The Commission on Elections’ (Comelec)
Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) has conducted public
bidding for a total of nine lots for the goods and services that
will be employed or used for the 2013 elections. Following are the
items that the Comelec has bid out for and the status of the
procurement:
Warehouse lease with Configuration Facilities
The Comelec has conducted two bidding conferences for this service,
and both failed. The first was held on July 23, 2012, where only one
bidder, the joint venture of Bodega Site IT Solutions, Inc. and RV
Marzan International Forwarders, Inc., submitted their offer, but
was declared ineligible by the SBAC for insufficient documents. The
budget for the project is Php 112,000,000.00.
The second bidding was held on August 29, 2012 with an increased
budget of Php 400,000,000.00. The suppliers that participated in
this bidding were the joint venture (JV) of Smartmatic-TIM Corp. and
European Apparel Corp., and the JV of Storage Solutions Inc. (SSI)
and Asa Color and Chemicals, Inc. The Smartmatic JV was declared
ineligible also due to insufficient documents. The SSI JV was
declared eligible during the bidding, but was disqualified during
the post-qualification evaluation after the technical working group
(TWG) of the Comelec-SBAC learned that the property in Cavite will
be sub-leased by the joint venture. The SBAC specified in the
bidding documents that subcontracting (or sub-leasing) is
prohibited.
After the two failed bidding conferences, the SBAC will enter into
negotiations with potential suppliers.
PCOS-related Consumables
1) Thermal paper – There were three
companies that participated in the bidding. The first JV of SPH
International Corp. and Advance Paper Corp. was initially declared
as the lowest calculated bidder, but was postdisqualified after the
TWG found out some insufficiencies in their technical requirements.
The second lowest calculated bidder for thermal paper, Consolidated
Paper Products, Inc. (CPPI), qualified for the project for complying
with all the requirements by the SBAC. The approved budget for the
project is Php 129,494,400.00. The third company was Smartmatic-TIM
Corp. that was also declared eligible. However, their bid offer was
higher than that of CPPI, hence the SBAC declared CPPI as the
winning bidder.
2) Marking Pens – The JV of LDLA
Marketing, DTM Prints and Labels Specialists, Inc. and Accent Micro
Technologies; the JV of SPH International Corp. and Advance Paper
Corp.; and Smartmatic-TIM Corp. were the prospective suppliers that
participated in the bidding for marking pens. The LDLA JV failed in
the bidding for insufficiency of documents required, resulting in
the SBAC declaring the SPH JV as the winning bidder for this
project. Comelec required 1,640,000 units of pens that will be used
to mark the ballots in the 2013 polls, and the budget was pegged at
Php 36,736,000.00. The winning bidder’s offer is Php 27,355,200.00.
3) CF Cards-Main and CF Cards WORM – In
the first bidding for compact flash (CF) cards (the storage device
for the counting machines), only the JV of LDLA submitted its bid
offer. The JV was declared ineligible for failing to provide the
statement of their single largest contract sworn with a notarial
seal, thus the failure of the first bidding. In the second bidding,
two suppliers participated. The first was the JV of LDLA, which
passed the bid evaluation but was later on post-disqualified due to
insufficiencies in their submitted requirements. The second bidder
was Unison Computer Systems, Inc. but was later post-disqualified
for “failure to comply with the technical specifications and with
the authentication of certifications” (SBAC resolution no. 5,
promulgated 12 November 2012). Since there were two failed bidding
for the CF Cards, the SBAC is preparing to enter into negotiations
with any supplier for this project.
Smartmatic-TIM did not participate in the bidding for CF cards
claiming that the budget allotted by the Comelec for this project is
insufficient. In the 2010 polls, some of the CF cards used with the
counting machines were supplied to Smartmatic-TIM sourced from LDLA
Marketing.
4) Toner – Comelec allotted Php
9,968,000.00 for 2,200 units of toner. Two companies submitted their
bid offers for Comelec’s toner requirements. These companies are
Optimal Systems Distributors, Inc., and Smartmatic- TIM Corp. The
SBAC declared Optimal Systems as the winning bidder with their offer
of Php 9,776,800.00, as Smartmatic’s offer was higher at Php
9,868,320.00
5) External Rechargeable Battery – For
the external rechargeable batteries, three companies submitted their
bid offer, they are: 1) the JV of Fumaco Inc. and Light Core
Technologies Systems, Inc. (LCTSI); 2) Accent Micro Technologies,
Inc.; and 3) Smartmatic-TIM Corp. The Fumaco JV was declared as the
winning bidder, ‘Accent’ was declared ineligible for insufficient
documents submitted, and Smartmatic’s offer was higher than Fumaco’s.
The Comelec's budget of Php 152,546,240.00 was allocated for its
82,000 unit requirement. Smartmatic’s offer was Php 147,896,630.57,
while Fumaco’s offer was Php 137,760,000.00.
Provision for Electronic Results Transmission
Services
Two bidding conferences were held for the electronic results
transmission services (ERTS). The first bidding was held on August
28, 2012. The lone bidder, Blue Media Communications, Inc. was
declared ineligible for documentary insufficiencies.
A second bidding was held on October 10, 2012, where no company
submitted their proposal. Smartmatic-TIM Corp. on the same day
submitted their letter addressed to the SBAC explaining the reason
for their nonparticipation. In their letter, Smartmatic explained
that the budget, amounting to Php 405,423,200.00, is not sufficient
for the project considering the extent of the services required.
After two failed bidding conferences, Comelec is preparing to enter
into negotiations for the project.
Electronic Results Transmission Modems
Smartmatic-TIM Corp. and Mega Data Corporation submitted their bid
offers for the project. Only Smartmatic was declared eligible as
Mega Data failed to satisfy all the documentary requirements. The
budget for the contract is Php 154,576,800.00. The Comelec will need
15,000 units for the 2013 elections.
For the other requirements such as the ballot papers for the 2013
elections, the Comelec has delegated the task of procuring ballot
printing to the National Printing Office (NPO). The JV of Canon
Marketing Philippines and Holy Family Printing Corp. won the bidding
for the supply and printing of ballot papers. For the deployment of
the ballots to the different precincts all over the country, a
bidding conference is set on November 26, 2012 for ballot packaging.
Prior to these procurements, Comelec has engaged the services of Asa
Color and Chemical Industries for the indelible ink that was used
for the voters’ registration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM). The contract amount for the ink was Php
3,023,003.24
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