Comelec disqualifies 1 of 2 bidders in P1.6-billion project

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified Filipino-owned consortium Strategic Alliance Holding Inc. (SAHI) and Bangladesh-based Tiger IT from participating in the P1.6-billion Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) project aimed at cleansing the voters’ lists for 2013 polls.

The Comelec said the P1.2-billion bid offer of SAHI-Tiger IT was lower than the P1.5-billion bid offer of its rival Unison Computer Systems Inc. and its partner NEC of Japan, enabling the firm to first undergo the post-evaluation screening of the poll body.

In a Resolution No. 20-2009, the technical working group (TWG) of the Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) had declared SAHI-Tiger IT “post-disqualified” after “careful review, scrutiny and evaluation of the legal, technical and financial documents submitted” by the consortium.

“The joint venture of SAHI-Tiger IT has failed to comply with the standards and requirements as set in the legal and technical specifications as required in the bid documents,” the resolution stated.

The TWG had also found the “single large contract” secured by the consortium in the past was questionable.

“Tiger AFIS was only fully developed sometime in 2009. The SLC that the joint venture of Sahi-Tiger IT submitted reveal that it was executed in November 2007, more than a year before Tiger IT was able to develop its own AFIS software,” the TWG said. The TWG also found out that the notary public, a certain lawyer Maximo Alvarez, that certified and notarized SAHI-Tiger IT’s legal documents, including its joint venture agreement, was found “to be without authority to administer any oath as he was not a commissioned notary public.”

Because of this, BAC had asked bidder Unison-NEC to deliver “all the necessary requirements” for review.   – Sheila Crisostomo