THE era of Smartmatic International in the Philippine elections is now officially over.
This as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday awarded to the South Korean firm Miru Systems the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project that will be piloted in the 2025 national and local polls.
The Comelec approved the recommendation of the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) to declare the joint venture of Miru Systems Co Ltd, Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI) as the winning bidder for the P18.8 billion contract.
“The Commission, after due deliberation resolved, as it hereby resolves, to approve the recommendation of the Special Bids and Awards Committee – Automated Elections System for the 2025 National & Local Elections to declare the Joint Venture – Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. as the bidder with the Single Calculated and Responsive Bid,” said the poll body in its 12-page unanimous decision.
The Miru Systems joint venture tendered a bid offer of P17,988,878,226.55 for the proposed 2025 automated election system (AES), which is nearly P800 million lower than the contract cost of P18.8 billion.
“More or less, the Comelec will be able to save P800 million with this awarding of project to Miru. Even though they are the lone bidder, we were still able to have some savings,” said Comelec chairman George Garcia in an interview.
The poll body said the documents submitted by Miru Systems passed the post-bidding review.
“The SBAC-AES received the TWG Report recommending that Joint Venture – Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. be declared as post-qualified after the eligibility documents (legal, technical, and financial) of the said bidder had been evaluated, validated, verified, and examined,” said the Commission.
With the decision, the Comelec ordered the issuance of the Notice of Award to the Miru Systems joint venture and directed the firm to provide within 10 calendar days its Supply and Delivery Management Plan, valid Joint Venture Agreement (JVA), and post-performance security bond in an amount equal to a percentage of the total contract price.
In a statement, the South Korean firm thanked the Comelec for giving the project to Miru Systems and vowed to prove that the poll body didn’t make a mistake in choosing it during the second round of public bidding.
“We are committed to further proving the quality of our machines and manufacturing processes as the Comelec continues to inspect the mass production of our systems according to the poll body’s specifications and needs,” it said.
“We also look forward to showing more members of the Filipino public how our solutions can help elevate the country’s democratic processes,” added Miru.
Miru was initially declared ineligible by the SBAC during the first round of public bidding due to the absence of an English translation in the supporting documents it submitted, and for having an incomplete undertaking to enter into a joint venture as required by the Comelec.
Garcia said the Comelec will now “conduct the contract negotiations with Miru” for the 2025 AES and expressed hope that “Miru will be open to our proposals to be included in the (contract).” The poll chief said they expect contract negotiations to last for a month.
Once the contract is signed between Comelec and Miru, Garcia said a Notice to Proceed will be issued to Miru so manufacturing of the voting machines can start, which is expected to take six months to complete.
The tapping of Miru as the government’s new AES provider comes after the poll body ended its partnership with Smartmatic International in November last year when the Comelec en banc “disqualified and disallowed” the firm from participating in any public bidding process for elections amid allegations of bribery involving former poll chairman Andres Bautista during the 2016 polls.
Smartmatic was the AES provider of the Comelec during the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 polls.
Smartmatic has sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court against the Comelec’s decision.
