The Commission said today that it has approved the Terms of Reference (TOR)/Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Solutions, Terms and Conditions for the automation of the May 10, 2010 National and Local Elections.

In Resolution 8591, promulgated March 11, 2009, the COMELEC en banc, after “a careful evaluation”, approved the TOR/RFP submitted by the COMELEC Advisory Council (CAC) except for some “modifications.”

The modifications ordered by the COMELEC in the TOR/RFP are as follows:

• The Chapter on the “Philippine Election Process Backgrounder” shall still be retained, as an Annex to the TOR/RFP, in order to apprise the prospective bidders of the actual Philippine election setting for the May 10, 2010 National and Local Elections, which setting is essential to enable the prospective bidders to prepare responsive bids;




• The public bidding evaluation test procedures shall include the operation of the PCOS, Election Management System (EMS), counting, consolidation/canvassing and electronic transmission, using as model the actual flow of documents/transmission to and from the different levels of canvassing; and




• The non-refundable fee for the purchase of the TOR/RFP and other bid documents shall be maintained at One Million (P1, 000,000.00) Pesos.

Earlier, the CAC recommended to the Commission en banc the deletion from the TOR/RFP of the chapter on the “Philippine Election Process Backgrounder” saying that it “may tend to confuse the prospective bidders during the preparation of their bids.” It also proposed the reduction of the procurement cost of the TOR/RFP from One Million Pesos to Five Hundred Thousand Pesos and for the simplification of the public bidding technical evaluation procedures. ###