E-voting decision riles Dartmouth firm

A local e-voting company wants the Halifax Regional Municipality to explain why it awarded a contract to a business based in Spain.

Dartmouth-based Intelivote Systems Inc. provided online and telephone voting for the previous two municipal elections, but it didn't get the job for the one this fall.

Scytl Secure Electronic Voting, from Spain, won the contract after underbidding Intelivote by more than $300,000.

Intelivote owner Dean Smith is unhappy with the way the bids were scored. He said his company's expertise and grasp of the local system was undervalued and Scytl was given too much credit.

"Our concern here is that a process let us down," Smith told CBC News.

"How they could score 23 points out of the 25 … when we have more experience in municipal elections than any company in the world and two of those elections were done for the client asking, 'Do you really understand my needs?' So it doesn't make sense to us."

Smith said the low pricing is just a way for Scytl to get its foot in the Canadian market. The company currently has three Canadian employees — all in Ontario — and has not yet handled an election in the country.

Susan Crutchlow, general manager for Sctyl, said the company is qualified.

"We have a lot of expertise to draw upon. Coming from 17 years of research and development we certainly put our heart and soul to ensuring it's the best solution in the market," she said.

Coun. Dawn Sloane told CBC News she wants municipal staff to look into a "buy local" policy when it comes to awarding tenders.

She said although the price of services is important, the economic benefits to using local companies — who create local employment — should also be a factor.

"There must be a way in which we can actually help promote the businesses that are here in Halifax or here in the region or here in Nova Scotia or the Atlantic provinces," she said Friday.

"We have so many great companies, yet are we really supporting them? And that money — if they won, if they were successful — would stay within our community."

Smith plans to meet with municipal officials on Friday to get details on how the contract was awarded.

"We really want to understand how they arrived at this conclusion. They may have perfectly legitimate reasons for why they did, they just currently don't make any sense to us," he said.