Comelec may get services of Smartmatic anew

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) might again get the services of Smartmatic International as service provider for the 2016 elections.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said they are looking at entering into a negotiated contract with Smartmatic for the refurbishing of the old precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines so they could be used again in the next elections.

“We are still discussing it, since Smartmatic manufactured the machines, they are the ones who know how to refurbish it,” Brillantes explained.

Although the old machines could still be used after the past two elections, Brillantes said the machines need a little fixing.

For the past elections, the Comelec acquired 80,000 units of PCOS machines from Smartmatic for P1.8 billion.

However, Brillantes said the poll body is still not ruling out the possibility of holding a separate public bidding for the refurbishing of the PCOS machines.

At this time, Brillantes said the Comelec has not made a final decision whether to hold a bidding or just enter into a negotiated contract with Smartmatic.

“There is no final decision, but most likely we will get the services of Smartmatic since they also do repair, though we may also consider other companies,” he said.

The Comelec previously came out with Invitations to Bid for the 23,000 units of additional optical mark reader (OMR) and another 410 units of direct recording electronic (DRE) to be used for the May 2016 elections.

The public bidding is open to all interested parties, including Smartmatic, since the company has not been blacklisted.

But some critics are demanding the blacklisting of Smartmatic.