An Act Creating the Office of Insular Purchasing Agent for the Government of the Philippine Archipelago, Defining the Duties of Such Officer, and Making an Appropriation of One Hundred Thousand Dollars for the Purpose of Carrying Said Act into Effect

 

June 21, 1901

ACT NO. 146

AN ACT CREATING THE OFFICE OF INSULAR PURCHASING AGENT FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO, DEFINING THE DUTIES OF SUCH OFFICER, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING SAID ACT INTO EFFECT

SECTION 1. In order to secure in the most economical and expeditious manner supplies for the various civil Departments and Offices, and to enable an accurate account of the expenditures in behalf of each Department or Office to be kept, there is hereby created and shall be maintained in the Government of the Philippine Archipelago the office of Insular Purchasing Agent. The duties of such officer shall be to buy such furniture, stationery, and supplies of every kind and description as may be required by the various Departments and Offices of the Insular Government, by the provincial governments, and by the government of the city of Manila in the transaction of official business, and for the purchase of which appropriations may be made by the Commission or provincial boards as the case may be.

SECTION 2. The said Purchasing Agent shall be appointed by the Philippine Commission, and shall give a bond to the satisfaction of the Chief Executive of the Islands in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of his duties and the proper accounting of all moneys and property which may come into his hands.

SECTION 3. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be available on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and one, for the purchase of articles and supplies hereunder.

SECTION 4. The sum hereby appropriated shall not be chargeable with any of the expense connected with the administration of the office of the Purchasing Agent, such expense to be provided for by separate appropriation, but the necessary cost of freight and cartage and similar charges, including insurance, shall be a proper charge against this appropriation and included in the cost of such articles and supplies. All articles purchased under this Act and imported shall be admitted free of duty.

SECTION 5. Each head of a civil Department, Bureau, or Office shall submit semiannually, at the beginning and middle of each fiscal year, to the said Purchasing Agent, an estimate of articles or supplies which will probably be required for the transaction of its official business for the ensuing six months, such estimates to be used as a basis upon which the Purchasing Agent may make necessary purchases. Whenever practicable such purchases amounting to one thousand dollars or more shall be made under contract after advertisement, but in all cases wherein an emergency exists requiring immediate delivery, purchases may be made without such contract and advertisement, on the approval of the Chief Executive.

SECTION 6. Each head of a Department or Bureau of the Insular Government or the city of Manila and each provincial supervisor shall make written requisition from time to time upon the Purchasing Agent for all articles he may require, and for the payment of which he has an appropriation available. Payment for all articles and supplies so furnished shall be made to the Purchasing Agent, at the actual cost thereof, including freight and other proper charges, by the Department, Bureau, or Office or provincial or city government receiving the same, from its available appropriations.

SECTION 7. No articles shall be purchased or sold under the provisions of this Act for other than official purposes, and the purchaser or vendor knowingly violating this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable accordingly.

SECTION 8. The Purchasing Agent shall render to the Auditor cash and property accounts current, covering all of his transactions, in such form as the Auditor shall prescribe. The books, records, and property in the hands of the Purchasing Agent shall at all times be subject to inspection by the Auditor or his authorized agents.

SECTION 9. All moneys derived from the sale of articles and supplies to the Departments, Bureaus, and Offices, to provincial governments, and the city government of Manila, as herein provided, shall revert to the appropriation made by this Act, and all deposits in the Treasury by the Purchasing Agent, on this account shall be as repayments to said appropriation and so credited on the books of the Auditor.

SECTION 10. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this Act, its passage is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, June 21, 1901.