The ICT Hub Review Panel yesterday began reviewing and short-listing eligible applications from over 200 community based organisations and entities as the government proceeds with its One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative.
According to a release from the OLPF Project Unit, “The ICT Hub Review compromising technical representatives from several key ministries and public sector bodies are now reviewing and short listing eligible applications from over 200 community based organisations and entities, and will begin the on-site verification process within days.”
Several entities, including community based organisations, youth groups, learning institutions and schools, religious entities and sector bodies from all regions in the country, have applied to become Hubs, it said.
The accredited Hubs, the release explained, will fulfill the role of being the central community administrative and learning interface for the OLPF initiative across Guyana.
The hubs “will be required to provide a conducive learning environment and their own facilitators who will be accredited by the OLPF Project Unit; or accommodate OLPF accredited training volunteers, for the provision of technical support to the process, while facilitating and monitoring the technical and social learning progress of participating families,” the release said.
The Hubs, the release stated, will also work closely in assisting the Community Verification Committees that will be established to screen families who apply to benefit from the OLPF programme.
Under the OLPF, the government plans to distribute computers to 90,000 poor families in Guyana. “Phase one, which is underway, will see the distribution of approximately 60% of the total amount of Laptops envisioned in the short term life of the programme,” GINA said.
Tenders for the supply of laptops/netbooks for the programme are expected to be opened on Tuesday. The bids were originally expected to be opened on March 29. However, this newspaper was reliably informed that the deadline was extended following a few changes to the evaluation criteria.
However, these changes are not reflected on the government’s procurement website.
The company that wins this contract will have to facilitate technical support, after sales service for the instruments and warranty enforcement when needed, according to the bid notice.
The project was initially launched in January, when 142 computers were ceremonially handed over to students from four entities.
It was later disclosed that the computers were bought with a US$50,000 gift from Chinese company Huawei, after it had won a US$14 contract to lay fibre optic cables here.
