Total bid price of Rs 8990 included cost of hardware and content: IT Dept, Lava company clarify
SHILLONG: A day after reports of an alleged scam pertaining to purchase of M-tabs distributed among Class XII students in the State under the Chief Minister’s Digital Learning Aid Scheme, IT Minister AL Hek has sought a report on the same.
“As soon I read the news report I asked the Commissioner and Secretary of the IT department to give me a full report on the expenditure incurred in purchasing the M-Tabs,” Hek told newsmen on Thursday.
Incidentally, the State IT Department has refuted the RTI revelations made on Wednesday by the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), claiming that the devices were procured by the department through a very transparent tendering process.
Commissioner and Secretary, IT department, DP Wahlang clarified that the M-Tabs were procured through an all India open bid and the successful bidder (M/S Lava International) was selected after multiple bids were received and evaluated based on stiff technical and price criteria after following all procedures and norms as per Government rules and regulations.
“The tendering committee recommendations and sample was approved by technical experts from IIT Guwahati,” Wahlang said.
According to the clarification, the inclusive price of Rs.8990 for each M-Tab is for the hardware and the educational content, the latter of which was conveniently ignored.
“Whereas the correct printed price of the tablet is Rs.6850 the total bid price for the tablet was Rs.8990 which comprised of Rs.6541 for the tablet (hardware) and Rs.2449 for the educational content like e-books covering the MBOSE syllabi for Arts, Commerce and Science streams of Classes XI and XII and pre-Medical and pre-Engineering entrance tests course material,” the department stated in its clarification.
The bid price of Rs.2449 also included warranty for a period of two years which is not a part of retail sale, setting up of service centres in the State, interest cost due to huge performance and bank guarantee of over Rs.2 crore.
Meanwhile, Nikunj Kewalramani, Account Manager of Lava, also clarified that “the offering comprised of two components – hardware and learning content that was pre-installed on the devices. Hence, the cost of the offering consisted of two parts which includes hardware (device) and content worth approximately Rs.2500 making the total value equivalent to Rs.8990 per unit.”
The company official further added that the device and content were billed separately.
“Given this deal structure, the Meghalaya government spent a total amount of Rs.22,47,50,000 on the purchase of 25,000 units of MTABs along with the content,” the clarification said.