INDRA Sistemas SA on Wednesday said it is confident it has the capabilities to provide the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the necessary voting technology in 2016.
At a news briefing on Wednesday, Indra also denied it is seeking Smartmatic International Corp.’s disqualification from the bidding process because it does not want to compete with the latter.
Indra lead counsel lawyer Archibald de Mata said the fact that Smartmatic had been the service provider of the Comelec in the past two elections is not a concern on their part.
De Mata said the issues they have raised to call for Smartmatic’s disqualification from participating in the bidding were all valid.
“We are saying that they are grounds for Smartmatic to be disqualified because that is the truth not because we are afraid of them, de Mata said.
Indra earlier filed a manifestation before the Comelec–Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) questioning the qualification of the joint venture of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM).
De Mata said they have the reason to be believe that Smartmatic–TIM Corp. should be disqualified since it does not have the legal personality to participate in the Comelec bidding for the lease of 23,000 Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines.
The Indra lawyer pointed that the Articles of Incorporation submitted to the Comelec–BAC was the same as the 2009 document submitted by Smartmatic-TIM.
“Since the purpose for which Smartmatic-TIM was formed was limited, specific and restricted to the automation of the 2010 national and local elections in the Philippines, to allow the continued participation of Smartmatic-TIM in the 2016 national and local elections, whether on its own or as a member of any joint venture, would be to sanction an illegal or ultra vires act by Smartmatic-TIM,” he said.
De Mata said this only means that Smartmatic-TIM may be considered as an unregistered company in the Philippines because of the “limited and time-bound” nature of their registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Indra has a good track record that’s why we are confident that we will be able to comply with whatever the Comelec would require from us,” de Mata said.
Only Indra and Smartmatic-TIM Corp. submitted their eligibility requirements and initial technical proposals last week for the project that has a budget allocation of P2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Comelec–BAC Chairman Helen Aquila-Flores said they are looking to resolve the manifestation of Indra next week.
Aguila-Flores said they will be able to come up with a decision as soon as they complete the ongoing end-to-end demonstration for the OMR systems of Indra and Smartmatic as part of the first stage of the bidding process of the Comelec-BAC.
Last Friday Indra conducted the demonstration of their OMR technology, while Smartmatic-TIM took its turn on Wednesday.