One more contract for ARMM polls automation still pending
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:51:00 05/13/2008
QUEZON CITY, Philippines -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not yet signed any contract with the supplier of the optical-mark reader (OMR) technology that will be used in automating elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, an official told INQUIRER.net Tuesday.
Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the Comelec en banc has yet to hear from the Bids and Awards Committee, which is still evaluating bids from two technology suppliers ABS and Avante. Both suppliers concluded their demonstrations of their technology last week.
"Maybe by tomorrow, we will know if it is ABS or Avante for OMR," he said in an SMS message, adding that the contract will be signed this week.
Comelec chair Jose Melo said last week that the poll body expects to award contracts to supplier of the OMR technology last Monday.
Melo was unavailable for comment as of this writing.
Comelec has already signed a contract with Smartmatic Sahi, which is supplying the Comelec with direct recording electronic (DRE) technology.
Based on the recommendations of an advisory council, Comelec would be using two technologies for the ARMM elections: DRE and OMR.
The Department of Budget and Management has allocated about P867 million for the automation of the elections in ARMM.
The advisory council is the body of expert advisers created under Republic Act 9369 and given the task of recommending to the Comelec which technology to use for the automation of elections.
DRE uses touch-screen or touch-pad technology for voting, while OMR requires voters to complete a paper-based ballot which is then fed into a specially designed machine, similar to a scanner.
The advisory council has recommended a six-month schedule for the deployment of the automated election system. This will also include training of voters and the users in Comelec and for "mock elections."
Meanwhile, Ateneo associate professor Pablo Manalastas, who was invited to observe the demonstration of technology vendors at the Comelec, said there is little time to implement automated elections.
He said the Comelec needs time to train election officials and even voters on how to use these new technologies.
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