Monrovia — The Joint Venture of EKEMP/INITS/Palm Insurance has complained to the Bid Evaluation Panel of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) about the unfair treatment from the panel during the re-demonstration exercise at the headquarters of the Commission.
EKEMP and partners, in their official complain, said about a quarter of the time left allotted to them while demonstrating the enrollment process on the tablet, specifically at the point of printing the card, the evaluation panel interrupted and requested that the Joint Venture connect the tablet to the projector for the observers at the re-demonstration to see what was being displayed. To fulfill the panel's request, EKEMP and partners had to quickly change some configurations on the tablet. The process of configuration to project the tablet on the wider screen affected both the wire and wireless printing functions of the tablet. As a result of this, EKEMP says it could not complete the demonstration process within the allotted time. Notwithstanding, the card was successfully printed in the presence of some of the evaluation panelists and observers when the issues with configuration were finally resolved. The evaluation panel received the printed card.
According to our reporter at the demonstration, no other bidder during the two days of the entire re-demonstration exercise was asked or required to project the equipment on the wider screen, not to mention the seemingly abrupt interruptions by the evaluation panel for something that was not a requirement for this exercise.
Consequently, EKEMP has asked the evaluation panel to make the following considerations as a means of enhancing fairness in the process.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"That you consider our enrollment process during the first demonstration of August 9, 2022, or that we are given time to re-appear to complete the full enrollment process."
According to observers of the process, most of the bidders presented well including EKEMP, the initial winner of the bid that was rejected by the PPCC. According to our source from NEC, even the bidders that had performed poorly during the August 8th & 9th presentation and enrollment process got the opportunity to cure their defects during this October 6th & 7th presentation and enrollment process - a concern raised that was not addressed by the PPCC.
This paper wonders why only one group was singled out to project their enrollment process on the large screen. Was this a sabotage or it was done in good faith - a question to be answered. It can be recalled that the PPCC failed to address several questions raised by the NEC before the October 6th and 7th presentations by the bidders.
