A tender request for millions of polling information cards suitable for a general election has been issued by the Office of Government Procurement.

Polling cards inform registered voters of the date, time and place at which they are entitled to vote. They are sent to households in the days before polling day.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been courting the support of Independent TDs since the inconclusive general election result in February. But it is accepted that a second general election is in the offing if the two main parties fail to reach some form of voting agreement with each other.

Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin are due to meet on Wednesday to begin negotiation on the formation of a government.

But on the same day a request for the supply of four million polling cards for general elections/byelections was issued on behalf of the Department of the Environment.

According to tender documents, interested companies have been asked to file their offers by April 20th. Any contract that may result from the procurement competition will be issued for a term of two years and may be extended further.

The successful contractor would be expected to deliver the polling cards to a Co Offaly freight company by Thursday, June 30th.

Successful bidder

The tender documents state: “The service(s) is for the initial supply of 4 million polling information cards in two sorts.

“Subsequent supplies of 4 million polling information cards in two sorts may be ordered within the two year period of this contract. The quantities of cards in continuous stationery and sheet format within subsequent supplies of 4 million may vary.”

The text for the cards will be supplied by the department while a purchase order for the successful bidder will be raised by the OPW’s election services department.

The contract will be awarded on the basis of the lowest price, the tender documents state.

The department said “it is standard practice to take an inventory of all election stationery after each poll and quantities are replenished where necessary to ensure that the required stock is in place for the next electoral event whenever that may be.

“It takes time to restock some items. The request for tenders for the supply of polling information cards now is part of the replenishment process and would have issued irrespective of the government formation process following the Dáil election.”