– Bidders subjected to rigorous evaluation
HAIER, a Chinese electrical company, has won the bid to provide 27,000 laptops under the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative, with the US$7.5 million procurement expected in the near future and distribution to the most vulnerable families before the end of the year. This was disclosed at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing hosted by Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon at Office of the President. Speaking at the Luncheon-led press conference, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and Senior Manager of OLPF Mr. Sesh Sukhdeo, outlined the process which  lead to the award of the contract to the company, which they said ranked the highest on a comprehensive assessment scale that looked at price, technical specifications and inspections and tests.

Since none of the bids submitted in the first round of tendering was fully compliant with the tender requirements, that round of tenders was annulled; hence the need to re-tender.

“I am pleased to report that emerging from the re-tender there was considerably wider participation and 11 tenders were received,” said Dr. Singh.

The minister said that, on this basis alone, the decision to re-tender for the lot of 27,000 laptops was a justified one. He said that of the 11 bids received, three of them were “substantially responsive.”

Dr. Singh said the three bids were then subjected to a detailed process of evaluation against financial and technical criteria.

He said the three bidders were then ranked and the highest bid recommended by the evaluation committee to the National Board of Procurement and Tender Administration. Cabinet granted the award of the contract to the highest ranked bidder, Haier Electrical Appliances Limited of China, he said.

“This matter was considered at our last Cabinet meeting on Friday and Cabinet granted its no-objection to the award of the contract to the highest ranked bidder,” Dr. Singh said. “It is our intension to proceed with the company ranked highest,” the Finance Minister said.

Dr. Singh said the revised specifications benefited from the consultations with potential bidders.

He said too that between the decision to re-tender and the actual launch of the re-tender, two engagements were held, in which the proposed specifications for the bids shared and feedback received, and the proposed specifications refined in response to some of the comments received.
He said that from among the three original tenderers in the first process some months ago, one of them tendered on this occasion.

Senior Manager of the OLPF Project Sesh Sukhdeo said that Haier ranked higher in terms of its 18-month warranty and an additional two percent stock in spares. He said points were given to the companies that gave additional value to a particular evaluation criterion.
According to Sukhdeo, Haier will provide the details of its local contact in due course. “That is also a part of their bid requirement and they have a period of time to do that on notification of award,” Sukhdeo said.

Sukhdeo then placed on display a sample of the netbook that matched and in some respects exceeded the tender specifications.

He explained that at the end of the first phase of procurement, there would be subsequent tenders for the supply of the additional 63,000 laptops over the course of two years.

Among the first to benefit from the programme would be single parents, the differently abled, and low-income earners, which include students who receive subsidies from CXC and organized community groups.

In April last year, Haier was ranked at 28th when Business Week USA published its top 50 most innovative companies.
The One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative is the visionary brain child programme of President Bharrat Jagdeo, which seeks to empower poor and working-class Guyanese with the modern means of enhancing their education, livelihood and personal ambitions, through the use of computer technology. It will see 90,000 laptops being handed over to families.
The OLPF, which will be done over a two-year period is currently in its first phase catering to single parents,the differently abled and families earning less than $50,000 per month.
The programme will be supported by more than 200 ICT hubs that will offer a rigorous training regime for recipients and their family members with the aim of ensuring that every member of the household develops his/her computer skills.
A verification exercise is currently underway to ensure that information provided by applicants seeking to benefit in the first phase is accurate.