The NCC was formed last October 2006 as a Public-Private Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness by virtue of Presidential Executive Order No. 571, amended to E.O. no. 44 by the present administration to address the improvement of the country’s competitiveness from the bottom third of competitiveness rankings to the top third by 2016. The council is co-chaired by Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo for the public sector and Mr. Guillermo M. Luz for the private sector.

The NCC focuses on eleven (11) areas expected to improve the country’s competitiveness, namely:

• Education and Human Resources Development;
• Performance Governance System (PGS);
• Streamlined Business Permits & Licenses (BPLS);
• Philippine Business Registry (PBR);
• Customs/National Single Window (NSW);
• Providing Seamless Infrastructure Network;
• Competitive Energy Cost and Availability;
• Transparency in Budget Delivery;
• Anti-Corruption;
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Development and Governance;
• Judiciary

Each of the focus areas are handled by working groups with members coming from both the public and private sector, primarily those agencies and offices already involved in some of the priority projects, as well as foreign and local chambers of commerce, and various industry associations. There are also council members assigned to handle legislative and judiciary concerns. Also working closely with the council are the Anti-Red Tape Task Force and the Philippine Development Forum Development in the implementation of short- and long-term goals.