Korean firm eligible to bid for Comelec poll automation

MANILA, Philippines — In its second try, a joint venture led by South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. has been declared eligible, with its bid offer of some P17.9 billion for the lease of the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count or FASTrAC.

The Comelec special bids and awards committee (SBAC) found Miru’s documents in order and approved the recommendation of the technical working group (TWG) declaring its system eligible for the poll automation project.

“Miru System is hereby declared eligible. With that, we may now go to the opening of the financial envelope,” the SBAC announced.

Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said Miru submitted a total offer of P17,988,878,226.55 which is below the P18,827,730,000.22 approved budget for the contract.

According to Laudiangco, it was the first time that Miru participated in a complete automated election system bidding of the Comelec. It has rectified the defects noted during the first bidding and has now been declared eligible, he stressed.

The contract includes 110,000 automated counting machines with peripherals and consumables, 104,345 ballot boxes, 2,200 CCS servers/laptop and printers and peripherals and ballot paper with ballot printing good for 73,881,894 pieces.

The next procedure, Laudiangco said, is the post-qualification evaluation, during which the SBAC and the TWG are obligated to look into all the documents submitted as well as compliance with technical requirements.

Within five days, Miru must submit all the original documents or the SBAC may go to concerned government offices to verify the authenticity of the documents submitted.

Smartmatic was among the six firms that bought bidding documents and tried to submit and join the public bidding.

However, Laudiangco said, the SBAC rejected the application in compliance with the Comelec decision as a whole to ban the company.

He said the Comelec has not received any court order to stop its implementation.

Election watchdog Democracy Watch Philippines previously cautioned the Comelec against the participation of Miru due to “catastrophic failures” and “questioned” projects in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Laudiangco said the Comelec still has sufficient time to procure, customize and conduct the necessary battery of tests.

“By February or early March, we’ll have a decision as to whether the procurement succeeded or not,” he said.