2GO wins bid to ship poll machines

THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) has declared 2GO as the winner in the bidding for the  contract for the deployment of automated election system and allied services for the May 2016 national and local elections.

2GO bested other key players in the logistics and freight forwarding industry such as Ace Logistics, Airspeed, Air21, Argo International and F2 Logistics in the bidding that started late last year.

Comelec which had approved a total budget of P1.526 billion for the contract is expected to save P573.6 million with 2GO submitting the lowest bid of P952 million.

The Comelec can utilize the  P573 million savings to increase the allowances of teachers who will serve during the May 2016 elections.

2GO and Air21 emerged as the top two bidders, with bids of P952 million and P1.1 billion, respectively. 2GO was subsequently declared by the Comelec as the lowest calculated and responsive bidder. On the other hand, Air21 was disqualified due to deficiencies in the documents it submitted.

The Comelec en banc, in its resolution dated Feb. 12, 2016,  resolved to issue the notices of award in favor of 2GO, but the company has yet to receive the same.

Despite being outbid by 2GO and later disqualified for deficient documents, Air21 is still contesting the bid of 2GO.