Singapore—Following the announcement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last Wednesday, September 4 that the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) had been formed, a tender has been put up by the Elections Department for 150 polling booths.
The Elections Department is under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
According to GeBiz, the government procurement portal, the deadline for delivering these booths is October 31. The tender was published on the GeBiz website (ebiz.gov.sg) on Tuesday, September 10.
The deadline for suppliers who wish to submit bids is on Thursday next week, September 19.
Specifications for the booths are as follows: they should have two parts—a writing table-top that is one meter in height, as well as a vertical stand, measuring 1.75 meters in height. Each part needs to be colored white uniformly, with no shades of color or patches. The booths should be made of corrugated board material or any alternative material that is environmentally sustainable.
Lastly, the booths should be made in such a way that they can be assembled within one minute.
The winner of the bid is required to submit a sample mock-up booth for critiquing and approval. After this, the winning bidder can proceed to construct the booths.
It’s possible that the 150 polling booths is merely an initial order, as there is also an option for an additional 50 to 350 booths, the Straits Times (ST) reports.
This is not the first tender that the Elections Department has called for. Last month, it put up a tender for computers and laptops. While the closing date for this particular tender was September 2, the tender has not been awarded yet.
Three months ago, in June, the Department also called for a tender for bus transportation services for the elections, awarded to ComfortDelGro Bus. This is for transporting people from nomination centres and polling stations, among others.
The forming of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee is widely understood as the first step to the road to the next General Election (GE) which must be accomplished by April 15, 2021.
On September 5, TISG reported, “The Elections Department (ELD) announced today that the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) was convened last month, marking the first step towards the next General Election.
The ELD’s latest announcement on the EBRC’s formation has been taken as confirmation that the next GE – which must be held by 15 April 2021 – is imminent. Curiously, this is the first time that the ELD has made a formal announcement about the EBRC’s formation, under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s rule.
The EBRC has been tasked to reduce the average size of group representation constituencies (GRCs) and increase the number of single-member constituencies (SMCs). It is also in charge of revising the current electoral boundaries, given changes in the electorate due to population shifts and housing developments.
The ELD said that the EBRC is making its deliberations and will present its recommendations to the Prime Minister once it concludes the review.
In the past three General Elections (GEs), the EBRC has taken between two to four months to complete the review. The time between the release of the EBRC’s report and polling day has ranged from as little as 17 days to as long as six months, in Singapore history.
After the EBRC presents its report to the Prime Minister, he will decide when to dissolve Parliament and issue the writ of election, which will precede Nomination Day by no earlier than five days and no later than one month. The election campaign period, which includes Nomination Day, Cooling-off Day and Polling Day, will take a minimum of nine days.” –/TISG
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