MANILA -- Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera Thursday said officials of the consortium that won the bidding for the automation of the 2010 elections could face jail terms.

Devanadera said officers of both the winning bidder Smartmatic Corp. and its local partner, Total Information Management (TIM), could face six to 15 years in prison if they are found to have violated the provisions of government procurement law, without prejudice to the filing of graft charges against them.

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Section 65 (c), Article 21 of the law states that if private individuals shall be held liable if they withdraw their bid after it qualified as the Lowest Calculated Bid/Highest Rated Bid, or to accept an award without just cause, or for the purpose of forcing the Procuring Entity to award the contract to another bidder.

This shall include the non-submission of requirements such as, but not limited to, performance security, preparatory to the final award of the contract.

Devanadera gave the “academic” position as the Comelec gave the winning consortium until Friday to iron out differences that led TIM to back out of the joint venture.

Smartmatic needs TIM’s participation for the consortium and the project to continue for it to qualify in undertaking the automation project.
“There is a penal provision under the Procurement Act. It’s what we follow. That’s just an academic information,” Devanadera said, indicating that the legal position doesn’t mean the Department of Justice (DOJ) has prejudged the case.

She said Smartmatic and TIM should pull their acts together and come to an agreement for the sake of national interest. “Everybody should be at peace with one another.”
 
The DOJ, she said, could not act if the Comelec has not filed yet a formal complaint.

Meanwhile, a group of concerned citizens on Thursday vowed to stop the signing of the poll automation project between the Comelec and the consortium that won in the bidding.

Harry Roque, lawyer for the Concerned Citizens Movement, said they will file a taxpayers’ suit before the Supreme Court (SC) if the poll body decides to push through with the signing of the contract.
 
Roque said they are looking to file an injunction before the High Court, as he is questioning why Smartmatic and TIM won in the bidding even without signing a joint venture (JV).

“The Comelec should have not allowed these two companies to bid because the rift between them only shows that they indeed have no joint venture,” he said.

But Comelec spokesman James Jimenez is disappointed over the actions or would-be actions of individuals in questioning the automation contract, noting that they are not contributing to the solution to the problem.

“I find it personally very disappointing because now is not the time,” Jimenez said.

He also questioned the timing of the supposed filing of a case against them.

“Now is the time to find solutions on ways on how to get out of this problem and to ensure the cleanliness of the coming elections.” (ECV/FP/Sunnex)