Comelec shopping for 2019 poll supplies

With less than a year to go before the May 2019 mid-term polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is inviting interested bidders to supply needed election documents and paraphernalia.

In separate invitations to bid, the agency’s Special Bids and Awards Committee announced that it is out to procure and lease supplies like thermal paper and external batteries for the vote counting machines (VCMs).

For 1.16 million rolls of thermal paper, the approved budget is P117.4 million or P110 per roll, while the allocation for leasing the external batteries for 97,350 units of VCMs is P174.9 million or P1,797 apiece.

Among the requirements for those interested in bidding for the external batteries is the completion, within eight years from date of submission and receipt of bid documents, of a single largest completed contract that is similar to the agency’s contract.

It also said that those interested in bidding for thermal paper must comply with the standards on dimension, paper thickness and brightness (including ultra violet) as set by the Department of Science and Technology. The Comelec is also looking

for a service provider to secure the transmission of election results. At least P1.18 billion has been earmarked for a contract on the provision of all election results, secure transmission solutions and management and related services (including data center requirements).

Earlier, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez announced that they could not slow down in the preparations for next year’s polls despite repeated calls to postpone it to make way for plebiscite for constitutional amendment.

Unless there is a law that orders the Comelec to do the opposite, he added, the poll body is mandated to prepare for the scheduled elections.

He stressed that the Comelec does not want to be caught flat-footed if the election is not rescheduled.