Smartmatic wins CF card, modem contracts

Despite the alleged snafus of the 2010 elections, Smartmatic–Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. has won the bidding for a P45.2-million contract to supply compact flash (CF) cards for the May 13 elections.

Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. informed Smartmatic Thursday that it had been awarded the contract to supply 82,200 CF card units to be used by the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines during the polls.

A week before the 2010 presidential elections, the Comelec had to replace the CF cards that Smartmatic had provided after some of them led some PCOS machines to malfunction.

Brillantes also informed Smartmatic that it won the bidding to supply 15,000 units of modems that would be used to electronically transmit the results of the elections. The project cost is P154.6 million.

Smartmatic also won the contract, worth P486.5 million to electronically transmit the election results, Brillantes said. Philip C. Tubeza