Trillion in tenders leave KPU in sticky point

Trillion in tenders leave KPU in sticky point

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When the members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) were
installed in 2001, they might not have expected that the tenders
to procure over Rp 1 trillion (US$117 million) worth of election
materials would have been so complicated as to put the 2004
elections at risk.

To date, the commission has been criticized for problems
related to the ballot box, ballot paper templates and ballot
paper printing tenders.

A lengthy brouhaha over the Rp 311 billion tender to procure
ballot boxes erupted after Survindo Indah Prestasi, which won the
tender, failed to provide the 2.19 million boxes on schedule last
December.

The firm, according to tax data obtained by The Jakarta Post,
recorded Rp 13 billion in sales in 2002 and zero between January
and November of 2003.

"Survindo's proposal was the best. The problem occurred when a
bank withdrew its financial support for the company," KPU member
Mulyana W. Kusumah said.

The KPU eventually split the tender between PT Tjakrindo Mas
and CV Almas, which finished second and third in the tender but
which both failed to score the minimum requirement to win the
bid.

The ballot box fiasco was followed by another snafu early this
year, when the KPU named State Printing Company (PNRI) and
Grafitecindo Cipta Prima to print the templates for the ballot
papers.

The problem centered on the slow production of the templates
due to the need to receive repeated verification, as the
templates contained the symbols of the 24 political parties
contesting the elections and the names of their legislative
candidates.

"When we made the timetable for the procurement of election
materials, we did not realize that the templates would be that
complicated," KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said.

The delay in the production of the templates caused a one-
month delay in the printing of the 660 million ballot papers to
early March.

The 17 companies that won the tender to print the ballots were
in turn forced to speed up the printing in order to make the
deadline, which not all of the companies could afford.

At least four members of the 17 tender winners -- CV Dwi Rama,
PT Javallege Technology, PT Jenakarya Adi Indah and PT Winkarya
Lintas Persada -- subcontracted their jobs to outside companies.

In terms of proven capability, however, these four companies
had raised many eyebrows from the beginning.

Tax data obtained by the Post stated that Dwi Rama recorded
total sales of just Rp 65 million in 2003, but still won a Rp 3.5
billion order to print 12.9 million ballot papers.

Jenakarya reported no sales between January and November of
2003, but was entrusted to print 9.1 million ballot papers for
Rp 2.4 billion.

Winkarya had sales amounting to a mere Rp 192.7 million last
year, but won a Rp 2.2 billion order to print 8.3 million
ballots.

Javallege was registered as a non-tax firm in 2003 and had
never reported any sales, but won a whopping Rp 3.4 billion
tender to print 12.3 million ballots.

Despite the controversy, the KPU allowed the four firms to go
ahead with their jobs, but restricted them to the printing of
ballots for the election of provincial legislature (DPRD I) and
regental legislature (DPRD II) members.

The KPU also awarded a tender to print ballots for the DPRD II
election to several other firms with zero or small sales,
including PT Tricipta Adi Mandiri, PT Kuwu Cakti Abadi and PT
Bengawan Ilmu.

These three firms, along with PT Rorakarya, PT Samola Inti
Corpindo and PT Pabelan Cerdas Nusantara, later proved unable to
deliver the ballots.

With all these problems, the KPU failed to meet the March 15
deadline for the delivery of all the ballot papers to regencies,
and now is facing serious problems in meeting the March 25
deadline for the distribution of the papers to polling stations.

As of March 18, the printing of ballot papers for the election
of House of Representatives (DPR) members was 96.6 percent
complete, for Regional Representative Council (DPD) members 83.5
percent complete, and for DPRD I members 67 percent complete. The
delivery of the ballots is another question.

The legislative election is scheduled to take place on April
5.

Instead of learning a lesson from all these problems, the KPU
has allowed at least 17 questionable firms to reach the final
stage of the tender to procure indelible ink and ballot counting
forms.

Mulyana admitted the KPU had no mechanisms for verifying the
tax reports of companies with the Directorate General of
Taxation.

Only last week, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said the
KPU had errored in selecting financially weak firms to procure
election materials.

He promised to investigate the possible involvement of KPU
officials in awarding tenders to unqualified firms, vowing to
take tough action if any links were found.

"We can no longer compromise. We will only use firms with good
financial records for the tenders for the presidential election,"
he said.

For the July 5 presidential election, the KPU will hold
tenders to procure plain paper, ballot papers, indelible ink and
ballot counting forms.