The retender for the supply of computers for the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme has been delayed as the specifications undergo some “fine tuning”.
The tender was expected to be launched on Friday on government procurement website www.eprocure.gov.gy but this has not been done to date. Up to late last week, the document was in the possession of Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon this newspaper was told.
When contacted yesterday Office of the President Press and Publicity Officer Kwame McCoy said the details of the tender were being fine tuned. He said that by tomorrow the document should be finalized and launched.
Three Fridays ago, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh announced that Cabinet had decided to retender the project after the three companies which originally bid— CCS Guyana Ltd, Giftland OfficeMax and Digital Technology— failed to meet the necessary specifications.
“Two bids were found to be substantially non-compliant and one was found to be compliant in most material respects,” Singh said. The specifications, he said, will be revised and new bidders invited. “You will not see a fundamental re-write of the specifications.”
Among the possible revised specifications are hardware changes, pre-loaded software requirements and aspects relating to the honouring of the warranty.
Under the OLPF, the government plans to distribute 90,000 computers to poor families over the next two years. The government has said that 50,000 units are supposed to be distributed this year. Controversy has swirled around the project since its launch in January.
