Comelec reverses Smartmatic disqualification

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has unanimously decided to reverse the disqualification of Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. from the bidding for the contract to supply optical mark reader (OMR) machines.

In an eight-page decision, the Comelec granted the protest filed by Smartmatic questioning the Feb. 25 decision of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to disqualify the firm.

“The instant protest is hereby granted. Accordingly, the commission hereby declares that the financial proposal submitted during the second stage of competitive bidding is complete and responsive,” the Comelec said.

Smartmatic and rival Indra Sistemas S.A. are vying for the lease of some 23,000 OMR machines to be used in the 2016 polls. The BAC disqualified both bidders after finding their financial proposals “non-responsive.”

BAC found that the summary price proposal in Smartmatic’s financial proposal did not contain price offers, while Indra’s bid offers had exceeded the approved budget for contract.

Smartmatic’s price offers contained “dashes, instead of zeroes,” but the joint venture argued that it only used the forms provided by the Comelec.

In its decision, the Comelec noted that the “presence of dashes in the said summary, however, is not sufficient ground to disqualify Smartmatic because aside from the overall summary, the financial proposal breakdown should also be considered to determine whether or not a financial proposal is complete and responsive.”

“Accordingly, there is no cogent reason for the BAC not to consider the entire financial proposal of Smartmatic, particularly the unit price for the items which were indicated in the financial proposal breakdown,” the poll body added.

Smartmatic had offered P1,724,712,698.24 for the lease of the OMR machines, and another P505,086,506.40 for the “option to purchase” for the project which has an approved budget of P2,503,518,000.

Smartmatic president for Asia Pacific Cesar Flores yesterday welcomed the development, saying that reason still reigns within the poll body.

“We are glad the Comelec and the Filipino people can finally benefit from the P700-million savings that our bid is offering. We believe that this decision is a big step towards the right direction and augurs well for every Filipino’s quest for clean, transparent and credible elections,” Flores maintained.