The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center issued the revised Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) guidelines, as approved by the PPP governing board, which took effect on Oct. 24, 2023.
PDMF is a revolving fund managed and administered by the PPP Center to enhance the investment environment for PPPs and develop a robust pipeline of viable and well-prepared PPP infrastructure projects.
The guidelines cover the application process for PDMF support, procurement of consultants, management of consulting contracts, as well as the management of the PDMF Fund.
The amendments include the alignment of the PDMF guidelines with the rules and procedures under Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, and removal of all references to the ADB guidelines. The guidelines were also made flexible to allow other procurement frameworks in the event that new foreign contribution or technical assistance is secured for the PDMF, as allowed under RA 9184.
It said the use of the PDMF were expanded to include new types of eligible independent consultancy services, as follows: constitution and utilization of Dispute Resolution Boards; independent appraisal of the amount of termination payments; and third-party assessment of the residual value of the facility upon transfer of the facility to the agency/LGU.
New provisions and processes were added for engaging the services of specialized agencies of the United Nations, International Organizations, or International Financing Institutions for project preparation and transaction advisory services with PDMF funding.
Enhancements in the guidelines and procedures were also introduced to facilitate applications processing, consultant recruitment and contract and fund management.
The PPP Center said the issuance of the revised PDMF guidelines was in accordance with Section 6 of Executive Order (EO) No. 8, series of 2010, as amended by EO No. 136, s. 2013, and EO No. 30, s. 2023, creating and authorizing the PDMF Committee to formulate, prescribe and recommend policies, procedures and guidelines on the use of the PDMF and recovery of costs charged to the PDMF Fund, subject to the approval of the PPP governing board.