Voting technology vendor to be named soon

Miller

Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter

THE company which will provide Jamaica's electronic voter-identification system, which will identify an elector by fingerprint, produce personal data and a photograph and then a ballot, will be known in the next three weeks.

The two companies short-listed to provide the technology, the French-based Sagem, and the American, Cogent, will on Tuesday submit their proposal to the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) for a second time, following questions about their technical capabilities.

The Sunday Gleaner understands that the EAC was hoping to have ordered at least 20 machines three months ago, had the companies responded satisfactorily to its request for proposal (RFP) on specifications and cost.

Sources told The Sunday Gleaner that the price being asked by both companies is upwards of US$17 million which is several times more than the EAC's projections.

The companies were again asked to submit another RFP which they promised by Tuesday.

Neville Graham, information officer, Electoral Office of Jamaica, confirmed that the EAC was awaiting responses this week.

"We (EAC) have sent back to the suppliers, because in our view they have not answered certain questions in terms of specification and price. The suppliers have asked for an August 28th date to come back to us on that matter, that is those other specifications, which includes price," Mr. Graham said.

He would not disclose what the other specifications were, and neither would he discuss the cost.

Professor Errol Miller, EAC chairman, also declined to discuss the cost but confirmed that the EAC was expecting to hear from the companies on Tuesday, after which it will meet on Wednesday to examine the proposals.

"We asked them to provide us with additional information, because we were concerned with what we received. So we have sent them back for clarification," he said guardedly last week.

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Senator Ryan Peralto also sidestepped the issue of cost. He said the price being asked by the two companies, would protect them, even if neither received the contract. According to him, it was "an arm and leg".

Cogent's Patricia Pallares's response indicate that cost is a factor.

"The system would be simpler, smaller, and cheaper if there were no requirement to print the ballot [because] the use of both fingerprints and photographs doesn't have a major price impact."

But she declined to state the price being asked, pointing out that "Because the contract has not yet been awarded, our price is confidential. I do hope you can get our competition to answer this question however..."

According to her, Cogent will provide "... a portable device that can be used at polling sites to identify voters using fingerprints and, upon confirmation of identity (by polling official using the photograph), print a ballot."

Sagem, on the other hand, is said to be willing to provide a ballot, based on fingerprint identification, but is not inclined to generate a photograph. Its local representatives, Advanced Integrated Systems, said the cost would also be significantly less, if it was not asked to provide a photograph.

Back to News