Comelec Grants Smartmatic – TIM’s Plea

(PNA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has opened its doors again to Smartmatic – Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. after it granted the protest filed by the latter in connection with the bidding of the 23,000 Optical Mark Reader (OMR) to be used in the May 2016 polls.

“Wherefore, the instant protest is hereby granted. Accordingly, the Commission hereby declares the Joint Venture of Smartmatic-TIM Corporation as the bidder with the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid in connection with the public bidding for the lease with option to purchase of 23,000 new units for use in the May 9, 2016 national and local elections,” said the commission en banc voting 4-2-1.

In coming up with the favorable decision, the poll body gave credence to the OMR demonstration conducted by the Smartmatic for being compliant with the requirements of the Php 2.5 billion project.

“In the Final Report of Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) Chairman (Peter)Banzon, the TEC determined that the time scale is the same on both probes. The TEC, thus, concluded that the OMR+ writes on both SD cards simultaneously,” said in a 12-page resolution.

The decision dated June 29 added, “In view of the foregoing, we cannot help but agree with the findings of the TEC and so hold that the OMR+ can and does write election data in two storage devices simultaneously.”

Last May, the Comelec – Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) disqualified Smartmatic-TIM during the post-qualification evaluation stage of the First Round after it failed to submit valid Articles of Incorporation and for failure of the demo unit to meet the requirements of the project.

This prompted the service provider in the 2010 and 2013 polls to file the protest before the Comelec en banc.

For its part, the Venezuela-based applauded the poll body’s decision.

“The reversal validates what we have always asserted — that our system is indeed 100% compliant with all the technical requirements of the RFP, and ready to be deployed in the 2016 National Elections,” said Smartmatic-TIM in a statement.

With this, Comelec Commissioner Christian Lim said they are looking to issue the Notice of Award to Smartmatic-TIM.

“We clarified with BAC if there’s anything else to do and they informed us that all post-qualification have been finished. The Notice of Award will now be given to Smartmatic-TIM and we will now proceed to discussions on the contract,” he said.

Lim noted that once the details of the contract have been agreed upon by the two parties, the poll body will be issuing the Notice to Proceed for the project.

“We are looking at two to three weeks of discussion. If you follow the normal course, then that’s when you will issue the Notice to Proceed,” the Comelec official said.

With the decision, the Second Round of public bidding for the 23,000 OMR machines has been terminated.

The Second Round of public bidding became necessary after Smartmatic-TIM’s bid was disqualified during the First Round of bidding.

“Corollarily, the scheduled opening of financial proposal and eligibility documents for the Second Round of bidding is hereby cancelled,” the decision.

The poll body also instructed the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) 1 to return to the prospective bidders in the Second Round the P75,000 they paid in acquiring the bidding documents despite it being considered “non-refundable”. (PNA) RMA/FGP/EDS