Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 22) – The Commission on Election’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) pushed back the deadline for submission of bids for the 2025 Automated Election System.
In a supplemental bid bulletin posted Friday afternoon, the SBAC said it has moved the deadline for bidders to submit their bids for the ₱18.8 billion project from Jan. 4 to 8.
“The scheduled Submission, Receipt and Opening of Bids is hereby reset from 04 January 2024 to 08 January 2024 to give ample time to all bidders to prepare their bids due to the magnitude and numerous requirements of the project.” the bulletin read.
The deadline for submission of requests and clarifications is on Dec. 29, which is 10 calendar days before the deadline for Submission and Opening of Bids.
During the pre-bid conference held earlier in the day, some representatives of prospective bidders appealed for more time due to the ‘tight’ schedule and numerous documents.
Present at the pre-bid conference were representatives of Unisyn Voting Solutions, Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Dominion Voting Systems and International Lottery and Totalizer Systems, Inc.
Observers included SMMT-TIM 2016 or Smartmatic, Indra Sistemas, and the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL).
SBAC Chairperson Allen Francis Abaya earlier said no companies have purchased bidding documents so far.
The SBAC said the deadline is still at 9 a.m., followed by the Opening of Bids at 10:30 a.m. at the Palacio del Gobernador Building in Intramuros, Manila.
Each bidder shall only be allowed two representatives or watchers to observe the preliminary evaluation given the limited space at the venue.
The SBAC opened a second round of public bidding after it declared a failure in the first round last Dec. 12.
The lone bidder, the joint venture led by Miru Systems Co. Ltd., was declared ineligible for not meeting the legal requirement of the contract.
