By LESLIE AQUINO
The Commission on Elections is using refurbished vote counting machines in the May 2022 national and local elections.
It has allocated more than P660 million for the refurbishment of the VCMs that will be used in the electoral exercise.
In an Invitation to Bid, the Comelec said it intends to apply the sum of P660,741,660.47 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payment for the VCMs’ refurbishment with consumables.
The poll body said the lot is composed of refurbishment of 97,345 units of VCMs; 109,745 pieces of SD cards (main); 109,745 pieces of worm SD cards (backup); and 250,000 pieces of cleaning sheets.
“Bids received in excess of the Approved Budget for the Contract shall be automatically rejected at Bid Opening,” the Comelec said.
Last month, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the country is set to use the old VCMs from Smartmatic in the May 2022 polls.
Based on the Invitation to Bid, all the VCMs must be delivered at the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna in four tranches, with the first batch of 5,000 refurbished VCMs on May 1, 2021; second batch of 25,000 VCMs on July 30, 2021; third batch of 25,000 VCMs on Aug. 31, 2021; and the fourth batch of 42,345 VCMs on Sept. 30, 2021.
The delivery of the SD cards must be completed by Oct. 30, 2021 while the delivery of the cleaning sheets must be completed by Jan. 12, 2022.
The commission set the Pre-Bid Conference on Nov. 25 and the Opening of Bids on Dec. 9.
The bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided by the Government Procurement Reform Act.
