TWO weeks before the deadline for the submission of bids for the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS), no company has expressed interest in becoming the service provider of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In an interview after conducting the Pre-Bid Conference, Comelec-Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) Chairman Allen Abaya said no firm has so far purchased the bidding documents for the second cycle of public bidding for the OVCS.
“As of today, we have no bidders yet to have purchased the bid documents,” said Abaya.
“Considering that the deadline for submission is March 21 at 9 am, that will also be the deadline for the purchase of bidding documents.”
Abaya said purchasing the bid documents is necessary if a firm intends to submit a bid for the P465,810,926.57 project.
“If nobody will buy our bidding documents, they cannot submit bid proposals,” said Abaya.
Asked if they are worried that no one will buy the bidding documents, the official answered in the negative.
“If we look at other procurement projects, there are bidders who buy bidding documents even on the date of the submission. So, it’s not really a concern,” said Abaya.
He, however, admitted that having no prospective bidders could result in another failure of bidding for the OVCS project.
“If we have no bidders on March 21, then we will declare another failure of bidding,” said Abaya.