Smartmatic bags another contract from Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the controversies surrounding the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, Smartmatic International Corp. has bagged another contract from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In a statement posted on its website, Smartmatic said it was able to win the contract to set up and run the National Support Center (NSC) tasked “to render technical assistance to each component of the elections.”

“The NSC will be front-ended by a 1,000-seat call center and is going to be powered by Smartmatic’s proprietary Election Day Management Platform, the election management solution which has seen action in the 2010 elections and numerous other poll projects around the world,” the firm said.

Based on Resolution No. 4 of the Comelec-Special Bids and Awards Committee, Smartmatic, along with Total Information Management (TIM) and LRA Pacific Management Consulting, Inc., tendered a bid of P111,555,454 for the NSC.

The website showed the NSC will be equipped with a hotline designed to process a high volume of calls and is intended to be the go-to number for the Board of Election Inspectors, field technicians, and other authorized personnel involved in the elections in need of support.

“The NSC is responsible for monitoring the compliance progress of the whole process by following up on each of the steps that must be achieved for each activity in the project,” the website read.

Aside from NSC, Smartmatic had also won the contracts for modems, CF Cards (WORM and Main) and Transmission services.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said yesterday that they expect the issues on the PCOS’s source code as the final hurdle they have to overcome before the elections.

Brillantes, however, gave assurance the preparations for the country’s second automated polls are on track.

“We are all ready. We are all systems go for the automation. Only one issue remains pending. Everybody knows it – the source code. Once we finish it, we don’t have any problem anymore,” he added.

The Comelec has initiated a tripartite negotiation between Smartmatic and Dominion Voting System that has been preventing the SLI Global Solutions from releasing source code certification.

Brillantes said there is a good chance for the two foreign firms to settle the issue and allow the release of the certification.