The procurement of 200,000 laptops by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) under the Prime Minister Laptop Scheme became controversial after the Transparency International (TI-Pakistan) raised serious objections and threatened to dissociate itself from the process, revealed documents available with Business Recorder. TI further negated the statement of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of manufacturing 700 laptops locally on a state-of-the-art laptop assembly plant, by saying that not a single laptop was assembled and supplied from the said plant to the government.
The government has included the Prime Minister Laptop Scheme in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the budget for 2015-16. Dar in his budget speech stated that under this scheme, laptops are procured through open competitive bidding under PPRA Rules and under the vigilance of TIP, which are then delivered to public sector universities/institutions across Pakistan and AJK. 70,000 laptops have been distributed so far in this manner. In addition, 700 laptops have been manufactured locally on a state-of-the-art laptop assembly plant. It will additionally help in technology transfer as well as creation of jobs, he added.
According to the documents TI has apprised Mukhtar Ahmed Chairman HEC of its reservations about the Request for Proposals (RFP) about the procurement of 200,000 laptops worth Rs 200 million under the Phase- II of the Prime Minister Laptops Scheme. TI Pakistan does not agree with the explanations offered by HEC to the objections it raised on the local assembly clause. In the previous contract the setting up of the assembly plant was optional and no laptops were assembled and supplied from the said plant to the government in the first contract. It further advised HEC to address the objections and in case HEC insists on keeping the objected clauses in the bidding documents, TI Pakistan would withdraw from being associated with the procurement of laptops. HEC may not use the name of TI Pakistan with the laptop procurement in any manner in the future, maintained the letter written to HEC chairman.
TIP has stated that HEC and Haier announced in 2014 May that Haier will set up a laptop manufacturing plant in Pakistan under a contract awarded to them for 100,000 laptops. But they failed to fulfil the commitment to set up the plant, and the HEC tender is oriented towards a single source. In the 16 May 2015 meeting, TIP expressed serious reservations on this, and stated that TIP will not support the laptop procurement tender, unless the condition of local manufacturing is deleted. It further stated that NAB does not allow mis-procurement, and it is better to be late than make a wrong procurement, which may be mis-procurement.
According to HEC response, there is no such compulsion as per PPRA Rule 27, and so as such it is not considered either mis-procurement or wrong procurement. However, HEC did not see any harm in accommodating TIP recommendation to extend the bid submission by 7 days. Since PPRA web posting does not allow placement of advertisement for less than 15 days, therefore the bid submission date can only be extended till June 23, 2015, provided there is no exception available with PPRA.
HEC further maintained that the matter of local assembly plant was discussed in detail during pre-bid meeting held on April 21, 2015 with all potential bidders, and it was bidders'' recommendation to give at least six (06) months for setting up local assembling facility. Moreover, the local production of 100,000 laptops has been estimated on an average production capacity of assembly line of 1,200 laptops, so it has the capacity to produce 100,000 laptops in next four (04) months (i.e. 88 working days). HEC responded that unfortunately, this suggestion of TIP cannot be accommodated, especially when similar condition has been endorsed and supported by TIP during last year''s procurement, and HEC has been successful in setting up an assembly plant in Pakistan and the production of locally assembled laptops. Moreover, this is one of the project''s objectives and so cannot be compromised.
According to the proposed plan, the government intents to continue this project for next four years as per the original plan. One of the main concepts behind the local assembling was to expand towards manufacturing, and contribute towards GDP and the re-export of IT equipment out of Pakistan would bring significant economic impact as well as convey a soft image of Pakistan internationally through a product labelled as "Made in Pakistan". It would further help in the long-run; the overall per unit cost of laptop is expected to decrease substantially and so will help leveraging ICT for socio-economic development of Pakistan.
This correspondent tried to contact Anwar Amjad Director General Information Technology (IT) division, HEC, to take his view point, but was told that he is out of the city and engaged in meetings. No other official was willing to make a comment on the subject.
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