Comelec to purchase P78 million SD cards

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is preparing to purchase secure digital (SD) cards worth over P78 million for the May 2019 elections.

In an invitation to bid, the Comelec said 104,165 units of SD cards are needed.

An SD card is used in the vote counting machine to store ballot images, as well as audit and transmission logs, among others, during elections.

The Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) said it has an approved budget of P78,538,326.70 or P753.99 per SD card.

“Bids received in excess of the (approved budget) per item shall be automatically rejected at bid opening,” the SBAC said.

Interested bidders can secure a complete set of bidding documents until Nov. 19 upon payment of the P50,000 fee at the SBAC Secretariat located at the Shipping Center Building in Intramuros, Manila.

Bidding documents may also be downloaded for free at the Comelec website or the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System website.

A pre-bid conference will be held today at 10 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room of the Palacio del Gobernador Building in Intramuros, Manila.

Bids must be submitted on or before 9 a.m. of Nov. 19 at the Basement Conference Room.

Meanwhile, the Comelec is pushing for the immediate passage of pending measures prohibiting premature campaigning.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the poll body is hoping that the House of Representatives and the Senate will pass a law amending the provisions of Republic Act No. 9369.

“When we talk about premature campaigning this way, it’s to keep up pressure on Congress to close the loophole sooner rather than later,” Jimenez said.

He said one must be considered officially as candidate upon filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) and thus subjected to possible penalties for premature campaigning.

“The version of the amendment I’ve seen declares the start of a person’s status as ‘candidate’ as soon as they file their COC. Which means that from that point until the start of the campaign period (approximately three months later) political campaign activity will be punishable for prematurity,” he said.

Sens. Richard Gordon and Leila de Lima had filed bills seeking to prohibit any form of premature campaigning.