Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. has won a deal to supply the Commission on Elections with electronic transmission gadgets under a P507-million project.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez confirmed that the Smartmatic-TIM will be responsible for receiving and transmitting voting results electronically from and to all city, municipal, provincial, and national canvassing centers.
“Comelec has approved the awarding of contract for ERTS to Smartmatic. Out of four bidders, Smartmatic was the one who submitted the lowest responsive bid,” Jimenez said on Thursday.
Smartmatic submitted an offer of P507,718,000, Jimenez said. By awarding the project to Smartmatic, the Comelec was able to save P50,282,000.
Jimenez also said that among the four bidders, only Smartmatic-TIM presented the best technical capabilities.
Comelec chairman Andres Bautista, citing the terms of reference or TOR, said that Smartmatic-TIM should complete the transmission of the election results within 24 hours from the time voting closes in each of the clustered precincts.
He said that this time, the upcoming elections will be the most efficient transmission compared to the 2010 and 2013 elections.
“Right now, the TOR provides for the transmission that they are supposed to providee 100-percent transmission within 24 hours,” he said.
The ERTS is the system used in the city/municipal, provincial, and national canvassing centers to send and receive transmitted results of voting.
Other companies which joined the bidding were Ezcom Telecommunications Service and Solutions Corp.; Edgecomm Inc.; and SOG Philippines Inc.
The Comelec was able to opt for a negotiated bid since it failed to find an adequate service provider after two public biddings.
Republic Act No. 9148 provides that the negotiated procurement method, wherein the Procuring Entity directly negotiates a contract with a technically, legally, and financially capable supplier, is allowed in case of two failed public biddings.
In the 2013 elections, the Smartmatic-TIM was only able to achieve a 75-percent transmission rate even when the poll body had already proclaimed the election winners.