THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will finalize the fate of equipment for the 2016 elections in mid-August, Comelec Chairman Andres D. Bautista said.
In a chance interview at the sidelines of a forum by the Management Association of the Philippines, Bautista said the Comelec will open the financial bids for the refurbishment of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines on August 1.
“After that, we have to weigh options because we are also having the lease of new OMR [optical mark reader] machines at the same time. Time is of the essence; we need to make a decision by August 15,” Bautista said.
The Comelec has been in a state of indecision on these options: to lease the new 70,977 OMR machines, or refurbish 6-year-old 81,896 units of the PCOS machines. The agency has been mulling factors, such as cost-efficiency and voter usability of the two automated-voting systems.
The delay in Comelec’s preparations was due to an earlier petition in the Supreme Court (SC) by civic groups, questioning the legality of the PCOS repair deal.
The deal had already been awarded by the Comelec to Smartmatic Total Information Management Corp. under the watch of former Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. The deal was later nullified by the SC.
The timeline was further derailed after the Comelec started bidding anew the refurbishment of PCOS machines. The first round of bidding failed after the contract bid was reduced by the Comelec from P2.8 billion to P2.0 billion.
The budget was then jacked up to P3.1 billion for the second round of bidding.
Both options are undergoing their own bidding process. The leasing of the OMR machines are undergoing post-qualification analysis, while the financial bids for the repair of the PCOS machines will be opened on Saturday.
With the new timeline, Bautista hopes the preparations can now gain headway.
Only two prospective bidders, Smartmatic and Korean firm Miru Data Systems Inc., have bought bid documents for the PCOS machines repair deal, according to Bautista.
But there is “plenty of time”—two days—for interested parties to join in, he added. Only Smartmatic is bidding for the lease of the 70,000 OMR machines deal.
“There were six who bought bid documents, two who submitted financial bids and one was disqualified. So only Smartmatic is left. They’re undergoing post qualification for the technical aspect of the bid,” Bautista said.
Regardless of whether the PCOS machines or the OMR machines will be the chosen option for voters, either option will have to be supplemented with an additional 23,000 OMRs, which may also be awarded to Smartmatic by the end of the month.
The additional OMR machines deal is facing a motion for reconsideration, so no notice of award has been signed yet. Bautista said they may tentatively award the contract by the end of July.
According to Bautista, the difference between the two options is about P2.5 to P3 billion, with the more expensive option being the lease of the new OMR.
“But we have to consider the timeliness. I was told it’s easier to manufacture new machines than to refurbish [these]. We also have to look at the technical risk: Which is more reliable, a new machine or a refurbished machine?”