Laptop supply bids still being evaluated

Aug 23, 2011 News

The Evaluation Committee looking at bids for the supply of laptops under the one Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project, has not completed its work, Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir said yesterday.
Nadir has been tasked with overseeing the implementation of the project, under which the government intends to distribute 90,000 laptops to mostly poor families and groups working with the disadvantaged. The laptops would be handed out over a three-year period.
A total of 11 bids for the supply of 27,000 computers (this year’s quota) were opened on August 9th, and subsequently the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board named an Evaluation Committee to examine the bids. According to Nadir, the Evaluation Committee will then have to submit their conclusions to the Board, which will then send it to Cabinet.
In most cases, Cabinet would give a “No Objection” to allow for award of the contract to the bidder the Tender Board considers favourable, following the recommendation of the Evaluation Committee.
However, in the first set of laptop bids, the Cabinet decided to call a fresh tender. While one of the bids was found to have largely met the criteria, Cabinet rejected that bid, and chose to call a fresh tender.
Minister Nadir could not say when the recommendation of the tender board on the new bids would be received by Cabinet. However, he stressed that there is urgency for a decision to be made, since the government intends to hand out the laptops in October.
Nadir confirmed that the Evaluation Committee is not usually given a time by which to complete their evaluation of the bids.
Of the new bidders, three are based overseas.
The highest bid last week, from Fatz Express Packaging Services, a Trinidad and Tobago company, was for US$21.6M which translates to one laptop costing around just over US$801.
The lowest bid also came from a Trinidad and Tobago company, N.J Computers, for US$6.85M which works out to a little over US$254 per unit.
The government had said it was budgeting for one of the laptops to cost US$295 each.
This year, government has earmarked $1.8B in the 2011 budget for the first 27,000 laptops.
Of the three initial bidders, only one, Giftland Office Max, participated again in the second process.
The other companies, CCS and Digital Technology, did not submit bids. CCS was the company which received a favourable nod in the first bidding process, but Cabinet decided not to go with that bid, but to re-tender.
The re-tender allowed for adjustments in the bid documents for specifications including such issues as the technical specifications of the hardware to be procured, the software specs to be preloaded on the machines and the capacity of the suppliers to offer and service the required warranty provisions.
It is expected that the memory will be at least 2.0GB; a display screen of 10.1 inches; camera of 0.3 megapixels; two USB 2.0 ports; 1 RJ-45; headphones; microphones, card reader: MMC/SD Video Adaptor; Integrated Video with an operating system of a minimum Genuine Windows 7 Starter English (OEM).
It will also include a minimum two hours battery operational life and has the capacity to handle wireless data. In addition to anti-virus protection, the laptop or netbook should also give a one-year manufacturer’s warranty on parts and labour.
The overseas companies making bids were required to provide an authorized representative (s) in Guyana.
International bidders who do not have an office and authorized representative in Guyana must provide a declaration with their submitted bid stating that if awarded the contract they will establish a local representative and office in Guyana within twenty-one (21) days of signing the contract to provide spare parts, after sales service and warranty enforcement.

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