Columnist urges government to make buying from startups standard procedure

The author of the Mindanao Times column Mondays with Patmei argues that the Philippine government should become the first and most willing buyer of the startup products and research it helps fund, and that buying from startups should be treated as standard operating procedure rather than a pilot effort.

The column responds to a Facebook post by Richard Day, convener of Davao StartUp Week 2026, who asked how procurement barriers could be removed so agencies can readily buy and adopt government-funded research and startup solutions. The columnist answers that government systems are less innovative than the startups they back, and says the government should "put its money where its mouth is."

The writer points to Republic Act No. 12009, the New Government Procurement Act, which took effect in August 2024 with implementing rules issued in February 2025. Section 37 of the law creates a direct procurement mode for science, technology and innovation, allowing agencies to buy from qualified startups or procure pre-commercial goods. The column adds that the National Innovation Council approved supplemental guidelines in late 2025 to speed up the process.

Despite these tools, the columnist argues, little has changed in practice. The column cites a July 2026 advisory from the Government Procurement Policy Board withdrawing a circulating draft of the rules, and says agencies have used the transition period to stick with familiar methods. The writer contends that the traditional system protects established suppliers with political connections, citing Senate hearings on allegedly pre-arranged projects and a 2025 report that nearly 20,000 contracts went to firms with ties to public officials.

The column proposes three fixes: setting public targets and rewards for agencies that buy from startups, simplifying eligibility rules through alternative proofs of capability and milestone-based payments, and publishing all contracts, bidders and beneficial owners as open data, alongside stricter conflict-of-interest rules. The writer also suggests a public scoreboard ranking agencies by their startup contracts, noting that the StartupPH registry is already live.