Comelec awards vote counting machine contract to lone bidder Miru Systems

The Commission on Elections awarded the contract for vote counting machines for the 2025 national and local polls to the lone bidder South Korean firm Miru Systems.

Poll chairman George Garcia said Thursday the Comelec en banc decided to adopt the recommendation of the Special Bids and Awards Committee and the findings of the technical working group.

“Kahapon nang hapon after ng napakahabang deliberasyon ng Commission en banc at matapos rin naming makita, nakapag demo sa amin ang Miru System, ‘yung kanilang makina, base sa kanilang pinapakita sa atin at saka sa terms of reference ay nag desisyon ang Commission en banc, unanimous po kami, in-adopt namin ang recommendation ng aming Special Bids and Awards Committee at ‘yung findings ng TWG amin din pong in-adopt at sinasabi na dapat maibigay ang award sa Miru Systems at kanyang joint venture na kumpanya,” he said.

(Yesterday afternoon after a lengthy deliberation of the Commission en banc and after Miru’s demonstration of its machines, based on what they showed us and the terms of reference, the Commission en banc decided, we are unanimous, to adopt the recommendation of our Special Bids and Awards Committee and the findings of the TWG to award the contract to Miru Systems and its joint venture companies.)

VIDEO: Comelec declares Miru Systems of South Korea as winning bidder for the lease of Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) for the 2025 national and local elections. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/WwA3QiRkcp

— sandra aguinaldo (@sandraguinaldo) February 22, 2024

He added Miru will lease to the Comelec around 110,000 machines and peripherals including ballot boxes, laptops, and other printing requirements for the 2025 elections.

Garcia earlier said that if ever the contract is awarded to Miru, they will proceed with the contract negotiations. He also said Miru offers its machine for around P149,000 each.

Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said the voting machines will be customized based on the wishlist of the poll body.

“This machine is ours, sa Comelec talaga ito. Kami ang gumawa ng [terms of reference], kami ang gumawa ng mga wishlist namin. Sila ang sumunod. So if you noticed, this is customized machine which wala pang production nito,” Casquejo said

(This machine is ours, it really belongs to the Comelec. We made the [terms of reference] and our wishlists. Miru just followed. So if you noticed, this is a customized machine which has not yet been produced.)

Lawmakers, election watchdogs, and other groups earlier expressed concern and called on the Comelec to stay vigilant and review Miru’s track record.

But, Miru Systems said the allegations of election failures due to its technology were false.

“The company designs, develops, and manufactures secure electoral systems that are of international standard,” it said in a statement.

“Throughout the years we have conducted several projects locally and abroad… and developed multiple systems internally for all types of electoral stages,” Marcelo Daniel Magaña, Miru overseas sales representative, said in a separate statement.

Miru is joined by Integrated Computer Systems and St. Timothy Construction Corporation and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. in the joint venture for the Comelec procurement.

It was declared ineligible in the first round of bidding in December 2023 for failure to meet the legal requirements of the lease contract. Comelec SMAC conducted a second round of bidding where Miru submitted new documents.

In January, Miru was deemed eligible to proceed with the bidding process after complying with all the legal and financial requirements for the project.—AOL, GMA Integrated News