Diana Wanjiku of Thunguma primary school in Nyeri using a laptop on June 13, 2013. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | FILE
NATION MEDIA GROUP
The tender for the supply of laptops for
schools has been awarded to Olive Telecommunication Pvt limited at a
price of Sh24.6 billion.
Education Cabinet Secretary
Jacob Kaimenyi on Friday said the bidder quoted the “lowest and most
advantageous amount” which saved the taxpayers Sh8 billion.
India’s
Olive Telecommunication Limited was followed by Hewlett Packard with a
Sh25 billion bid, with China's Haier Electrical Limited third with a
Sh27 billion quote.
A total of 16 companies had submitted their tenders. (READ: Supplier of laptops to be named this week)
“In
December last year, we engaged in competitive negotiations with the
bidders and asked them to provide the best and final offer. After
conducting a due diligence exercise on the bidders, Olive
Telecommunications was the lowest bidder at a total price of
Sh24,687,360,” Prof Kaimenyi told a press conference at his offices on
Friday.
He said part of the due diligence was looking at the previous supplies that the laptop manufacturer’s company had done.
The
Ministry of Education also sent a team of eight government technocrats
to China and India to assess Olive Telecommunication Limited. Part of
the due diligence was to assess where Olive’s laptops would be
assembled.
“They showed us the companies they have
supplied with laptops, we are sure they will deliver. We picked them
using a competitive negotiations approach which is a recognized world
class procurement practice,” said Prof Kaimenyi.
QUESTIONED TENDER
Some vendors have however released documents questioning the ability of the lowest bidder.
The
Nation could not verify some of the claims made. An Olive Telecom
director, Arun Khanna, dismissed claims that his firm lacked capacity to
deliver.
He said the firm was a multi-billion-dollar establishment capable of delivering the laptops.
Last
week, the Nation met two agents of Haire Electrical Limited, which has
questioned the tender in a letter to the Education Ministry.
The
officials, who visited the Nation but refused to be photographed,
denied they were behind circulation of the discrediting information.
The
company is expected to provide 1,203,539 laptops, 20,637 printers and
20,637 projectors for learning in public primary schools. An additional
20,637 laptops will be for the teachers.
According to
the Principal Secretary for Education Dr Belio Kipsang, the Sh24.6
billion has covered the whole cost of production and distribution to the
district headquarters where the primary schools will collect them.
“The
laptops will be brought in batches as they are being manufactured since
there is no company that can manufacture more than 400,000 laptops per
month,” he said, adding: “By the end of first quarter this year, all the
pupils will have the laptops.”
The Ministry of
Education in October 2013 cancelled the laptop tender bids as the total
cost of the laptops by the lowest evaluated bidder was Sh32 billion
against a government budget of Sh12 billion.
Previously,
HP Commercial was the lowest bidder quoting Sh32 billion, with a unit
price of Sh23,000 which is almost double what the government had
budgeted for.
Haier Technologies had quoted Sh34 billion, it has now quoted Sh26 billion.
A Chinese company, Huawei PTE Ltd, was the highest, quoting Sh60.5 billion.
MASTER TRAINERS
Also in October 2013, the Ministry of Education trained 150 master trainers at Kenya Education Management Institute.
“The
master trainers will in turn train 3,000 trainers of trainers, who by
the time the laptops are delivered to the schools, we will have trained
over 60,000 teachers,” said Dr Kipsang.
Three teachers would then be distributed to each of the 20,000 public primary schools in the country.
Dr
Kipsang said that the Rural Electrification Authority had connected
11,000 out of the total 20,000 eligible primary school with power.
Another 4,000 schools will be connected by end of June, 2014. (READ: Laptops face hitch in rural schools due to lack of power and trained teachers)
“We
are in talks with the Ministry of Energy and the Treasury to give
additional funds so that we can have more school connected with
electricity. By the time we are rolling out the laptops, 60 percent of
the 20,000 schools will be connected with electricity. The remaining 40
per cent will use solar power,” he said.
The Kenya
Institute of Curriculum Development has developed digital content for
all classes in primary schools and digitised content in seven subjects
for Class One to Three.
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