Comelec endorses joint firm for poll project

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) has endorsed the partnership of Filipino-owned Unison Computer Systems Inc. and Japan-based NEC as the winning bidder for the P1.6-billion Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) project.

Comelec chairman Jose Melo said the Comelec would likely approve the endorsement as the joint firms went through strict screening procedures of the BAC.

“They are the experts so I think that will be approved,” he said in a telephone interview.

BAC, headed by director Jocelyn Pastrado, had nominated Unison-NEC as the bidder with the “lowest calculated responsive bid” after hurdling the documentary, technical and financial screenings. 

Its bid offer was P1.5 billion.

The two firms have outdone local Strategic Alliance Holding Inc. (SAHI) and Bangladesh-based Tiger IT, which were initially considered for the project having offered a lower bid of P1.2 billion.

But SAHI-Tiger had failed in some standards and requirements when it was undergoing post-qualification procedure.

Melo added that Unison-NEC, on the other hand, had passed the post-qualification screening of BAC.

With the AFIS project, the Comelec intends to cleanse the voter’s lists for the 2010 polls by flushing out double and multiple registrants by cross matching the voter’s biometric information like signatures and fingerprints.

The project has four components – validation of existing registration records using biometrics and data capture system worth P300 million; online data submission and synchronization system worth P50 million; AFIS matching and AFIS server application worth P1 billion, and voter’s ID card generation worth P250 million. – Sheila Crisostomo