One Laptop Per Family…Contract awarded US$7.5M to Chinese Co.

Sep 01, 2011 News

A Chinese company that goes by the name, Haier Electrical Appliances Limited, yesterday won a US$7.5 million contract to supply 27,000 laptops under the government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Project.
Haier was one of two companies that President Bharrat Jagdeo six months ago said could be favoured to supply laptops, utilizing the Chinese grant funding for the project.
The government set aside $1.8 billion in this year’s budget for the project, and Jagdeo had said the Chinese government would support the project with an US$8 million grant.

Haier will provide some 27,000 netbooks

Jagdeo was quoted by the Guyana Chronicle on February 12, 2011, as saying that because the grant is from China, it may be required that a Chinese firm supplies the laptops for that allocation of funds, “probably one of two major suppliers – Haier and Lenovo….”
Haier Electrical Appliances was one of three companies whose bids met the bid criteria, but Haier ranked the highest of the three, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said yesterday in announcing that the Cabinet – the Council of government ministers chaired by the President – gave its no objection for Haier Electrical Appliances Limited, to be awarded the contract. The decision was taken last Friday by the Cabinet.
The local representative of Haier was not announced and as per the tender documents, the company has 21 days following the award of the contract to do so.
The two other companies that met the technical and financial criteria were Johs Gram-Henssen A/S of Denmark, which put in a bid of US$7.4 million, and Abboud Trading Corporation of Florida, USA, which put in a bid of US$9 million.
According to Sesh Sukhdeo, the Senior Project Manager of the OLPF Project, additional points went to bidders who could offer specifications and greater guarantees than that asked for.
Haier secured the nod over the other two companies by offering a two percent additional buffer of laptops (which would work out to 540 extra laptops). Sukhdeo explained that one of the criteria of the tender process was to make sure there was a seven-day turnaround for laptops on the warranty.
Haier, Sukhdeo said, also offered to provide two percent additional stock in spares and an 18-month warranty.
The three companies that were found to be substantially responsive to the bidding requirements were among eight foreign companies that entered bids for the project in the re-tender for the supply of the laptops.
In the first process, three local companies submitted bids, but they were all rejected by the government, which launched another process.
The bids in the fresh round of tendering were opened on August 9 and it was revealed that eight foreign companies and three local companies put in bids. The bidding entities were Fatz Express Packaging Services (T&T); InfoStock of Spain/Global Services Limited; McEarney Business Machine (MBM) of Trinidad; Abboud Trading Corporation of Florida, USA; Josh Gram-Hanssen of Denmark; N.J. Computers of Trinidad; GOHIGH of China; Haier Electrical Appliances Limited of China; Deo Narine Singh/Nova Scotia Manufacturing Company (Guyana); Giftland Office Max (Guyana) and RRT Enterprise and Auto Sales of Guyana.
In re-tendering, the government moved to adjust the technical specifications for the laptops it wants. The Finance Minister said this was done after two meetings with stakeholders.
Dr Singh said that the submission of 11 bids served as justification for the government’s decision to re-tender for the supply of the laptops. He said the intention was to increase the competition in the bidding process.
Once three bidders were shortlisted, Dr Singh said the bids were evaluated by a technical team to ascertain whether each bid was substantially responsive.
Once the three companies were favoured, they were subjected to detailed valuation against a comprehensive set of financial and technical criteria, Dr Singh explained.
The evaluation committee ranked Haier as the highest and made its recommendation to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, which endorsed the recommendation and sent it off to Cabinet.
The bidding, conducted through the International Competitive Bidding (ICB) procedures, required bidders to show evidence of technical experience and financial capacity; manufacturer’s authorization and warranty; audited financial statements for the past three years from a recognized/authorized agency; and submission of the bid security. A margin of preference for eligible domestic bids was not applied.
Regarding the specifications of the Netbook/Laptop, the bid documents made it clear what the requirements would be.
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.