Poll deal leaves Comelec ‘sad’

By: Tina G. Santos - 9 years ago

Comelec office. FILE PHOTO

At least two Commission on Elections commissioners have revealed their extreme reluctance to award the contract to lease 93,977 new voting machines to election technology provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp.

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said she voted “with great sadness” to award the contract for the lease of all-new optical mark reader (OMR) units to Smartmatic-TIM which she said had “pushed the commission to the edge,” forcing the Comelec to such a decision.

Another commissioner, Sheriff Abas, said that he voted in favor of Smartmatic “with a heavy heart.”

“The commission is now burdened with time constraints in the preparations for the May 2016 national and local elections…. what is further deplorable in this whole state of affairs is that Smartmatic seemed to have taken advantage of the time constraint the commission is confronted with,” Guanzon wrote in her separate concurring opinion.

Two options

Until it decided last Thursday to rent all-new machines for the 2016 elections, the Comelec was considering two options: the reuse of refurbished 81,896 old precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that were used in previous elections, to be supplemented by 23,000 new OMR machines; or to use all-new OMR units of 23,000 and another batch of 70,977 OMRs.

The first option was abandoned after the continued failure of the bidding for the refurbishment of the old PCOS units.

Guanzon blamed Smartmatic for refusing to join the bidding for the refurbishment of the old machines, leaving the Comelec with no recourse but to go for the all-new option.

Smartmatic earlier this month pulled out of the bidding for the refurbishment of the old PCOS units, saying it had doubts about the project’s feasibility because of time constraints considering that the 2016 elections were just a few months away.

At the time, Smartmatic had already won the contract for the lease of 23,000 OMRs.

The Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM are already in the final stages of the contract negotiations for the 23,000 OMR machines, which will cost the government P2.2 billion (P1.7 billion for lease, P500 million for the option to purchase).

Smartmatic-TIM also won the bidding in late June for the second batch of 70,977 OMR machines that would be needed if the all-new option was adopted. But Comelec Chair Andres Bautista held off acting on the notice of award for the 70,977 new OMR units until after the refurbishing of the old PCOS units was successfully bid out.

Comelec hands tied

According to Guanzon, Smartmatic’s refusal to participate in the bidding for the refurbishment of the old PCOS machines pushed the Comelec to the edge, so that it was left with no choice but to award to Smartmatic the lease with option to purchase of the 70,977 OMR units, which she said the Comelec would not have preferred.

“This is indeed tragic in the face of the hard fact that the commission still is currently in possession of 81,896 PCOS machines—which were leased and then purchased from Smartmatic [joint venture] and used during both the 2010 and 2013 elections at a total cost of P9,024,759,196.57—which remain unrefurbished and unmaintained,” she added.

Guanzon also pointed out that “precious time was even put to waste” when the Comelec, under former Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr., entered into an extended warranty contract by way of direct contracting with Smartmatic for the refurbishment the old PCOS machines.

The Supreme Court, however, nullified the contract for not going through public bidding. The high court ruling rendered the machines useless since these cannot be used without undergoing refurbishment.

“Our hands are tied, but it is not of our own making,” Guanzon said.

“If only there were enough time for the commission, it is my opinion that the refurbishment of the existing PCOS machines is the more advantageous course to take. However, the urgency to be able to move forward with the preparations for the 2016 elections cannot be overemphasized.”

Sought for comment, Cesar Flores, Smartmatic president for Asia-Pacific, said that they respected the opinion of Guanzon but disagreed with her assertions.

“It should be made very clear that Smartmatic had been proposing the refurbishment of the PCOS machines since 2013. Records will bear out the fact that we had been vigorously recommending this option as a means for the government to save money and to maximize its investment,” Flores said.

“It is unfair to pin the blame on us when the reason why the refurbishment could not have been done in time were the interminable delays caused by all the legal cases and Comelec’s own actions or inaction,” he said.

Flores stressed that it was not only Smartmatic that pulled out of the refurbishment bidding.

“Other suppliers also had their reasons from staying away from the tender,” he said.

