SMARTMATIC President for Asia and Pacific Cesar Flores (UNTV News)
MANILA, Philippines – Former COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. appeared before joint congressional oversight committee on the automated election system hearing and defended the contract entered into by COMELEC and Smartmatic under his term.
The former poll chief said the government saved a lot in this contract because from the ceiling price of P300 million the cost was reduced to P240 million and if VAT is added it would only sum up to P268 million.
Brillantes said aside from the amount reduction, the scope of work was broadened.
Instead of just doing inventory and diagnostics, Smartmatic will also do the minor and major repairs and will replace machines that are beyond repair not exceeding 4% of the total number of PCOS machines or around 4,000 units.
“The cost of 1 PCOS machine is about 70,000 each,” Brillantes said during the hearing.
Smartmatic says there is no truth to the allegation that is overpriced and insisted that the cost is way below standard price.
“Normally in the industry of IT normal warranty contract is about 10% of the value of equipment that you buy… This contract is less than 5% of the value of the machine if you recall the PCOS machine was bought for about 5 billion peso… way below IT industry standards,” Cesar Flores, Smartmatic President, Asia-Pacific said.
Smartmatic also asserted that the contract is not a midnight deal.
COMELEC Resolution No. 9922, which is the basis of the negotiated contract between Smartmatic and COMELEC, however, was challenged in the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, COMELEC is firm that no law was violated because provisions in entering into a direct contract were met.
The poll body also pointed out that there is no enough time to conduct a public bidding and it is risky to let a third party do the refurbishment.
“In the 2009 contract which is subject to a public bidding there’s a provision regarding the repair and maintenance in the contract and this is a publicly bidded contract we just implemented that provision in the contract,” Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, Acting COMELEC Chairman said.
“I think thru negotiation we got a better deal but as to whether it is legal to negotiate then that is the question before the courts,” Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said. (Victor Cosare / UNTV News)