The local computer brands, pre-qualified with the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) of Punjab government, have been denied participation in the bidding for Rs 3.2 billion contract for installation of computer labs in secondary schools of the province.
This was revealed by a delegation of Pakistan Computer Association headed by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Convenor during a meeting with the LCCI President, Mian Muzaffar Ali on Friday. He termed the provincial government's decision as unjustified and said that keeping all the top local computer brands out of bidding, would not only put a negative impact on the local computer manufacturers, but would also add to the mounting import bill of the country.
They said Punjab government's procurement wing's notification dated September 11, 2008, after granting pre-qualification status to these local IT companies, declared it necessary to invite them in the bidding for purchasing any IT products by the government, along with other multinational companies.
According to them, the notification listed the pre-qualified companies including Raffles, Inbox, CTI, CMC-Online and MIT-Orazon, while the names of international computer brands were IBM/Lenovo, Compaq/HP, Dell, Acer and Fujitsu/Siemens.
The delegation further alleged that after Punjab government's decision to computerise 4,200 secondary schools all over the province with a hefty amount of Rs 3.2 billion, some top ranking officers of the Punjab government in connivance with the multinational companies, devised a criteria favouring multinational companies and discouraging local computer manufacturers.
The delegation members said that these officers imposed a strict condition that only those local companies having turnover more than Rs 500million, will be eligible to take part in the bidding, while no such company exists in the country whose turnover is more than Rs 500 million.
The local computer manufacturers said that on the one the hand, the government claims to promote local industry, while on the other, its policies were practically crushing the local manufacturing sector. The LCCI President assured local computer manufacturers of his full support saying that he would raise the issue with Provincial government, as if the local investors would not be given due encouragement, no foreign investor would put his money in any new venture.