Poll watchdog to monitor automation bidders

MANILA, Philippines - A poll watchdog group will keep an eye on the bidders for the P11.2-billion automation contract of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to make sure they are not out to help any group manipulate the election in 2010.

Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Consortium on Electoral Reforms, said they would dig into the backgrounds and qualifications of the bidders as they could not discount the possibility that some of them might help rig the polls for certain political groups.

“We’ll be checking on them. We will closely monitor the bidding process,” he said in an interview.

Last Friday, the Comelec held a pre-bid conference among the 10 companies that bought the terms of reference (TOR) for $20,000 or P1 million each, indicating their seriousness in participating in the bidding.

TOR, also called request for proposals, is a document that contains the financial and technical requirements for bidders.

The firms are Smartmatic/Total Information Management, Avante International Technology Inc., Syrex Corp./Scantron, DVS Philippines/Samsung, Universal Storefront Services Co./Sequioa, All Data Hub International Inc., Gilat Satellite Network Ltd.; AMA Group Holdings Corp./ES&S International, Mega Data Corp. and Indra Sistemas S.A.

During the conference, concerns were raised over the new eligibility requirement set by the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) to prevent a monopoly of the contract for the lease of the precinct count optical scan machines.

The TOR stipulates that a bidder must have completed three similar contracts with an aggregate amount that is equivalent to at least 50 percent of the automation budget. The largest of such contracts must be equivalent to at least 25 percent of the contract price.

Under the old policy, a prospective bidder must have secured a single biggest contract during the past three years in the amount that is equivalent to 50 percent of the total price.

Casiple has voiced support for the SBAC’s new rule.

“That’s a judgment call of the SBAC. I don’t see any problem with that, especially now that we are facing a situation that a failed bid will produce a failure of the whole automation. When that happens, we’ll revert back to manual,” he added.