SC urged to stop Comelec parallel bidding for automated polls
A MULTISECTORAL election stakeholders on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from conducting parallel public bidding for the refurbishment of the existing Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and for the lease of new Optical Mark Reader (OMR) units.
In a 52-page petition, petitioners led by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg) urged the high court to immediately issue a restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of Comelec Resolution No. 15-0355 and 15-0359.
Comelec Resolution No. 15-0355 allows the conduct of parallel biddings while 15-0359 approved the creation of two separate Technical Working Groups to facilitate the process.
Petitioners said the two resolutions have no legal basis and violate not only the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) but also the Constitution.
“Simultaneous bidding finds no support in law and is contrary to public policy. Further, parallel bidding is a failed experiment because it doomed the bidding refurbishment of the PCOS machines and failed to protect the public interest by giving the public the best possible advantages through open competition,” petitioners said.
They added that the capital outlay allotment of the Comelec for the year 2016 national and local elections (NLE) preparatory activities is only P11.43 billion while procuring 93,977 new OMR units will exceed the legally authorized expenditure for the said purpose by over P1 billion.
“Suffice it to stress that if permitted, the Commission will be permitted not only to undermine Congress’ spending power but more importantly, to wreak havoc to the budget, the system, as well as desecrate the Fundamental Law of the land,” the petition stated.
Petitioners also urged the high court to issue a mandamus to compel the Comelec to make sure that the Automated Elections System be used in the May 9, 2016 national and local elections will meet the minimum system capabilities and other safeguards under Republic Act 8436 or the Automated Election System Act; and to initiate legal action against PCOS provider Smartmatic-Total Information management (TTIM) Corporation for damages for reneging its training obligation under the 2009 request for proposal.
