Comelec bids out P588-M supply contract for 2016 polls

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is bidding out a P588-million contract to supply election results transmission solutions and management services for the 2016 polls.

In an invitation to bid published in The STAR yesterday, the poll body’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) said interested parties should have completed a similar contract in the past five years.

Bids in excess of the approved budget will be automatically rejected.

Interested bidders can purchase bid documents for P75,000 until March 2 at the BAC office on the 7th floor at the Palacio del Gobernador building in Intramuros, Manila.

The BAC said a pre-conference would be held on Feb. 17 at the Comelec session hall to discuss eligibility requirements and the technical and financial components of the project.

Accurate, reliable

Meanwhile, two congressmen vouched yesterday for the accuracy and reliability of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the May 2016 polls.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said he witnessed the accuracy of the PCOS technology when he was a member of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) in the previous Congress.

“Those PCOS machines are tried and tested. Their accuracy made our work in resolving electoral protests in HRET easier and faster,” he said.

He said whenever HRET members had doubts on the votes reflected in the contested ballots, they referred to images and memory cards in the PCOS machines.

Another congressman, Noel Villanueva of Tarlac, said the Comelec and the public should not listen to “nuisance election watchdogs out to derail next year’s automated national and local elections.” – With Jess Diaz