ErgoGroup to develop e-voting solution

ErgoGroup was nominated today as the supplier and developer of a central election administration computer system with a solution for electronic voting. The contract will be signed on 15 December.

The system will be used in an electronic voting trial in which selected municipalities will participate during the municipal and county council elections in 2011.

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has carried out a procurement process since February in which competitive dialogue was the competition procedure. Following a thorough evaluation of bids from three suppliers, the bid from ErgoGroup, with the Spanish company Scytl as subcontractor, was considered the best. ErgoGroup had the best bid in terms of both costs and proposed solution, and was virtually as good as the best supplier in regard to expertise and implementation methodology.

The value of the contract with ErgoGroup is about NOK 30 million, with options for an additional NOK 30 million.

The source code in the e-voting solution will be open and freely available to all. This is important for ensuring access and transparency in the election process. The transparency the e-election 2011 project will facilitate has attracted international attention, including at a recent Council of Europe workshop.

“A new electronic voting solution will help maintain the confidence voters have in the election process and preserve the principle of secret ballots,” says Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Liv Signe Navarsete.

The experience from the 2011 trial will provide the Storting with a sound basis for considering whether all voters should eventually have the opportunity to vote electronically.

“The e-voting system must not only be reliable and secure, but also future-oriented and modern. We are embarking on the e-voting 2011 project to meet the expectations new generations of voters will have concerning electronic solutions, and to help improve access to voter groups such as the disabled and Norwegians living abroad,” says Navarsete.

Selection of the municipalities that will participate in the project will be decided before Christmas.

Press phone in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development: +47 22 24 25 00.