“continuously procured” over P18-million worth of office equipment, furniture, computers, computer software, and “high-end models of brands of electronic gadgets,” which may have inflated the contract cost of projects, according to the Commission on Audit .
The ports authority included these as reimbursable items in dredging and infrastructure projects. Project contractors would then procure these items and turn them over to the PPA after the completion of the project. The state auditor noted that including reimbursable items which are indirect costs to the project is considered “excessive and unnecessary,” prompting the state regulator to tell PPA to “discontinue immediately” the inclusion of such items in infrastructure projects and to instruct its contractors to exclude those reimbursable items from the contract cost of ongoing projects.COA also said in the audit report that the PPA had at least 166 unregistered motor vehicles, worth a combined P219.