Comelec sets bidding for 2025 poll transmission system

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to start next month the public bidding for the transmission system that will be used in the 2025 midterm elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body is currently preparing for the conduct of separate public biddings for the transmission system.

“We are just waiting for the completion of the public bidding for our hardware as well as software,” Garcia said yesterday.

He said the bidding would start as soon as the special bids and awards committee (SBAC) has completed preparations for the full automation system with transparency audit/count or FASTrAC.

Earlier, the Comelec en banc decided to exclude the transmission system in the “bundled” FASTrAC project and came out with separate terms of reference.

Garcia said the Comelec wants to do away with the single transparency server that was used in previous elections.

He said the Comelec is looking for a new system that should be able to transmit to all recipients, thereby allowing the poll body to do away with the transparency router.

Garcia said the Comelec intends to purchase a new poll automation system for the 2025 midterm elections by the end of March.

The Comelec has declared the lone bidder, a joint venture led by the Miru Systems Co. Ltd., eligible for the P18.83-billion contract for the FASTrAC project.

Garcia said the poll body is now on the second phase of the bidding process for FASTrAC.

He said the March deadline is critical to allow recalibration of the new poll machines.

He said it takes six months to “customize” the machines, while international certification will also require a few months’ time, followed by source code review and end-to-end testing.

Those intending to participate in the May 2025 midterm elections may register starting February, the Comelec said.

Registration

The Comelec bench has set the voter registration period from Feb. 12 to Sept. 30.

Garcia said around three million new voters are expected to register and participate in next year’s electoral exercise.

“Our projected number of registered voters is around three million, which will be added to the current 68 million voters,” Garcia said.

The last voter registration period in the country was from Dec. 12, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023, wherein 1.6 million new voters registered.