Comelec moves poll machine bid deadline

Precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine used in elections (Photo from Comelec’s official Facebook page)

MANILA –The Commission on Elections (Comelec)-Special Bids and Awards Committee-1 (SBAC-1) decided to move the deadline of submission of the bidding of over 23,000 optical mark reader (OMR) machines to be used in next year’s national elections.

“In view of the nature and complexity of the procurement at hand, there is a need to revisit, harmonize and explicate further the provisions of the terms of reference and the bidding documents against the objective of this commission to have an integrated automated election system (AES),” SBAC-1 said.

“The SBAC-1 has resolved to move the schedule of the submission and opening of bids from June 23 to June 29, 2015,” it added.

The Comelec aimed to choose the best AES for the coming elections.

As of posting, six companies had already expressed interest in participating in the bidding. They had bought non-refundable bid documents worth P75,000.

These companies were Miru Systems Co., Sysco Paper Corp., Indra Sistemas S.A., Dermalog Identification Systems GmbH, Agan Montenegro Malasaga & Co. and Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp.

Other companies interested in bidding were given until next week to purchase bid documents.

“Moreover, in faithful observance of the requirement of Republic Act 9184, to extend equal opportunity to eligible, qualified and capable private entities to participate in the public bidding,” the SBAC-1 said.

Meanwhile, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal reiterated Comelec’s procurement that about 4.3 million voters may not be able to vote in next year’s elections. He then reminded them to have their biometrics data in their registration records.

“Voters should be advised that mere possession of voter’s ID or having voted in past elections is not a guarantee of having been biometrically registered,” Macalintal said.