Counting machine bidders snub Comelec

EXCEPT for a little known bidder, nobody else, including bitter rivals Smartmatic-TIM Corp. and Indra Sistemas S.A., participated in Monday’s pre-bid conference called by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the supply of P2.5-billion worth of additional counting machines for use in the 2016 polls.

The pre-bid conference was preparatory to the second round of bidding for the P2.503-billion lease of 23,000 units of precinct-based Optical Mark Reader (OMR) or optical-scan system and the P31.272-million lease of 410 units of precinct-based Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) technology.