Turkish government tablet tender attracts 11 tech companies

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Turkish Education Ministry has opened a tender for buying 10.6 million tablet PCs as part of its Fatih project. REUTERS photo

The Turkish Education Ministry launched a tender yesterday for purchasing at least 10.6 million tablet PCs as part of its Fatih project to distribute the devices in schools as 11 local and international companies submitted their offers.

In the first stage of the tender, which is composed by three stages, the companies’ offers, documents and sufficiency will be examined. Samsung Electronic Co, Samsung Electronic Marketing and Trade, Mobiltel-Elektromet joint venture, Vestel Electronic, Casper-Exper-Probil joint venture, Apple Teknology and Sale, Telpa Telecommunication - Atmaca Elektronik joint venture, Microsoft Corp, Arçelik, Toshiba Europe, Hewlett Packard Technology Solutions submitted their offers. At the second stage, the technical talks will be held. Finally, the companies, which fulfilled their needs, will submit their last offers that include financial offers.

The tender for tablet PCs was postponed before. The government plans to replace traditional blackboards and textbooks in schools with electronic boards and tablet PCs as a part of the Fatih project.

Second tender

However, a second tender for smart boards, smart document cameras and smart printers within the Fatih project is planned for July 5 by the Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communication.

According to this tender, the Turkish government will purchase 347,367 smart boards, 41,966 document cameras, 13,645 multifunctional A3 printers and 28,351 multifunctional A4 printers.

The winning company or consortium is obligated to deliver the orders within 480 days after the deal is signed.
The bid document cost 100,000 Turkish Liras for the first part (smart boards), 50,000 liras for the second part (document cameras), 25,000 liras for the third part (printers).

The bidders for the first part of the tender are obligated to have a research and development center. Otherwise, they have to establish such a center within six months of signing the deal.