Elections commission names winners of two tenders

Moch. N . Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday PT Pura Barutama and PT Survindo Indah Prestasi as the winners of the tenders for voter-registration cards and ballot boxes respectively, amid complaints of non-transparent processes.

The two companies will be named the definite winners if no complaints are filed with and accepted by the KPU, within the coming five days.

KPU member in charge of the registration cards tender Hamid Awaluddin said that based on technical evaluations, Pura Barutama scored 88, exceeding the minimum score of 80.

The closest contender to Pura Barutama, PT Wahyu Abadi scored only 62.

Hamid said Pura Barutama had quoted Rp 69 billion for a total of 145 million registration cards, which was below the commission's estimate of Rp 71 billion.

A total of 12 firms participated in the bidding, but only Pura Barutama and PT Wahyu Abadi passed the administrative assessment.

Two of the losing firms, PT Djakarta Computer Supplies and PT Aria Multi Graphia, sought clarification of the KPU's decision.

KPU member in charge of the ballot boxes tender Mulyana W. Kusumah, said PT Survindo scored 92 in the technical assessment, well above the minimum score of 80. The assessment focused on production capacity, distribution and monitoring.

The company beat five contenders - PT Elang Satria Jaya Abadi, CV Almas, Tjakrindo Mas, Phun Deang, and Borimex.

There were 26 consortium and factory networks registered for the tender, but 20 of them failed the early administrative screening, including the Maspion Group.

Mulyana said Survindo quoted Rp 311 billion, below KPU's estimate of Rp 321 billion for a total of 2.19 million boxes, or Rp 147,065 per box.

"We are open to complaints within the next five days. If the complaint is valid, we will repeat the tender," Mulyana said.

The five contenders who failed the last round held a press conference later in the day, accusing KPU of applying an unclear tender mechanism as it had not carried out factory checks nor tests on the strength of the boxes.

"We ask KPU to be transparent in explaining why we failed to pass the technical evaluation and why our quotes were not announced," Ranson Manullang from Phun Deang consortium said.

Separately, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that the Indonesian Accountants Association (IAI) has suggested that KPU require political parties to combine their central board's financial reports with those of provincial chapters, into one account.

Consequently, auditors will not examine the accounts of provincial chapters, Ramlan said after a meeting with IAI executives.

Political parties have demanded that KPU allow them to separate their financial reports at national, provincial, and regency/municipality levels.