Schools laptops project runs into fresh headwinds

Education secretary Jacob Kaimenyi (centre) with principal secretaries Colleta Suda (left) and Belio Kipsang’ during a press briefing on the schools laptops project tender in Nairobi in October last year. FILE 

By Herbling David, hdavid@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Procurement war erupts as Ministry of Education picks Indian marketing company for the Sh17 billion job.
• It has emerged that the company that topped the list of firms that passed the first round of evaluation did not meet the basic tender rules.
• Olive Telecommunications, an Indian marketing firm, was picked alongside renowned global computer manufacturers Hewlett Packard (HP) and Haier.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship computer for schools project has run into strong procurement headwinds after the Ministry of Education picked an Indian company for the multi-billion-shilling job contrary to the rules it published last year.

It has emerged that the company that topped the list of firms that passed the first round of evaluation did not meet the basic tender rules that restricted the bidding to companies that manufacture devices.

Olive Telecommunications, an Indian marketing firm, was picked alongside renowned global computer manufacturers Hewlett Packard (HP) and Haier.

Olive, which beat the field of competitors with a Sh22 billion bid, is not a device manufacturer, a key requirement in the revised laptop tender that was floated in November last year.

US computer giant Hewlett Packard with a Sh23 billion bid was second, while Chinese firm Haier Electricals Appliances Corporation was third with a Sh24 billion quotation.

In an advertisement published in the media last year, the government had restricted the Sh17.5 billion tender to device manufacturers, technically referred to as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).

READ: Government changes school laptops tender rules

The listing of Olive, an Indian trading company, as one of the top bidders has therefore raised serious process questions that are only expected to deepen in the coming weeks.

The Jubilee government is seeking to buy 1.28 million laptops for each Standard One pupil as part of the pledge it made to the electorate during last year’s polls.

Olive Telecommunications uses Chinese contract manufacturers to make electronic devices, including tablets and smartphones that are branded ‘Olive’ or names of its customers such as mobile telecoms carriers.

Keen followers of the tendering process say Olive, which reaches its global clientele through a website, amended the communications on its webpage to include computers after it was shortlisted by the Kenyan authorities for the laptop project.

Bid documents show that Olive had initially listed Chinese firm New Century Optronics — a manufacturer of LCD TV and LCD monitors as its principal partner.

But the Indian firm appears to have realised that New Century lacks experience in tablet or laptop assembly and was last week frantically shopping for a new device maker to partner with as a team of Kenyan officials prepared to leave for a factory visit in China.

“Could you share with me your standard one-page ODM and OEM agreement for contract manufacturing? We need to sign and send the same before the delegation arrives,” Ajay Jain, the sales director at Olive, wrote to a device manufacturer last week in an email seen by the Business Daily.

This indicates that Olive does not qualify as an OEM and should thus not have participated in the multi-billion shilling tender.