 "Acer bags Rs 30 cr contract under free laptop scheme")
The laptops priced at Rs 20,343 per unit will be provided to the meritorious students, who passed the +2 examination this year, free of cost.
Acer was competing with other original equipment manufacturers like HP (Hewlett–Packard) and HCL. HP quoted a price of Rs 24,990 while HCL expressed its inabilities to meet the time line.
“After the government approval, the work order will be issued,” said an official.
The Technical Committee and State Level Procurement Committee constituted by the IT Department to finalise the deal evaluated the responses of the bidders.
A technical committee was formed for evaluation of the technical details of the laptops under the chairmanship of the Director IIIT and included senior officials of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Software Technological Parks of India (STPI) and Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC). Similarly, the State Level Procurement Committee was headed by State IT secretary with representatives from different departments.
The state government had earlier announced to distribute at least 3,750 free laptops to meritorious +2 students by August 15. The entire process will be completed by September.
One of the eligibility criteria for the bidders was that the concerned original equipment manufacturer must have an annual average turnover of minimum Rs 300 crore generated from hardware supply and maintenance services in the last three financial years. It further mandated that the bidder must have adequate presence in Odisha with experienced manpower for providing post sales service in all the 30 districts.
The laptop would comprise of 2 GB memory RAM (expandable to four GB), 500 GB hard disk, one year comprehensive warranty including battery and adaptor, etc.
Distribution of free laptops is in line with the commitment made by chief minister Naveen Patnaik while unveiling the state youth policy in April this year.