Manila, Philippines- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued a statement regarding the criticism it received for allegedly not accepting the second motion for reconsideration of the bidder for overseas voting in the midterm election.
Comelec Chairperson, Atty. George Erwin Garcia clarified that the Comelec en Banc has not yet decided who will be awarded the PHP 465 million online voting and counting system (OVCS) for overseas voting for the next electoral procedure.
Garcia added that the two joint venture companies that joined the bidding are currently in the post-qualification phase of the technical working group.
“No award yet. No recommendation yet from our SBAC. The two joint venture companies that pre-qualified are still undergoing post-qualification by the TWG,” the chairperson said.
The bidder for OVCS submitted a motion for reconsideration twice.
The Comelec was first declared “ineligible” on April 4 for the joint ventures of AMA Group Holdings Corporation, Dasan Network Solutions Incorporated, and Kevoting Incorporated, and on April 12 before the Comelec En Banc.
Based on the statement released by the joint ventures, the Comelec allegedly rejected twice the reconsideration of AMA-Dasan-Kevoting without even opening the bid of the joint ventures.
The Joint Ventures claim that the poll body did not accept their second motion for reconsideration as they refused to pay the PHP2.3 million ‘non-refundable’ protest fee.
“It was flatly rejected twice without opening the AMA-Dasan-Kevoting bid. The Comelec en banc did not reconsider the second motion because the joint refused to pay the P2.3 million ‘non-refundable’ protest fee, which was 5% of the project cost,” it said.
However, Chairperson Garcia answered that the protest fee is mandatory and a requirement based on the procurement law. “As to the protest fee, it is a mandatory requirement of the procurement law.”
In the second motion for reconsideration, the AMA-Dasan-Kevoting questioned the low bid of SMS Global Technologies and Sequent Technologies Joint Venture of PHP 112 million, which is only 25% of the estimated price of the Comelec program.
AMA-Dasan-Kevoting also said that SMSGT-Sequent has deficiencies, such as the failure to submit the 14001 ISO Certification or the Environmental Management System.
“Also, the joint venture does not have sufficient credentials to prove their internet voting system was successfully used in an electoral exercise,” based on the statement.
AMA-Dasan-Kevoting laid out their two points as to why the SMSGT-Sequent should not have been allowed to participate in the biddings.
It said, “SMSGT-Sequent should not be allowed to participate in the first place for failure to prove that ultimately their a.) internet/online voting system has a proven track record of being successfully implemented in at least one (1) election year here or abroad; and b.) the proposed internet voting system has been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise.”