COMELEC “Failure Of Bidding” For Voting Machines

COMELEC “Failure Of Bidding” For Extra 10,000 Vote Counting Machines

COMELEC – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that there was a “Failure of Bidding” for the “vote-counting machines (VCMs) with SD cards for next year’s elections.

Currently, only Smartmatic-Total Information Management bought bids to supply the government with the VCMs. However, the firm failed to submit a bid offer.

According to the firm, this was due to pandemic-driven issues such as shortage of electronics ramping up costs, logistics, and more. Because of this, the firm said that the prices by up to 20 to 25 percent.

COMELEC "Failure Of Bidding" For Voting Machines
Image from: CNN

Meanwhile, logistics costs were reportedly up by 200% in 2020 alone. But, according to Smartmatic’s authorized representative Filipinas Ordoño, the firm can deliver the machines on time.

Ordoño assured the special bids and awards committee (SBAC) that the company would be able to deliver the VCMs on time “should the proper funding be in place to cover all of the extra costs of electronic components and logistics.”

Smartmatic secured the P452.52 million contract for the software used for the election management systems. This also included not only VCMs but also canvassing systems and contracts for the refurbishment of over 97,345 machines.

Since 2010, Smartmatic has been a part of the Philippines’ election. Furthermore, the firm paved the way for the Philippines’ first hardware and software for the first-ever nationwide automated elections in the country.

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