Electoral goods and services represent one of the most important and costly parts of an
election. Any delay or shortfall in the procurement or distribution of electoral materials or
timely receipt of required services can have serious implications for an election, potentially
affecting its schedule or even outcome.
Procurement does not, however, relate only to buying materials – ballot boxes, polling kits
etc. It also involves the procurement of services or building infrastructure. In terms of services,
contracting a CSO to conduct trainings or voter education, identifying and hiring specialists
on short-term contracts, buying radio and TV spots – all these services must be contracted
through a procurement process. In addition, many different types of infrastructure may be
required, just a few examples are: furniture and refurbishment of buildings, hardware and
software equipment, vehicles, communication tools and supplies.
As an example, the following separate electoral activities often require a vast list of items
to be procured (particularly if the election is a ‘first generation’ election following the
establishment of the EMB after, for instance, a conflict):
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Voter Registration and Data Centre & Result Tabulation: Hardware and software
equipment; personal computers and related software; back office server systems;
various communications equipment; means for printing and distribution of
registration forms; voter cards and data processing; establishment of a data
processing centre; establishment of results and media centres; IT training;
technical assistance; logistics and distribution of IT equipment; integration
of services; renting or rehabilitation of voter registration venues; hiring of IT
experts; biometric registration kits; biometric fingerprint scanners; internal EMB
communications; archiving; financial disclosure forms; public relations, etc.
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Civic and Voter Education & Stakeholder Training: Technical equipment; design and
printing of posters, leaflets, banners etc.; production of TV spots, radio jingles,
etc.; conferences, CSO and domestic observer trainings; production and
printing of manuals, user training (and user manuals); administrative technical
training (and manuals) on the ICTs system itself such as the voter register
system
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Polling Day Activities: Ballot boxes and seals; voting screens; polling kits; indelible
or invisible ink; tamper-proof materials; material for alternative polling station
structures; printing and distribution of ballot papers; polling forms; tally sheets;
result sheets; procedural manuals; electoral lists; candidate lists; training of
polling staff; logistics; distribution; storage and security items or services; etc.
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Auditors: An IT Auditor needs to be procured. This is a different type of IT
Specialist with special skills to detect tampering of the database itself, code
tweaking during the different phases of voting and results tabulation. This
person might also be needed for short term during development of the IT
system to ensure the integrity of the auditing and accountability. This should
be stated clearly in the contract of any vendor providing electoral IT services so
that the IT Specialist would not be accused of spying for Intellectual Property,
etc., or delaying the development of the database or system
Procurement is generally defined as “the overall process of acquiring goods, works or
services, which covers all functions from the identification of needs, solicitation and
selection, preparation and award of contract and administering the contract through all
phases till the end of a service contract or the useful life of an asset”.
This indicates that procurement is not an isolated action in time, but rather a continuous
process of variable complexity which typically involves several stages, different
stakeholders and parties, legal and contractual obligations and consequences. As electoral
procurement often utilizes public or donor funds, Public Procurement principles apply
and rules and procedures must be observed and followed to safeguard the use of such
funds. Such rules will govern the complete process for procurement of goods and services
as well as the resulting contracts.
