COMELEC AWARDS 2025 POLLS AUTOMATION PROJECT TO KOREAN FIRM MIRU

THE P18 billion contract for the automation project of the 2025 midterm polls on Thursday was awarded by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)  to lone bidder Miru Systems Co. Ltd.

According to Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco , “via a unanimous vote in its Regular Session on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, the Commission on Elections, sitting en banc, had approved the recommendation of the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) to award to the Joint Venture – Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI) the contract for the procurement project Lease of Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) for the 2025 National and Local Elections.”

Miru has submitted a total bid worth P17.98 billion, which is lower than the project’s total approved budget for the contract (ABC) amounting to P18.82 billion.

The South Korean firm’s proposal consists of 110,000 automated counting machines (ACM); 104,345 ballot boxes; 2,200 consolidation and canvassing system (CCS) server/laptop and printer; and 73,881,894 ballot papers and ballot verification.

On Wednesday, Miru made an end-to-end demonstration of its ACM, CCS and election management system (EMS), before the officials and other members of the commission, representatives of the citizens’ arm, stakeholders and the members of the media.

The lone bidder was declared eligible to tender its financial bid by the SBAC upon the recommendations of the Technical Working Group (TWG) during the competitive public bidding for the procurement project on Jan. 8.

In separate notices, Comelec said the application of Indra Soluciones Technologias de la Information SLU was disqualified after it submitted a non-compliant net financial contracting capacity (NFCC).

The bidder also failed to submit the credentials of its third-party certifier, the certification of the final version of its system, and was found to have an incomplete change management plan.

The company also failed to complete its submission of standards of audit, had a non-compliant brochure for printers for auto-volt switching, and did not submit a demo unit version of the solution being offered in a CD or USB flash drive.

During the first round of bidding in December, Comelec declared failure because Miru was unable to fully comply with the documentary requirements.

For the second round of bidding in January, Miru overcame such deficiencies and passed the eligibility check.

The company offered to do the election project for P17.988 billion, and the Comelec subsequently recognized it as the “single, calculated bid.”