After stating that the overpriced laptop deal should not be tagged as anomalous until COA’s final report is out, COA has revealed some interesting findings about the laptops DepEd has procured back in 2020.

To recap, the PS-DBM awarded the Php 2.3 billion laptop deal to the joint venture of Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., LDLA Marketing and Trading Inc., and VSTECS Philippines Inc. The deal involved 39,583 units of the Dell Latitude 3420 that’s allegedly valued at Php 58,270 per unit. COA flagged this as overpriced, as the original contract price should have been at Php 35,046.50 per unit.

COA’s audit team did its own canvassing of the comparable models of the alleged overpriced laptops and revealed that the same brand and model of laptops with a larger 15.6-inch screen was being sold in computer stores in Metro Manila and CAR at around Php 22,490 to Php 25,000 per unit. That is way lower than the alleged value of the laptops that were purchased by the PS-DBM for DepEd.

In its latest investigation, COA revealed that back on July 16, 2020, DepEd procured laptops with significantly faster Core i5 processors for Php 32,500 per unit–and that those laptops were also procured through the PS-DBM. Aside from that, the PS-DBM completed bidding for mid-range laptops–those that also use Core i5 or similar processors–for Php 45,421.20 per unit on May 2021–the same month when the alleged overpriced laptops of DepEd were procured.

“Clearly, the price is cheaper and the performance of that computer would be way faster/better than the laptop procured by (DepEd) during that same period,” COA’s audit team pointed out.