Following the issuance of No Objection Letter 2 (NOL2) for the Salad Tomato Production and Marketing Enterprise, the Procurement Unit, Finance Unit, and InfoACE Unit of the Philippine Rural Development Project in Region 1 conducted a re-orientation training on the Community Participation Procurement method with the City Government of Alaminos, Pangasinan on July 31, 2018.

The Community Force Account (CFA) is a procurement method recommended by the World Bank during its 3^rd Implementation Support Mission to expedite the implementation of enterprise subprojects. Under this method, the counter-parting local government unit will transfer the funds to the Proponent Group. The farmer Proponent Groups (PGs) will facilitate the procurement of the goods specified in their procurement plan. However, the Community Participation procurement method can only be used for goods worth up to Php2.5 million.

Farmer PGs which will use the Community Participation method are required to organize their own procurement committee. The procurement committee must have at least three (3) members who are not the president authorized to sign the Project contract, members of the board of directors, general manager, accountant, and auditor of the farmer Proponent Group.

The Salad Tomato Production and Marketing Enterprise is a business undertaking proposed by the Hundred Islands Farmpreneurs Association (HIFA) holding office in Alaminos City, Pangasinan. The HIFA will receive a fund transfer amounting to Php418,740 to purchase 21,516 kilograms of fresh salad tomato from their members for one year. The HIFA will use the Community Participation method in purchasing the tomato produce of their members.

The re-orientation training was participated by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members and the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the City Government of Alaminos. Aside from the re-introduction of the Community Participation method, lectures on the legal basis of the World Bank Harmonized Procurement Guidelines and Financial Management were held.

A follow-up training will be hosted by the Procurement and Finance Units to include the Procurement Committee of the HIFA with the BAC and TWG of the CLGU Alaminos in September 2018. The training will include a hands-on workshop on the preparation of Community Participation documents. (Dessa U. Estrada, RPCO 1 InfoACE Unit)