Manila, Philippines - Three international technology companies, including Smartmatic Philippines, have shown interest in the automated election system (AES) for the 2025 midterm polls by purchasing bidding documents, as reported by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday. During a pre-bid conference in Manila, the Comelec's Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) revealed that Pivot International and Miru Systems Co. Ltd. also acquired documents for the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project.
According to Philippines News Agency, the documents were purchased on October 31, and more firms are expected to join the bidding for the AES project, valued at PHP18.8 billion.
Prospective bidders can obtain the complete set of bidding documents from the SBAC secretariat at the FEMII building in Intramuros, Manila, or download them from the websites of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System and Comelec. A fee of PHP75,000 is required for the full set of documents. The deadline for bid submission is set for November 28 at 9 a.m., with the bids scheduled to be opened at 10:30 a.m. the same day at the Comelec hall in the Palacio del Gobernador building in Intramuros. Smartmatic, a UK-based company, has entered the bidding despite facing a disqualification case before the poll body, with petitioners questioning its eligibility as a provider of automated election systems and vote-counting machines for 2025 and future elections.