“We did not push Comelec to the edge. We cannot be forced to offer services that we know to be disadvantageous to the government and would imperil the elections. If we would agree to refurbish the PCOS machines at this point in time, the delivery of the elections would be in grave danger. It should be noted however, that the refurbishment was still doable up until a few months ago,” he said.

Subservient Comelec

Former Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman on Friday accused the poll body of meekly following Smartmatic’s lead.

“Whatever Smartmatic wants, they’ll do,” Lagman said.

“The repair and diagnostics should have been done lone ago, but they did not do it. Now they are using lack of time as an excuse. It’s their fault,” he said.

“Part of the contract with Smartmatic is the training of Comelec staff on diagnostics and repair of the machines. Did they do that? If they did, then the trained people could have started the repair late 2014 and the whole of 2015,” he added.

Not purchasing 70,977 units

The Comelec on Friday said it was not inclined to purchase the new OMR units it is set to lease for the 2016 polls.

In its Comelec Resolution No. 9980, the Comelec en banc said the lease of the 70,977 OMR units excludes the “option to purchase” clause present in the original terms of reference.

This means that the project won by Smartmatic-TIM will be only for the lease of the 70,977 OMR machines for P6.286 billion.

The “option to purchase” clause costs another P1.576 billion in the Smartmatic-TIM bid.

The June 29 Comelec en banc resolution for the lease project of 23,000 OMR units does not have such a provision.

According to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, such a move by the en banc was logical.

“You have to remember that the 23,000 OMR units will be used regardless if it is the old PCOS machines or the new OMR units. So the Comelec certainly is looking at the possibility of acquiring them in the future. On the other hand, the 70,977 may not be purchased since the commission intends to repair the PCOS machines for the 2019 elections,” said Jimenez in an interview.

“Immediately after the conduct of the 2016 elections and within the same calendar year, the commission shall conduct a public bidding for the maintenance, refurbishment and/or upgrade of the existing PCOS machines for use in the 2019 elections,” the Comelec resolution said.

After leasing these in the 2010 polls, the 81,896 PCOS machines were subsequently purchased by the poll body from Smartmatic-TIM for P1.8 billion prior to the 2013 polls.

Losing bidder

The Comelec earlier announced that the old 81,896 PCOS machines will still be refurbished, and that the poll body intends to use the units in 2019.

Dermalog-Avante-Stone of David Joint Venture, the disqualified bidder for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines, expressed disappointment over what it described as the monopoly prevailing in the country’s automation election system.

“I don’t know how the Philippines feels about it. But monopoly, in normal life, means I have to pay more and I get less service and less quality. That is normally the consequence of monopoly for sure,” said Dermalog Identification Systems CEO Gunther Mull.

Smartmatic, which also provided the PCOS machines used in the 2010 and 2013 polls, will also supply all the 93,977 OMR machines for next year’s elections.

“I think, for sure, the vendor in this position is trying to monopolize. And I think it’s quite obvious… maybe the Comelec would also appreciate in the future to have more choices. Because a monopoly means it’s more expensive and less service,” Mull added.

Dermalog-Avante-Stone of David said it was unfortunate that it was not given the chance to refurbish the old PCOS machines, stressing that they have the expertise and capability to do the task.

Dermalog-Avante-Stone of David was the lone bidder in the second round of bidding for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines.

2nd failed bidding

However, the Comelec special bids and awards committee declared the joint venture ineligible after it submitted incomplete samples of election paraphernalia and spare parts and a lack of specifications on its personnel services.

The second failed bidding eventually became a factor in the Comelec’s decision to just lease all new OMR units from Smartmatic-TIM.

But Dermalog-Avante-Stone of David said they had no plans of challenging the decision.

“We will accept any decision of the Comelec. We will not do what some other competitors in our market do—to go to court. We won’t do that,” said Mull.

He said the joint venture was looking ahead at the planned refurbishment of the PCOS machines after the 2016 polls.

“We are not looking only at this (2016) elections. We are also looking at the future and see how we can establish our presence here and contribute to the elections,” said Mull.