The Comission on Election (Comelec) would announce the top bidders for the lease of Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count or FASTrAC to be used in the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE) next week, its chairman George Garcia said on Monday, January 8.
Interviewed during DZRH Dos Por Dos, Garcia said five bidders had purchased the P75,000 bidding documents, expressing their intent to participate in the procurement process.
"As of kahapon, lima ang bumili ng bid documents. Hopefully, lima ang magpa-participate sa ating procurement [...] Lima ang bumili ng bid documents. Kahit papaano, medyo may kamahalan ang bid documents. Ibigsabihin, interesado sila na mag-participate sa ating procurement," he said.
Chairman George Garcia, Comelec, sa bidder para sa automated elections: Noong unang magkaroon ng bidding tayo, yung first round na tinatawag, isa lang ang nag-participate.#DosPorDos#SamaSamaTayoPilipino
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) January 7, 2024
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The Comelec chairman said bidders were mandated to submit the bidding requirements today, and the poll body would announce the ranking based on the recommendation of the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee Automated Election System (SBAC-AES) next week.
"Bigyan lang kami ng isang linggo, mare-recommend na po sa atin ng atin ng Special Bids and Awards Committee kung sino ang number one, number two, number three [bidders] na pagpipilian ng Comission en banc," he explained.
Garcia said the awarding of the winning binner would be declared within the month.
"Kinakailangan na makapag-award kami bago matapos ang buwan na ito kasi alam niyo na napaka-crucial ang bawat araw, linggo, at buwan nitong 2024 sapagkat pagkatapos mag-award ng Comission on Elections kung sino ang mag su-supply ng re-rentahan nating machines, ito ay cu-customized ng anim na buwan," he shared, adding that the machines would be also required to secure international certification.
The Comelec chairman said the winning bidder would be the one that offered the "lowest bid", complied with the poll body's required documents, and passed the post-qualification processes.
This is the second round of bidding that the poll body opened after the first bidding failed in December 2023.
Comelec spokesperson John Rex Lauidangco earlier said that SBAC-AES found the sole bidder — Miru Systems Co. Ltd. — ineligible, hence failure of bidding was declared.
In November 2023, the poll body suspended multinational company Smartmatic Philippines Inc. from participating in any public bidding processes for NLE 2025 automated poll system due to the bribery allegation it faces.
