In its effort to provide better care and welfare services to the members of the vulnerable sectors, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to carry out repairs, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of its centers and residential facilities under the Centers and Residential Care Facilities (CRCF) Infrastructure Project. 

The CRCF project, which has an allocation of P2.3 billion under the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA), aimed to provide better welfare services to marginalized and disadvantaged individuals, groups, and families through the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of the DSWD’s centers and facilities.

The project covers 16 regions nationwide and targets the Department’s 71 centers and facilities. It includes 211 projects for infrastructure building, 251 for minor repairs, and the procurement of 876 items for machinery and equipment, including 70 ambulance units, and of 508 items for furniture and fixtures.

The total allocation of P2.3 billion under the 2018 GAA includes P1.8 billion for capital outlay covering infrastructure and non-infrastructure items and P500 million for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

“As an overall status as of 31 December 2018, we are pleased to report that the CRCF project has completed 99.6% of the procurement and obligated 88% of the total allocation,” DSWD Undersecretary for Special Concerns Camilo G. Gudmalin, who heads the project implementation, said.

Status of infra projects

The bulk of the allocation for the CRCF project includes 211 infrastructure building projects. The Department has completed the procurement of 206 of these projects or 98% of the total.

Of the infrastructure building projects with completed procurement, 43 has already been issued with a notice to proceed, 130 are in the construction stage, while 33 projects have already been completed.

Meanwhile, the Department has finished 99.6% of the procurement for minor repairs in centers and facilities and another 99.6 % for furniture and fixtures. The DSWD has already completed the procurement of all machinery and equipment.

As for the financial accomplishment, P2.02 billion or 88% of the P2.3 billion allocation of the CRCF Project has already been obligated by DSWD. The unobligated amount mostly pertains to the five infra projects with ongoing procurement and the excess funds resulting from the difference in the allocation and the amount of awarded construction contracts. The excess funds will be used for extra works or additional construction work orders.

Closely monitoring of project constructions

“We have directed our concerned field offices (FOs) in the regions to complete all the procurement activities of the project by December 2018. However, there were FOs that did not meet this deadline due to protests filed by disqualified service providers and due to the failure of bidding because of lack of service providers in their area. To date, we are only just completing the procurement of the remaining five projects,” Usec. Gudmalin explained.

The Undersecretary said that the DSWD is closely monitoring the status of the ongoing repair, reconstruction, and rehabilitation projects for its centers and institutions through its concerned field offices.

“Given the approval of the resolution extending the availability of the 2018 appropriations to December 2019, we are also strictly monitoring the 2018 fund balance to ensure that it will be utilized for operations this year,” Usec. Gudmalin added. “Providing excellent care and services to the members of the vulnerable sectors in our centers and institutions has always been a top priority of the DSWD. Our centers and facilities serve not just as temporary shelters but as a refuge for underprivileged men, women, children, and the elderly in our society, so we are doing our best to provide them with facilities that are safe and conducive to their healing and overall well-being,” he ended. ###