Comelec holds 2nd bidding for online voting system

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold on Tuesday the second round of bidding for the P465.8-million Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS) that will be used for the first-ever online voting of overseas Filipinos in the 2025 midterm polls.

Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said last Thursday that a second round of competitive public bidding for the procurement of OVCS was needed after the participating bidders failed to comply with the requirements during the first bidding.

The first round of bidding was done on February 22, but Comelec's Special Bids and Awards Committee declared a «failure of bidding» and the two participating bidders as ineligible for failure to comply with requirements.

Laudiangco, however, said that even though the two bidders were declared ineligible, they could still participate in the second round.

The two bidders were Indra Soluciones Technoligias De La Information, S.L.U. (Indra) and We are I.T. Philippines, Inc.

Records show that there were originally six bidders, but only Indra and I.T. Philippines submitted their bids.

The other four were SMS Global Technologies Inc., Sequent Tech Inc., Prosoft Global Pte. Ltd. and SMMT-TIM 2016 Inc.

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The second bidding will be held at the 3rd Floor Convention Hall of Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, at 10:30 a.m.

Laudiangco said the authority of the commission to tap other modes of voting was based on Section 16.11 of Republic Act (RA) 9189 and Sections 23 and 28 of RA 10580.

Under the law, Laudiangco said, Congress has granted the Comelec the authority to pursue alternative modes of voting.

He assured the public that overseas internet voting is safe because it requires only small data, similar to text messages.

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Chairman George Erwin Garcia earlier said the first-ever implementation of internet voting for overseas Filipinos would increase voter turnout among Filipinos abroad at less cost to the government.

Records show that Comelec spent more than P400 million for overseas voting in the May 9, 2022 elections, but voter turnout was only 39 percent, which was even much lower than in previous elections.

«Spending P411 million [for overseas voting] but