be required to file the necessary fidelity bond with the Bureau of Treasury prior to handling procurement funds.
The following shall be his/her duties and responsibilities:

a. Ensures that Cereal Procurement Fund (CPF) is available at all times during the procurement operations. Please refer to the latest approved SOP on Cash with Procurement Disbursing Officers and/or the latest issuances of management on the maximum cash/check ceiling of RDOs/SDOs;
b. Effects payment to farmers based on the computed amount corresponding to the palay purchases as reflected on the Purchase Receipt (PR);

c. Holds accountable for all procurement funds entrusted to him/her; and

d. Maintains cereal procurement cashbook.

• MC above 14% but not more than 30%;
• Purity below 95% but not lower than 90%; and
• Discolored and damaged kernels above 7% but not more than 13%
  

Chairperson : Technical Research and Services Department
Co-Chairperson : Grains Marketing Operations Department
Members : Industry Services Department
Office of the Assistant Administrator for Marketing Operations

a. The CPF shall be utilized to pay the basic cost of cereals as per the latest approved NFA Buying Price Bulletin.
b. At the onset of the procurement season, the initial remittance/fund transfer shall be recommended by GMOD to Budget, Treasury and Fund Management Department (BTFMD) based on a maximum of two-week requirement/target in the marketing plan. This serves as the PO’s initial fund requirement.

Succeeding remittances shall be requested by PO to RO on a weekly basis or as necessary indicating the exact date when funds are needed to be remitted to their end with the following considerations:

1. Target per marketing plan
2. Ex-farm price
3. Daily average procurement within the last five (5) days
4. Actual CPF balances as of the time of request

c. The RO shall acknowledge PO’s request for CPF remittance and shall endorse same to GMOD (please refer to Exhibit 1 of SOP on Cash with Procurement Disbursing Officers) within three (3) days upon receipt of request.

d. Upon receipt of the CPF request from RO, GMOD shall evaluate RO’s endorsement and immediately recommend to BTFMD for fund transfer.

e. The CPF should be remitted by the CO - BTFMD to RO within two (2) days upon receipt by GMOD of the RO’s endorsement.

f. The RO shall remit funds within 2 days to the concerned PO or based on prioritization. The CPF should be with the concerned province within four (4) days upon receipt by GMOD of the RO’s requirement.

g. The CPF allocation, remittance and CPF Ceiling of RDOs/SDOs shall follow the latest approved SOP on Cash with Procurement Disbursing Officers.

CPF shall be utilized solely for palay procurement.

a. The RDO/SDO shall replenish the CPF every end of the month or as necessary and shall submit to the Senior Accounting Specialist (SAS) the following:

a.1 Abstract of Grains Purchases
a.2 Copies of Warehouse Stock Receipts
a.3 Statement of Deliveries
a.4 Purchase Receipts

b. Upon receipt, the SAS shall cross-check and verify the completeness and accuracy of the documents submitted. The replenishment shall be approved by the PM/OIC following the government accounting and auditing procedures.

a. The PO shall inform the RO of any unused CPF of the province.
b. The RO shall evaluate the CPF requirement of other provinces within the region. If there are provinces that need additional CPF, fund transfers to those POs shall be authorized by the RO. The Accounting Services Department (ASD), BTFMD, and GMOD shall be informed of the fund transfer. Otherwise, the RO shall instruct the PO/OIC to return the unused CPF to the Central Office (CO).

c. At the end of the procurement season, the PM/OIC and/or SAS, shall instruct the RDO/SDO to immediately return all unused CPF to the CPF account of the province.

d. All unused checks and accountable forms (e.g. PR) shall be returned to the SAS and Supply Officer, respectively, for safekeeping.


e. Failure of the PM/OIC, SAS, and RDO/SDO to comply with the foregoing policies shall render him/her responsible and accountable for the unused CPF.

f. The RO shall be responsible for monitoring and ensuring the maximum utilization of the CPF by all the POs.

a. In-warehouse procurement shall be adopted as the first option;
b. NFA shall procure palay through the following:

b.1 Individual Farmer

b.2 Farmers’ Organization

b.3 PIK palay from NIA, Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP-Bank Assisted Cooperatives (BACs), Agricultural Credit Policy Council/Production Loan Easy Access (ACPC/PLEA), Survive and Recovery (SURE) Aid Program, etc.

b.4 PALLGUs. Please refer to the latest approved SOPs/Guidelines for the detailed implementation of the said NFA program.


c. For FOs, only their authorized representative/coordinator shall be allowed to transact with NFA;

d. Procurement shall be up to the limit of the maximum procurable volume only as determined by the NFA PO and indicated in the RSBSA or masterlist provided by the LGU-MAO; and

e. Price of palay shall be based on the existing NFA Buying Price.

a. To observe transparency, the PO shall install bulletin boards/ signboards in conspicuous places of each buying station and all warehouses. It shall indicate therein the procurement target per buying station and municipalities to be served, quantity procured to date and from whom procured. Indicate also that NFA does not buy from traders.
b. The PM/OIC shall ensure the availability of all procurement logistics prior to the start of the procurement season. He/she shall immediately advise the RO/GMOD/TRSD on the need for additional facilities and personnel particularly those who shall act as Classifiers/RDOs/SDOs from the pool.
c. RDOs/SDOs, TLs, and Classifiers shall be established at the CO and RO whose members may, from time to time, be designated as procurement team members in the provinces needing same. For this purpose, the RO, GMOD, and TRSD in coordination with HRMD shall regularly conduct trainings and seminars for personnel to be included in the pool.

a. The TL shall countercheck the signature of the IF or authorized representative/coordinator of the FO on the WSR. Same shall be compared with the Masterlist of farmer-members and Statement of Individual Deliveries duly certified by FO Chairman/authorized representative prior to the acceptance of palay.

b. The Classifiers shall check and classify the palay to be purchased as to quality. Palay assessed to be with large foreign matters shall automatically be rejected.

c. Palay delivery should be rebagged to NFA empty sacks. The TL shall ensure that rebagging is within the 50kg-capacity of the sack.

d. Palay to be procured shall be weighed using the following weighing scales in order of priority, whichever is available and applicable:

d.1 Truckscale
d.2 Electronic Platform Scale
d.3 Mechanical Platform Scale
e. The TL shall immediately prepare the WSR based on the classification and actual weight of palay. The IF or the authorized representative of the FO shall be required to sign the WSR. The original copy of the WSR duly signed by all concerned personnel shall be given to the IF or to the authorized representative/coordinator of the FO for payment purposes.

f. The TL shall enter the procurement data on index cards.

g. The RDO/SDO shall double check if the WSR is properly accomplished and duly signed by all concerned personnel.

h. Based on the WSR presented by the IF or the authorized representative/coordinator of FO, the RDO/SDO shall make the corresponding entries on the Purchase Receipt (PR) ensuring that all items and boxes are properly filled-out.

i. The RDO/SDO shall determine the palay’s ENW based on the existing ENWF Table and shall compute the peso equivalent of the purchased palay.

j. The RDO/SDO shall indicate the procurement data in the Master Passbook for purposes of monitoring deliveries and balances.