AFTER the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now looking to open by next month the public bidding for the transmission system to be used in the 2025 midterm polls.
In a radio interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they are already gearing up for the holding of a separate public bidding for the transmission system.
The Comelec en banc has decided to exclude in the “bundled” FASTrAC project the lot for the provision of transmission services by having its own Terms of Reference (TOR).
“By February, we are looking to begin the public bidding for the transmission system,” said Garcia.
Garcia said the public bidding for the transmission system will take place as soon as the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) completes the bidding process for the FASTrAC.
“We are just waiting for the completion of the public bidding for our hardware as well as software,” he said.
In an earlier interview, the poll chief has said they want to do away with the single transparency server that has been used in previous elections.
Garcia said they are looking at a new system that should be able to transmit to all recipients, thereby allowing the Commission to do away with the transparency router.
“From polling precincts, we will be able to transmit it to dominant majority party, dominant minority party, accredited citizens arm, Board of Canvassers, central server, and the media. This is the first time this would happen,” Garcia has said in the past.
