The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has approved the notice of award to F2 Logistics Philippines to transport election materials and warehousing of the May 2022 elections equipment and supplies.
F2 Logistics is reportedly owned by Dennis Uy, a major campaign donor of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The notice of award was approved by the en banc,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a Viber message to the media Wednesday.
The contract covers the delivery of automated election system-related equipment, vote counting machines (VCMs), ballots and other supplies in the May 2022 national and local elections.
F2 Logistics submitted the lowest calculated bid for the P1.61-billion contract.
Malacañang said on Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte has no hand in the Comelec’s selection of the company that will transport election materials.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque reacted after poll watchdog Kontra Daya questioned the participation of F2 Logistics due to its alleged link to Uy, a Davao-based businessman.
“The Comelec has the sole power to conduct elections, including [power] to award contracts like that. The President has nothing to do with that. That’s up to the Comelec,” Roque said.
Comelec commissioner Marlon Casquejo also told ABS-CBN News: “Well, just this morning, the award has already been given to them. They were most qualified as the bidder for the deployment. They just got the award of the contract.”
Kontra Daya earlier raised concerns over the deal with the Davao tycoon’s firm, saying Comelec should think about its “ethics and propriety.”
Uy is the 4th largest campaign donor to President Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 presidential bid, contributing P30 million.
Casquejo said they awarded the contract to F2 simply as compliance to procurement rules.
“It just so happened that we are just following the GPPB (Government Procurement Policy Board) rules as I have said that we have to comply with the lowest calculated bid… F2 Logistics [has] the lowest calculated bid in the deployment of AES supplies,” Casquejo said.
In the four items that were the subject of the bid, F2 Logistics’ bid was not even half of the amount of the budget allotted for the project— a total of P535.99 million, when the maximum contract amount is at P1.61 billion, ABS-CBN reported.
Its bid for three items ranged from P106 to P123 million when the budget ranged from P288 to P367 million. Its biggest bid was P186 million for an item in several regions with an allotted budget of P662 million.