SC asked to stop Comelec from leasing 23,000 OMR from Smartmatic

A former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner and two poll advocates have asked the Supreme Court to stop the poll body from awarding a contract for the lease of 23,000 optical mark reader (OMR) to be used for the May 2016 elections.

In a 52-page petition, former Comelec commissioner Augusto "Gus" Lagman, former Philippine Computer Society president Leo Querubin and election advocate Maria Corazon Ako asked the high tribunal to nullify a Comelec decision dated June 29, 2015, that declared Smartmatic-Total Information Management and Jarltech International Corp as having the lowest calculated responsive bid for the OMR machines.

The petitioners said Smartmatic was no longer eligible to engage in subsequent Philippine elections because the consortium's commitment, based on its Request for Proposal and Notice of Award, was only for the 2010 national and local elections.

"While it is true that the AOI (Articles of Incorporation) was subsequently amended and that such amendment was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), there is no dispute that at the time of its submission to the BAC (Bid and Awards Committee) on December 4, 2014 during the opening of the eligibility requirements and initial technical proposals, it carried the aforequoted statement of purpose -- that the project, which activities the bidder is supposed to engage in, pertains to the 2010 National and Local Elections," read the petition.

"There is no indication that the project was for the automation of the any other elections," it added.

The petitioners also accused Smartmatic of misrepresentation for claiming that it complies with the equity requirements under Philippine law "when in truth it is 100 percent foreign-owned," based on the company's "Annual Report and Consolidated financial statements Registration number 07477910 dated 31 December 2013."

Among the laws allegedly violated by the respondents are Batas Pambansa 68 or the Corporation Code and Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

"It is of imperious necessity that wastage of billions of pesos in taxpayers' money be averted for the public good and in order to protect the coffers of the government," read the petition.

The Comelec-SBAC 1 earlier recommended the issuance of a “Notice of Award” to Smartmatic-TIM for the lease of the OMRs.
 
In Resolution No. 2015-004 dated July 9, the SBAC 1 said that Smartmatic-TIM had the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid  (LCB). The Venezuela-based company tendered a bid of P1.72 billion for the project with an approved budget of P2.5 billion.
 
After the “Notice of Award” is issued, the poll body and Smartmatic-TIM will proceed to the discussions of the contract details.
 
The SBAC 1 is also evaluating Smartmatic-TIM for the for the supply of 70,977 OMR units with an LCB of P7,867,298,140 for the project. —KBK, GMA News