Angara filed ICT 2011 choice bill

By Jason de Asis

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 21, 2011-In today’s modernization, Senator Edgardo J. Angara  has filed Senate Bill 2670 to regulate and to promote a transparent and non-discriminatory manner in the acquisition of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions and seeks to establish a neutral policy in the government’s selection and procurement of ICT solutions based on product quality and the current and future needs of the state. 

Angara explained that the rapidly evolving ICT landscape in the freedom of customizing the technological systems is essential so that each component is chosen based on its own merits, thus the Senator filed the said bill commonly known as the Information and Communications Technology Choice act of 2011 in the Senate early this month “An Act Requiring Technological Choice in the Government’s Procurement of Information and Communication Technology Standards and Solutions.”

He said that the bill discourages vendor lock-ins rooted in political reasons, which discourage genuine research and development, and reduce competitiveness among the system providers, saying that the responsible for the implementation of the policy will be the joint effort of the Government Procurement Policy Board, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology and the Commission on Audit.

The said bill has been referred to the Committee on Science and Technology after its First Reading. (Jason de Asis)