Comelec to accept offers for poll transmission service until Nov. 4

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave interested providers until Nov. 4 to join in the negotiated procurement for the P558-million contract for electronic results transmission service (ERTS) in the May 2016 polls.

ERTS is the system used to transmit the results of the elections from the polling precincts to the cities/municipalities to the provincial and national canvassing centers.

In a notice, Comelec Bids and Awards Committee chair Helen Aguila-Flores said that providers can submit their “best and final offer in a sealed envelope” not later than 2 p.m. of Nov. 4 to the Comelec office at the Palacio del Gobernador building in Intramuros, Manila.

The P558-million total approved budget for the project is “inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax, income tax, local taxes and other fiscal levies and delivery costs,” she added.

The Comelec had to resort to negotiated procurement after the bidding for the ERTS failed twice. ?

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, negotiated procurement is allowed after two failed biddings.

The Comelec had also requested Congress to allocate P1 billion more to augment the ERTS project by procuring satellite that will be used for transmission.

Bautista said the transmission rate in the 2013 mid-term polls was only 76 percent and they intend to increase this to 100 percent in next year’s elections.  ?

The Comelec is also planning to acquire broad global area network, which can be used to transmit the votes from areas that have low or no mobile phone satellite coverage.