The Department of Finance (DOF) is considering the policy of tapping unsolicited proposals from the private sector to help jumpstart the execution of capital-intensive infrastructure projects that create jobs and invigorate the economy.

Government projects on improving public transport and logistics are among the Public Private Partnership (PPP) ventures that are open for unsolicited proposals, according to Karen Singson, DOF Undersecretary for Privatization and Office of Special Concerns.

“The other policies that we’ve considered… is that we are now looking at unsolicited proposals and that is opening options for the government to enter projects with the private sector,” said Singson at the recent Philippines Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.

Singson said that opening PPP ventures to unsolicited proposals would be a better option for the government because it would allow it to take advantage of the efficiency and technological innovations of the private sector, while freeing the government from commitments on providing subsidies or sovereign guarantees to projects.

“Transport projects or logistics projects, that would basically have no cost for the government. No subsidy, no guarantees,” Singson said at the forum organized by the media organizations IJ Global and Euromoney.

“The private sector is sometimes more efficient in coming up with ideas, we’re really willing to work with them,” she added.

One form of unsolicited proposal is the Swiss challenge, where a private sector proponent offers a plan to build or execute a government project. The private sector proposal would then be open to a “challenge” or competitive bidding in the form of counterproposals from other interested private parties. The original proponent bags the project if it opts to top or surpass the best offer from among the rival bidders.

Singson said that to help encourage private-sector participation in government projects, the DOF is now vigorously implementing an anti-red tape program spearheaded by Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III created the Anti-Red Tape Team in July headed by Beltran, following the directive of President Duterte to drastically cut red tape in the bureaucracy by removing redundant requirements and paring the processing time needed by people to obtain permits, clearances and other documents from government offices.

The DOF and the newly created Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) have started identifying the data to be gathered from various government agencies for the automated business and citizen registries that they plan to make operational before the end of the year, in compliance with the President’s directive.

Beltran has said the government agencies where the data would be collected include the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Health Corp. (PhilHealth), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) and the Office of the City Treasurer of every local government unit (LGU).

He said pertinent data usually required from applicants who want to secure licenses, permits and other official documents would be culled from these agencies so that they could be linked and shared in the registries.

The registries will serve as a one-stop shop for individuals and corporate entities to easily track and validate their records, removing from them the burden of proving legitimacy, Beltran said.

The data sharing in the registries would help streamline frontline government services by doing away with the repetitious process of applicants having to fill up numerous forms and submitting to different agencies the same official papers, which, in the first place, are already in the government database, Beltran said.

Although they are still in the process of constructing the time-frame for its full operation, Beltran said Filipinos can expect the registries to be partly operational before the end of the year.

He said a nationwide information campaign would be conducted before the registries become fully operational to educate the government agencies involved and the users as well on how to use the automated