By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Following a unanimous vote, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has awarded to the joint venture led by Miru Systems of South Korea the P17.9-billion leasing contract for 110,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) that will be used in the upcoming 2025 midterm polls.
On Wednesday (21 February 2024), the Comelec en banc awarded the contract to lone bidder Miru, which, based on the contract, will be tasked to provide 104,345 ballot boxes, 2,200 laptops and printers, the paper for printing 73,881,894 ballots, and a system for ballot verification.
The poll body was impressed after Miru demonstrated its ACM, consolidation, and canvassing system (CCS) and election management system (EMS) before members of the Comelec en banc, citizens’ arms representatives, stakeholders, and other observers.
Maharlika NuMedia learned that a Notice of Award was issued to Miru Systems for the project and the lease of the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC).
On May 4, 2023, Miru unveiled FASTrAC which is an upgraded optical mark reader (OMR) paper-based automated elections system with Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) capabilities.
FASTrAC features the ACM, which will replace the more than 90,000 outmoded vote-counting machines (VCMs) that Comelec deployed during the 2016, 2019, and 2022 elections.
(el Amigo/MNM)
