Technology supplier Smartmatic and its venture partner LRA Pacific Management Consulting, Inc. have bagged the P111-million contract to set up and run the national support center (NSC), which will provide technical assistance for the May 13 midterm elections. “’Yung national support center naka-set up na, magpipirmahan na kami ng kontrata,” Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters Wednesday. The Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee has declared the joint venture of Smartmatic and LRA Pacific as the lowest calculated and responsive bid for the provision of NSC. The first bidding, which was earlier pegged at P131 million, was declared a failure in January 2013. Smartmatic was disqualified then for coming in late for the bidding. Only Sterling Global was able to submit its bid on time but was declared “ineligible” for failing to meet the requirements. Both Smartmatic and Sterling filed motions for reconsiderations. In a statement posted on its website, Smartmatic said that under the contract, it “will set up and run the National Support Center (NSC), the unit mandated to render technical assistance to each component of the elections.” Smartmatic said the NSC will be front-ended by a 1,000-seat call center and is going to be powered by its proprietary Election Day Management Platform (EDMP), described as “the election management solution which has seen action in the 2010 elections and numerous other poll projects around the world.” It added that “the EDMP was key to the smooth and well-coordinated end-to-end execution of the 2010 Philippine Read More …