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Following a Government meeting, Environment Minister Phil
Hogan has announced plans for the disposal of the State’s
electronic voting equipment.
A Request for Tenders has been published
before the end of January 2012 seeking proposals for either
the purchase of the equipment or for its disposal through
a process of recovery as waste, consistent with environmental
and other obligations.
“I want to finally draw a line under the electronic voting
project and also see that the equipment is disposed of properly.
€54.756 million has been spent on the project to-date and
every effort must be made now to sell the equipment and get
as much of these costs back as is possible in the circumstances.
"The market is to be tested to see if there are any
interested parties that may want to buy the machines. While
being optimistic, we also need to be realistic. It is possible
that no reasonable or acceptable offer for sale will be received.
That is why the Request for Tenders will also allow proposals
for the recovery of the equipment.
"If this is the outcome of the tendering process, the
electronic voting machines would then be dismantled. The recovery
process would be carried out in line with national legislation
and European regulations on the treatment of waste electrical
and electronic equipment", Minister Hogan said.
The Request for Tenders is to be published before the end
of January 2012. Under European Union procurement rules, a
minimum of 52 days must be provided for the receipt of proposals.
Tenders will be assessed by the Task Force and recommendations
made to the Minister. Contracts will then be put in place
with the successful tenderer or tenderers.
Inventory of items of equipment
While the most significant element of the electronic voting
equipment is the actual machines themselves, there are a number
of other pieces of hardware. These include electronic and
non-electronic items.
The following quantities of items are being offered for sale
or recovery -
- 7,500 Voting Machines
- 154 Programme Reading Units (devices for uploading candidate
details to the machines for each election and for downloading
the votes cast)
- 12,842 Ballot Modules for the storage of votes cast
- 292 Cases for carrying the Ballot Modules / Programme
Reading Units
- 1,232 Transport / Storage Trolleys
- 2,142 Hand Trolleys for moving the machines
- 4,787 Metal Tilt Tables on which the machines were placed
in polling stations
- 918 Tray Attachments for Tables.
Tenders for single and/or multiple lots are being invited.
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