Bidding reopened for voting machines
This time, criteria have been simplified
July 12, 2005
By Ed Anderson    Times-Picayune 

BATON ROUGE The state will reopen bidding on a contract for at least $47 million worth of new voting machines today , using more simplified guidelines for up to seven companies to submit proposals, Commissioner of Elections Angie LaPlace said Monday.

She said all of the firms that have been certified to bid under federal and state guidelines will be asked to resubmit proposals after state officials tossed out the first batch last week after determining they did not meet state guidelines. 
 If all goes well, LaPlace said, the new proposals should be opened Aug. 9 and a recommendation made by a special evaluation committee within 14 days. "We hope to be ready to purchase by the end of August and start receiving the machines in September, October, November and December," LaPlace said.

The nine-member committee, made up of technical support personnel from the secretary of state's, elections, and attorney general's offices as well as representatives of clerks of court and registrars of voters' associations, will review the proposals and make a recommendation to LaPlace and Secretary of State Fox McKeithen.

Of the seven companies certified to submit proposals, only five did so in the first round before officials tossed them out. The five that submitted proposals were: Accupoll, Advanced Voting Systems, Diebold Elections, Elections Systems & Software, and Sequoia Voting Systems. The two certified companies that did not submit proposals in the first round were Hart InterCivic and Populex.

Officials said they expect at least the same five to submit proposals in response to the new request.

First Assistant Secretary of State Al Ater said although he and LaPlace felt the first request for proposals was clear, the second one will be simpler and written in "easy-to-understand" language.

Since the amount of the contract to be awarded will be about $47 million and the voting equipment must be able to last for years and must be supplied by companies that will be around to live up to warranties, Ater said, the state is being careful in soliciting and receiving the proposals.

LaPlace said the proposal to be issued today will have two options for bidders to respond to, instead of the three in the first round. The third option was a bid to buy some new machines and retrofit some existing ones, she said.

LaPlace said the first option involves sale of new machines in 50 parishes to include 4,634 "full-face" voting machines that show an entire ballot at the same time, or 8,442 "touch-screen" voting machines which display one computer page of a ballot at a time.

The other option involves replacing all election machines in the state with either 9,672 "full-face" machines or 17,578 touch screens displaying one page of a ballot at a time.

LaPlace said both proposals require the machines to be outfitted with features for handicapped voters.

She said the state "has made it very clear" that it wants detailed financial proposals, including three years of independently audited financial statements, annual reports and Dun and Bradstreet ratings of the companies' business operations.

The bidders must also produce records indicating whether they have been denied certification to bid on voting machines in other states or jurisdictions, and, if they have, why. They must also provide information on any "ongoing civil or criminal litigation" for the last 10 years on the companies or the companies' personnel, and how the lawsuits were resolved.

"If they can't provide us with this information, we want them to tell us why," LaPlace said. Proposals will be dismissed if they do not have the information spelled out in the new specifications, officials said.

In the last round of proposals, LaPlace said, some of the companies "may have chosen not to give us" all the information the committee wanted, suggesting that the state's request for proposals may have been vague in some parts. Ater said none of the five firms who submitted proposals last time "did it right," so all responses were tossed out.

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