The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to open later this month the second stage of the public bidding for additional voting machines for the 2016 national and local elections. Based on the notice issued by the Comelec-Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), the remaining eligible bidders both for the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) projects may submit their final technical proposals and their financial proposals on Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. Both Smartmatic-TIM and Indra Sistemas S.A. are still in the running for the OMR project after the first stage of the bidding while Venezuela-based firm is the lone eligible bidder for the DRE contract.
… Meanwhile, the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) accused Cesar Flores, president of Smartmatic of lying after claiming that the company was the owner of the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology and manufacturer of counting machines, which were used in the 2010 and 2013 elections. “Mr. Flores has overstretched the Filipino hospitality with his repeated insulting lies,” C3E co-convenor Melchor Magdamo said.
The watchdog group official was referring to the statement of Flores during the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on automated elections that his company being the global leader in automated election services, with “operations in more than 10 countries worldwide.”
“While it has been established that Jarltech International manufactured the PCOS machines using the technology of Dominion Voting Systems of Canada, Smartmatic continues to make a fool of Congress and the people by making it appear that it holds the proprietary rights over the PCOS,” Magdamo said.
Full Article: Comelec set to open bidding for additional voting machines late February.