MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday declared the lone bidder for the 2025 automated election system (AES) as “ineligible.”
According to Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudianco, the bidder was a joint venture of Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc.
The Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) declared the bidder “ineligible” for its failure to comply with the requirements stated in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“Dulot ng ineligibility ng MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI Joint Venture, pati na rin ang pagiging lone bidder nito, ay nagdeklara ang SBAC-AES ng unang failure ng competitive bidding para sa Lease ng FASTrAC (Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count),” Laudiangco said in a statement.
(Due to the ineligibility of the MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI Joint Venture, as well as its being the lone bidder, SBAC-AES declared the first failure of competitive bidding for the Lease of FASTrAC.)
He said the joint venture lacked an English translation in its documents and had an incomplete undertaking to enter into a joint venture agreement, where it only wrote “jointly” and not “jointly and severally liability.”
Following the proceedings, the SBAC-AES immediately conducted a mandatory review of this procurement project in compliance with R.A No. 9184, which is required to be done before starting the second cycle of competitive public bidding.
Laudiangco told reporters through Viber that the SBAC may open the bid anew on January 4, 2024, if the election body can post its notices for bidding within the day.
“Time is of the essence po, kaya tinapos na din po kanina ang mandatory review (Time is of the essence, which is why the mandatory review was completed as soon as possible),” Laudiangco said.
When asked if the joint venture could join the second round of bidding, Laudiangco affirmed that may do so.
If the next round of bidding is again declared a failure, Comelec may resort to alternative methods of procurement under RA 9184.
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