Korean firm bags 2025 automated polls project
UNLIKE the first round, the second public bidding held by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for its Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project did not have an aborted ending.
The Comelec – Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) yesterday declared lone bidder, the Joint Venture of Miru Systems Co Ltd, Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI), as eligible to pursue the undertaking.
“We approve the recommendation of the Technical Working Group and the bidder, Joint Venture of Miru Systems is hereby declared eligible,” said Comelec-SBAC chairperson Allen Francis Abaya during Monday’s opening of bids in Intramuros, Manila.
Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said Miru was “able to rectify the problems they had in the first cycle of public bidding and have been able to comply this time.”
It can be recalled that Miru was declared ineligible by the SBAC during the first round of public bidding due to its lack of English translation in the supporting documents it submitted, as well as having an incomplete undertaking to forge a joint venture as required by the Comelec.
The declaration of ineligibility of Miru, which was also the lone bidder then, left the Comelec-SBAC with no choice but declare a failure of the public bidding.
On Monday, Miru was once again the lone bidder for the second round of public bidding.
Aside from Miru, five other companies purchased bidding documents for the second round of the procurement process but did not submit their bids. These are Dominion Voting Systems, Indra Philippines, AMA Group Holdings Corp, Electiotech Consultant and Management Inc., and Smartmatic – TIM 2016 Inc.
In its bid proposal, Miru Joint Venture tendered a project cost of P17,988,878,226.55.
Broken down into the project components, Miru tendered a bid price of P420,299,898.11 for the Election Management System; P15,274,403,128.10 for the automated counting machines; P198,689,440.00 for the Consolidated Canvassing System; P1,606,685,781.64 for ballot printing; and P488,799,978.70 for the acquisition of ballot boxes.
The amount is lower by
