MANILA, Philippines—Lawmakers were bothered by the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) focus on technicalities for the lease of new 23,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that might unduly delay the 2016 elections.
During the House of Representatives electoral and suffrage committee hearing on Wednesday, Smartmatic president Cesar Flores scored the Comelec Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for its obsession over technicalities.
He also said Comelec dismissed the company despite its relatively cheaper price for the lease of new optical mark reader technology to supplement the already existing 82,000 vote-counting machines.
The Comelec BAC disqualified Smartmatic-TIM, which supplied the PCOS machines in the 2010 and 2013 elections, and new bidder Indra Sistemas S.A. in the second stage of bidding due to supposedly “non-responsive” financial proposals.
In the case of Smartmatic, it did not fill up certain portions required by the Comelec in its Terms of Reference, and left blank items as “Other Requirements,” “Risk Management and Contingency Planning,” “Change Management,” and “Quality Control and Quality Assurance.”
Flores said Smartmatic offered the most competitive bid price for the lease at P700 million, which is below the approved budget of P2.5 billion.
He said the company did not fill up the aforementioned provisions because it is offering the software free to government.
“We are concerned. If the BAC will be using technicalities to dismiss us even when we did the best efforts to give Comelec our best prices, then we are really worried in participating at all in these biddings,” Flores told lawmakers.
He added that the price offer of the company for each PCOS is cheaper at P51,000, inclusive of tax, or P9,000 lower than the price it offered for the 2010 elections.
“Being disqualified because of a flimsy technicality is really affecting us,” Flores said.
Committee chair Capiz representative Fredenil Castro called another hearing on Thursday and required the attendance of the Comelec BAC members to shed light on the issue.
“The chair takes cognizance of the gravity of the implications. If ever we cannot resolve this problem at the soonest time possible, it will interrupt or delay the preparations (of the elections),” Castro said.
Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said the delay may result in a no-election scenario that would extend the term of the present administration.
“There is reason to be concerned with the failed bidding because this might delay the preparations for the elections. We are more concerned that the failed bid is tainted with technical maneuverings,” Ridon said.
“We should warn against setting the stage or a failure of election scenario by 2016,” he added.
Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice said he found Comelec BAC’s handling of the bidding suspicious.
“I think there is something fishy with the way Comelec BAC is handling the bidding,” Erice said.
Meanwhile, Indra Sistemas failed to send a representative to the hearing, irking chair Castro who said “Indra has already forfeited its right to be heard.”
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