ELECTION stakeholders rushed to the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from proceeding with the conduct of parallel biddings for the refurbishment of the existing Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and for the lease of new Optical Mark Reader units with a total approved budget of P14.57 billion
In a 50-page petition, petitioners, led by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg), asked the Court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of Comelec Resolutions 15-0355 and 15-0359.
Comelec Resolutions 15-0355 and 15-03559 approved the conduct of parallel biddings and the creation of two separate Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) to supervise the process, respectively.
Cenpeg was joined by representatives from various sectors in seeking to declare null and void the two resolutions which, the petitioners said, are unconstitutional and have no legal basis under Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“Parallel bidding is a failed experiment because it doomed the bidding for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines, and failed to protect the public interest by giving the public the best possible advantages through open competition,” the petitioners stressed. .
“It may be well pointed out also that not a single basis or precedence exists to support the conduct of simultaneous public bidding by the Comelec SBACs,” they added.