By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, March 16 (PNA) — Only one company has so far purchased the bidding documents for the lease of the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE)machines that would be used in the May 2016 polls.
According to Commission on Elections (Comelec) – Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Chairperson Helen Flores, only Scytl Secured Electronic Voting acquired the documents during the Pre-bid Conference for the second round of bidding held at the Comelec Conference Session Hall in Manila on Monday.
Flores said there was no prospective bidder yet for the OMR units.
She attributed the measly turnout to the effects of the protest of Smartmatic- Total Information Management (TIM) against its disqualification in the first round of the bidding, which is pending before the Comelec en banc.
“Yes, the reason could be is that they are waiting for the decision of the en banc (on the protest),” Flores said.
The BAC official said there was a possibility that the Comelec en banc might rule to re-open the first round of bidding.
“The protest filed by Smartmatic-TIM at the commission en banc will directly affect this bidding process. Because the commission en banc may affirm or reverse our decision… If they sustain our decision, we can proceed with this second round. If they reverse it, then we can totally abandon the second round and go back to the first round,” she said.
Flores noted that interested parties can avail of the bid documents until March 30, worth Php 75,000 and Php 25,000, for the OMR and DRE projects, respectively.
Last Friday, Smartmatic-TIM filed protests asking the reversal of its disqualification in the bidding after the Comelec – BAC denied its motion for reconsideration (MR) filed last March 7.
Meanwhile, the poll body is expected to deliberate on the matter in their regular meeting on Tuesday. (PNA)