EC to get 4,000 laptops by Oct 25

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the Election Commission (EC) will get 4,000 laptops in the next month for expediting the ongoing task of preparing a voter list with photographs.
"We have a secret plan. We will not say how we are going to get the laptops. There are many people who might try to foil the plan," CEC Huda told reporters yesterday afternoon adding, "We will get 2,000 laptops by October 10 and 2,000 more by October 25."
The CEC also claimed that procurement of all equipment for voter listing will be completed next month, but the procurement procedure adopted by the EC Secretariat seemingly does not corroborate the optimism of the CEC.
The EC Secretariat had invited a second round of tenders last month for supplying some of the required equipment while a government panel early this month asked the commission to invite fresh tenders for 8,000 laptops too, as it had found anomalies in the process of selecting a company for the job in the first round of tenders.
"Collection of equipment for voter listing will be completed in October and the field level task of preparing the voter list will begin at full throttle the same month," the CEC said.
Asked whether the EC will re-invite tenders for the 8,000 laptops in line with the government review panel's decision, the CEC seemingly avoided a direct answer by disclosing the existence of the 'secret plan'.
After receiving 2,000 laptops by October 10, the CEC said, the commission will select some districts and upazilas where it will begin voter listing with photographs by the middle of the month.
The CEC said 10 percent of the task of voter listing will be finished by the end of this month.
The EC already received around 1,800 laptops as donations from different agencies, with which it already started voter listing in some areas in August.
The commission in its electoral roadmap announced earlier that the procurement and deployment of all sorts of hi-tech equipment for voter listing will be completed in October this year.
The EC Secretariat on July 7 invited tenders for supplying 8,000 laptops, 8,000 webcams, 8,000 finger print scanners, 8,000 Bangla keyboards and 3-button mice, 550 desktop computers with UPS and monochrome laser printers, 3,000 portable electricity generators, 90 desktop computers with UPS, and 64 colour laser printers.
Evaluating the bids, the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) of EC found only three bidders as qualified for supplying the laptop computers, finger print scanners, Bangla keyboards, and the mice. The TEC recommended that the commission signs contracts with the qualified bidders for supplying the equipment and invite tenders again for the rest of the equipment.
Complying with the recommendation, the EC Secretariat in mid-August invited tenders again for the rest of the equipment, the submissions of which the TEC is now evaluating. After evaluating the bids, selected companies will be awarded contracts for supplying the equipment within four to eight weeks of signing the contracts.
Meanwhile, before the previously selected company could sign a contract with the EC for supplying the 8,000 laptops, a losing bidder lodged a complaint against the EC's selection process. A government review panel on September 10 asked the EC to invite fresh tenders for the 8,000 laptops too, as it had found anomalies in the process of selecting the previous company.
EC Secretary-in-Charge Humayun Kabir on September 11 told The Daily Star that they would re-invite tenders as soon as possible for the equipment.
The EC Secretariat however did not issue any fresh invitation for tenders till yesterday. Many fear that the EC might face time constraint in completing the task of preparing the voter list with photographs by October next year due to the delay in procuring the equipment.
The CEC however yesterday said there is no reason for apprehending a delay in procuring the equipment. "Everything will be done on time," he said.