In anticipation of opening the process for the procurement of electronic canvassing machines for the upcoming elections, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a certification to the State Elections Commission (CEE, in Spanish) in which it guarantees that the electoral body will “preliminarily” have$15 million next fiscal year to purchase the equipment.

“This certification is issued for administrative purposes and to record the programmatic commitment to identify the necessary resources for the modernization of the CEE’s electronic canvassing system," reads the letter dated March 9 addressed to the president of the CEE, Jorge R. Rivera Rueda.

OMB executive director, Orlando Rivera Berríos, told this newspaper that the certification is the result of a meeting he held with Rivera Rueda before the EEC opened the formal process for the purchase of the machines, which took place on April 1.

“We met several months ago, and he (Rivera Rueda) brought me the concern that, in order to start the process, he doesn’t have the funds. How does he submit an RFP (request for proposals) if he doesn’t have the funds? I issue the certification to assure him that he will be allocated $15 million in the next budget, the draft of which is already before the (Fiscal Oversight) Board,” explained the OMB executive director.

"It is known that there has to be an investment and that the democratic process is a priority for the government. For everything to be ready from now on, there has to be budget planning," he added.

The Fiscal Oversight Board (FOMB) is currently analyzing a draft budget for next fiscal year. The recommended budget for government operations as of July 1 is $13.18 billion, Rivera Berrios said. He did not detail how much money the SEC preliminarily requested.

“It’s not just the Board. When the budget is submitted, the Legislature has to approve it. April 17 is the date the board has to make any, what they call, ‘notification’. We (the government) would have until May 6 to take any corrective action," the official said.

Rivera Rueda announced, through a press release last week, the issuance of a sealed request for proposal (RFP) to acquire the new equipment to be used beginning with the 2028 general election.

“We will ensure that a transparent process is carried out, guaranteeing fair competition among all bidders, and in compliance with applicable legal regulations. Our purpose with this process is to acquire the best electronic canvassing system, with incorruptible security features, with a shorter processing time than equipment acquired in the past and at the lowest possible cost“, expressed the CEE president then.

In the OGP letter, it is estimated that the new electronic voting machines - which are yet to be determined whether they will be purchased or rented - could cost around $80 million. The process to receive proposals was unanimously approved by the CEE plenary, it was reported.

The machines currently owned by the CEE were acquired, through a purchase-rental contract in 2015 for $38.2 million, from the company Dominion Voting Systems. In the 2020 and 2024 elections, the electoral body faced problems with the machines and entered into public disputes with the company over the operation of the equipment.

On the other hand, Popular Representative José “Conny” Varela urged the SEC to disclose, "immediately and in detail, all the information related to the process of purchasing or renting the new electronic voting machines".

“The SEC administers the heart of the democratic system: the vote. Therefore, any electoral machinery procurement process must be handled with absolute clarity. The people have the right to know which companies are participating, what the evaluation criteria are, how much the contract will cost and how the reliability of the system will be guaranteed," Varela said in writing.

He maintained that “very little” has been disclosed by the SEC about the process of acquiring the new equipment, and estimated that this “could generate concern among voters and electoral officials”.

Varela also announced that he will formally request from the CEE a detailed report on the status of the process, including proposals received, evaluation criteria, cost analysis, performance guarantees and any technical recommendations issued by internal staff or external advisors.

The CEE informed that those interested in accessing the request for proposals (RFP-CEE-2026-07) can do so through the address www.ceepur.org. The pre-auction meeting for interested parties will be held on April 15, at 1:30 p.m., at the EEC’s facilities, adds the agency’s press release.

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his content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.