COMELEC CAN DECLARE SMARTMATIC/TIM AS AUTOMATED POLL BID WINNER

The Commission on Elections said the poll body could declare Smartmatic/Total Information Management as the “single complying calculated bid” if no other bidder complied with requirements for the evaluation of their eligibility, technical and financial proposals.

Comelec Advisory Council member and lawyer Ivan Uy made this observation, citing government bidding procedures, as the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) announced Tuesday that Smartmatic/TIM was the “single complying calculated bid” for the P11.2 billion project to automate the 2010 elections.

The Comelec would now proceed with post-qualification proceedings, a step closer to the award of the automation contract, even as it has yet to officially announce Smartmatic/TIM as the outright winner.

In a resolution released on Tuesday afternoon,  Comelec said: “Smartmatic/TIM has submitted the single complying calculated bid. Thus, it will undergo post qualification proceedings immediately and its machines will be tested to determine compliance with the criteria set for the automation contract.” 

SBAC chairman Ferdinand Rafanan has stopped short of saying Smartmatic/TIM has bagged the contract as it’s bid proposal  still has to undergo technical evaluation.

The Comelec cannot as yet declare Smartmatic/TIM as the lowest calculated bid even as the other bidders were disqualified  for having noncompliant bids and inadequate documents, said Rafanan.

Smartmatic/TIM has submitted its financial bid for the automation contract at P7,191,484,739.48—or a savings of about P4 billion against the total contract amount of P11.2 billion.

Smartmatic/TIM will still have to first pass the post qualification which is ongoing now and the technical demonstration which will be set Wednesday, Rafanan said.

Smartmatic/TIM is raring to go through the acid test and has set up its poll machines for the scheduled technical demonstration and evaluation.

 

The Smartmatic-TIM consortium was the lone qualifier for the final leg of the automation bidding when SBAC declared on May 17 the bid of Indra Sistemas, Strategic Alliance Holdings (SAHI) and Hart Intercivic as non-compliant for offering a partial bid or insufficient supply of poll machine units worth P11.2 billion.

Other bidders were disqualified for having noncompliant bids and inadequate documentation required by the SBAC.

Reports said Rafanan was confident the bidding process would proceed smoothly to ensure award of the contract in time for pre-poll preparations for the 2010 elections.

“We will proceed with the post qualification and technical evaluation of machines of Smartmatic and TIM without prejudice to the pending appeal of another bidder, AMA Group Holdings and Electronic Software and Systems International. We have been delayed for two weeks due to the pending appeals of other bidders, said Rafanan in a report in INQUIRER.net.

Rafanan said the awarding of the contract is still “subject to the result of the motion of (disqualified bidder) AMA-ES&S,” which late Monday said that it would file a motion for reconsideration.

If AMA-ES&S would be readmitted in the bidding, SBAC would have to open its technical and financial proposals. If the bid of AMA-ES&S is lower than that of Smartmatic-TIM but the technical evaluation for the latter’s poll machines has started,  (there) would be no problem and would be beneficial to the public because they will see two systems for poll automation, according to Rafanan.

But Rafanan said that if Smartmatic-TIM comes out with the lowest bid compared with the AMA-ES&S group, and passes post qualification and technical evaluation, SBAC would recommend Smarmatic/TIM as the one capable of supplying the Comelec the poll machines for the upcoming 2010 elections.

Rafanan said the award of the multi-billion automation contract would be on the first or second week of June.