Comelec set to bid out contracts for May polls t-shirts, uniforms

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to bid out contracts worth more than P20 million for the supply of shirts and uniforms in its bid to provide a designated attire for its employees and the 300,000 public school teachers who will be serving in the May 9 balloting.

In its invitation to bid, the Comelec-Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) states that it is looking for suppliers of 277,527 sets of uniforms for board of election inspectors (BEI) to wear on election day and 6,158 pieces of shirts for Comelec employees.

The approved budget for the BEI uniforms, indicated as Lot 1, was P20.8 million or P75 per piece.

Meanwhile, the poll body allotted a P1.23-million budget for the Comelec employees’ shirt (Lot 2) or P200 each. “Bids received in excess of the approved budget per item shall be automatically rejected at bid opening,” warned the Comelec-BAC.

It has set the pre-bid conference for the project on March 30 at the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila. The opening of the bids has been set on April 13.

The Comelec-BAC said interested suppliers could obtain pertinent bidding documents at P25,000 for Lot 1 and P5,000 for Lot 2 from March 22 to April 13.

Last week, the Comelec also issued two separate invitations to bid for the supply of 100,000 pairs of scissors and 93,000 receptacles for the implementation of the voter verified paper audit trail on May 9.  The voter verified paper audit trail will allow the electorate to check their ballots through a voter receipt.

The Comelec allotted a total budget of P28.9 million for the purchase of the materials. The opening of the bids has been scheduled for early April.  SFM