The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will pay winning poll automation bidder Smartmatic-Total Information Management even if no election is held, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official said Saturday.

Comelec Law Department head Ferdinand Rafanan said the consortium originally asked to be paid the whole R7.2-billion poll automation contract in case the election is canceled, but the Comelec agreed only to pay for the expenses incurred by the consortium up to the time of the postponement or cancellation.

Rafanan said he told the consortium, “Kung magkano ang gastos niyo, actual yun lang ang babayaran namin.”

He revealed that Comelec allowed the Smartmatic-TIM’s request on payment in case of cancelled elections to be added to the contract, with the provision that the poll body would define the legitimate expenses.

“If they don't accept our definition, then it's up to the Court,” he said.

The poll official admitted that the consortium’s request may have been due to concerns about the political situation in the country.

“There is a provision for the cancellation of the elections because they are very much conscious of that,” Rafanan said

The P7.2-billion contract for the automation of the May 10, 2010 polls signed by Comelec and newly incorporated Smartmatic TIM Corporation last Friday is a lease for the hardware and software.

The contract also provides an option for Comelec’s purchase of the Precinct Count Open Scan (PCOS) machines used in the elections at a price not exceeding 50 percent of the lease price.

The contract, a copy of which was obtained by the Manila Bulletin, covers the procurement of 82,200 PCOS machines, including the supply of ballot paper, electronic transmission services using public telecommunications networks, training, technical support, warehousing, deployment, installation, pull-out, systems integration and overall project management. The contract requires Smartmatic-TIM to furnish the Comelec 82,200 copies of PCOS operating manuals not later than Dec. 15, 2009.

Comelec is committed to pay Smartmatic- TIM a total of P5,094,527,075.19 for the cost of software and hardware, and P2,096,957,664.28 services, for a total of P7,191,484,739.47.

The contract, signed for the Comelec by Chairman Jose A.R. Melo and by Chairman Juan C. Villa Jr. for Smartmatic-TIM, prescribes that the lease starts from the date of acceptance of the components up to May 13, 2010.

Under the contract, the Comelec is given until Dec. 31, 2010 to decide on its option to purchase wholly or partly either the hardware or software, or both.

Smartmatic-TIM is required by the contract to provide a plan to ensure that problems arising outside of the system or any components thereof during the election proper, from voting/counting, data transmission to canvassing levels, are addressed.

This plan includes areas where service crews and spare units and/or service crew will have time in case units and/or service crew will have to be sent to voting or counting centers.