SC nullifies P268-M Comelec-Smartmatic deal
By Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 04/21/2015 1:45 PM | Updated as of 04/21/2015 2:33 PM
Petitions vs extended warranty contract granted
TRO issued last March 24 made permanent
MANILA (1st UPDATE) - The P268-million contract between the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and election service provider Smartmatic-TIM has been nullified by the Supreme Court (SC).
Via unanimous vote, the 15 high court magistrates granted the petitions of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Automated Election Systems (AES) Watch, and struck down the extended warranty deal.
The deal, inked last January 30, 2015 through direct contracting or single source procurement, is for the repair, refurbishment and maintenance of 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Count (PCOS) machines to be used in the 2016 national and local elections.
"The court ruled that the Comelec failed to justify its resort to direct contracting with Smartmatic-TIM; it had not shown that any of the conditions under Section 50 (direct contracting), Article XVI of the [Government Procurement Reform Act] existed; further, its claims of impracticality were not supported by independently verifiable data and its perceived 'warranty extension' is, in reality, a circumvention of the procurement law.
"It is clear that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion," the decision, penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, read.
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