(File photo)
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has moved anew the deadline for the submission of bidding documents for the 2025 polls automation project.
Based on the Supplemental/Bid Bulletin 3 issued by the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) on Wednesday, the deadline for the submission of bids for the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project has been rescheduled from Nov. 28 to Dec. 12.
The poll body added that the venue for the Submission and Receipt of Bids is still at the SBAC Secretariat Office on the 3rd Floor of the Far East Managers and Investors, Inc. Building in Intramuros, Manila on or before 9 a.m. on Dec. 12.
Meanwhile, the opening of bids will be held on the 3rd Floor of the Palacio del Gobernador Building in Intramuros, Manila at 10:30 a.m.
This is the second postponement of the original deadline for the submission of bids for the project, which was originally set for Nov. 20.
Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the SBAC decided to move the deadline to give prospective bidders more time to prepare their documents.
"This is to give ample time to all bidders to prepare their bids due to the magnitude and numerous requirements of the project," he said in a press briefing.
Meanwhile, Garcia noted that the draft resolution of the case against Smartmatic has already been distributed to the members of the Commission en banc.
He added that members of the seven-man poll body are being given ample time to study the draft resolution before coming up with a decision.
"The Comelec should not decide based on the sentiment of the people, the gossip of others. The Comelec should decide based on evidence at hand, jurisprudence, and facts presented to us," Garcia said.
A petition was filed last June against the international service provider asking the poll body to disqualify the company from participating in the scheduled bidding.
The petitioners were former Comelec commissioner Augusto Lagman, former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary Eliseo Rio, retired Col. Leonardo Odoño, and former Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines president Franklin Ysaac. (PNA)
