Smartmatic gets P111-M project for May polls

SMARTMATIC – Total Information Management (TIM) Corporation has cornered the contract to run the National Support Center that is tasked to render technical assistance in the May 13 elections.

“The National Support Center project leverages Smartmatic’s unparalleled expertise in providing large-scale technical support over wide and varied geographic areas, a competitive advantage that the company has developed through extensive experience in actual elections around the world,” said Smartmatic.

Smartmatic, along with TIM and LRA Pacific Management Consulting, Inc., have tendered a bid of P111,555,454, according to the Resolution No. 4 of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) – Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC).

Smartmatic said the NSC will feature a 1,000-seat call center that will be powered by their solution, Election Day Management Platform (EDMP).

The NSC will also be equipped with a hotline designed to process a high-volume of calls and is intended to be the go-to number for Board of Election Inspectors (BEI’s), field technicians, and other authorized personnel involved in the elections in need of support.

Earlier, four projects were awarded by the Comelec to Smartmatic –TIM, particularly the transmission services (P405.4 million); transmission modems (P154.5); compact flash (CF) cards main (P46.5 million); and CF cards worm (P46.5 million).

Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes related there is good chance that Dominion Voting Systems will already grant the release of the source code.

“From the 50-50, we are going to about 75-25. Gumanda na ng konti ang sitwasyon. Maganda na ang usapan kagabi. Medyo may liwanag na baka makuha na natin. Baka ibigay na ng Dominion,” he said Wednesday.

Dominion has been refusing to give its permission for SLI Global Solutions, the Comelec’s third party reviewer, to release the source code certification to the poll body amid the former’s continued legal dispute with Smartmatic.

This had prompted Brillantes to initiate tripartite negotiations for the immediate release of the source code, which contains human readable instructions that define what the computer equipment (precinct count optical scan machine) will do. (HDT/Sunnex)