The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be leasing additional 10,000 voting machines for the May 2022 general elections.
The Comelec will be conducting a public bidding for the lease of precinct-based Optical Mark Reader (OMR) or Optical Scan (OPSCAN) System or Voting/Counting Machine (VCM).
In its invitation to bid, the poll body said it “intends to apply the sum of P600,503,500.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payment under the contract for the Lease of OMR/OPSCAN Precinct Counter with SD Cards for use in the 2022 National and Local Elections.”
Aside from the OMR/OPSCAN machines, the poll body said the procurement will also include 10,000 pieces of main SD cards, and 10,000 pieces of Wormable SD cards.
“Bids received in excess of the total ABC shall be automatically rejected at Bid Opening,” it said.
The Comelec said that the delivery of the OMR/OPSCAN machines should be made in three tranches: 50 units on Nov. 15, 2021; 4,950 units on Dec. 30, 2021; and 5,000 units on Jan. 30, 2022.
Meanwhile, the Main and Wormable SD cards shall be delivered in two tranches: 5,000 pieces each for Main and Wormable on Nov. 30, 2021; and 5,000 pieces each for Main and Wormable on Dec. 30, 2021.
“A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested bidders” from Mondays to Fridays at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Comelec- Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) office in Intramuros, Manila.
The Comelec said a Pre-Bid Conference will be held on Thursday, August 12, “through video conferencing/webcasting via Microsoft Teams, which shall be open to all prospective bidders.”
The deadline of the bids' submission will be on Tuesday, August 24.