Since February 25, 2008 is a holiday, the pre-bid conference for the Automation of the 2008 ARMM elections has been moved to February 26, 2008 – same time.
Archive for February, 2008
INVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID
Sealed applications for eligibility and bid documents for the procurement of voting/counting machines, including the supply of ballot paper, where applicable; electronic transmission facilities/equipment; city and municipal consolidation/canvassing software and hardware; provincial and district consolidation/canvassing software and hardware; regional and national consolidation/canvassing software and hardware; training; technical support; warehousing, deployment; installation; pull-out; systems integration; and overall project management, to be used in the Automation of the Voting, Counting, Transmission and Canvassing of Votes for the August 11, 2008 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Elections, namely:. . . . . . . . . . . . .
ARMM Automation project gets funding
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) yesterday – 12 February 2008 – issued the Special Allocation Release Order (SARO) for the automation of the August 11, 2008 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The SARO was for the amount of PhP 867,329,000, according to Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez.
“This means we can initiate the bidding process,” Jimenez explained, adding that the bid documents will be made available to prospective bidders on February 14, 2008. “In honor of that day, we are considering having the Requests for Proposal bound in red,” Jimenez quipped.
The Request for Proposal is a technical description of the automated election system. “The RFP for the automation of the ARMM elections was drafted in close coordination with the Advisory Council and bears the Council’s stamp of approval,” Jimenez said. “In fact, the RFP was prepared following the Council’s recommendation that the ARMM elections should be fully automated using both Direct Recording Electronic (DRE), and Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology.”
The Advisory Council is the body of expert advisers created by Republic Act 9369 that is tasked to recommend to the COMELEC which technology to use for the automation of elections. Its members include the Chairman of the Commission on Information Communication Technology, representatives from the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Education, a representative from the academe, representatives from IT professional organizations and from non-governmental electoral reform organizations.
Other information:
Bidding Calendar
Publication of invitation to bid : 14 – 16 February 2008
Release of Bid Documents : 14 February 2008
Pre-Bid Conference : 25 February 2008 (10:00AM)
Deadline for Submission of bids : 10 March 2008 (10:00AM)
Opening of bids : 10 March 2008
COMELEC Resolution No. 8415
IN THE MATTER OF THE AUTOMATED ELECTIONS IN THE AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO (armm)
COMELEC ORDERS FULL AUTOMATION OF 2008 ARMM ELECTIONS
The Commission on Elections en banc has ordered the full automation of the 2008 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. COMELEC Resolution No. 8415, dated 06 February 2008, called for the use of automated election systems based on two different kinds of technology: Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) technology in the province of Maguindanao and Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology for the rest of the region. DRE allows voting through a touch-screen or touch-pad, while OMR requires voters to fill up a paper ballot which is then counted with a specially designed machine.
“The use of different kinds of automated election systems will allow the COMELEC to evaluate the suitability of the two different technologies of the Philippine setting, preparatory to designing an Automated Election System for nation-wide use in 2010,” COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez Said. “This set-up closely adheres to the recommendation of the Advisory Council.”
The only difference, according to Jimenez, was in the scope of the use of DRE. “The Council’s recommendation called for the use of DRE-based automated election system in only two cities or municipalities in the ARMM.”
The COMELEC resolution, however, cited concerns regarding the small scope. “Among other things, it was pointed out that if the implementation area is too small, there won’t be enough basis to say whether a DRE based automated elections will work nationwide,” Jimenez clarified. Other reasons cited by the Resolution included the concern that the small scope of the project would discourage technology proponents from bidding for it, and that the results would not be enough to make a comparison between OMR and DRE technology.
The resolution expanded the scope of DRE use to include the entire province of Maguindanao, citing the province’s level of development, as well as the contiguous nature of its geography. “The en banc determined that, comparatively speaking, the province of Maguindanao is the most viable implementation area for DRE-based automated elections,” Jimenez said.
The Advisory Council is the body of expert advisers created by Republic Act 9369 that is tasked to recommend to the COMELEC which technology to use for the automation of elections. Republic Act 9369 also states that “nothing in the role of the Council or any outside intervention or influence shall be construed as an abdication or diminution of the Commission’s authority and responsibility for the effective development, management, and implementation on the Automated Election System.”
