Comelec seeks opinion of procurement board on whether to buy PCOS machines

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Augusto Lagman has sought the opinion of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) on whether it should buy the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the 2010 elections for the 2013 polls.

Lagman said the Comelec could be violating the procurement law if it buys the PCOS machines leased by the Smartmatic International Corp. for the 2010 elections.

“I already sent a memo for the GPPB for its opinion,” he said.

The Comelec plans to purchase the 81,000 PCOS machines used in 2010 election to save on expenses for next year’s poll. Only P7 billion of the P10.2 billion budget it had requested had been granted.

He said the option to purchase the PCOS machines is provided in the contract signed by Comelec with Smartmatic.

Comelec should start the bidding process for the PCOS machines from March 7 to June 4 in case it decides to lease new units.