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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-9/imee-marcos-id-sys-sm.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Senator Imee Marcos" />
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(Senator Imee Marcos)
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"This could be another Smartmatic situation," Marcos said, citing that the Indian firm Madras Security Printers and its Philippine partner Mega Data Corporation remained the only qualified bidder after the bidding rules were changed.
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"Unless NEDA and the PSA clarify this at once, public skepticism towards the national ID could scuttle the pre-registration phase that begins on Monday (October 12)," Marcos said, adding that it could also delay targets to register 40 million Filipinos by next year and the rest of the population by mid-2022.
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The original bidding requirement specified an on-premises system wherein a data center is physically set up at a selected site, but this was later modified to include remote hosting of data in a cloud-based system, according to the Philippine Computer Society Foundation.
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After the rules were changed, all other bidders except Madras-Mega Data dropped out of the selection process as they were given a short time to modify the logistics and financials of their bid proposals and meet the submission deadline reset by the PSA.
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Marcos cited that Madras continues to be hounded by controversy in its international contracts, citing news in the Bangladeshi media in July that the Indian firm had failed to deliver 500,000 cards for the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority’s driving license project, leading the government to take up the cost of completion.
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Senator Imee warns NEDA, PSA against another "Smartmatic" in national ID system