BBS proposal to procure 3,95,000 Walton tabs for population census gets cabinet nod

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has got approval to purchase 3,95,000 tablet computers, or tabs, from Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited at around Tk447 crore for Population and Housing Census 2021, the first-ever digital census in the country.

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved the procurement proposal at its eighth meeting held on Thursday, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

The proposal to purchase Walton tabs was approved fulfilling all the conditions, said Md Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, while briefing the media after the meeting .

The authorities had previously cancelled the BBS proposal, accusing them of selecting a bidder whose product was more expensive than the rejected bidder. It also directed the BBS to re-tender for procuring the products.

Generally, the government conducts a nationwide population and housing census every ten years. The last census was held in 2011.

This time, the government decided to conduct a digital census from 25 to 31 October and took up a project involving an estimated cost of Tk1,575 crore, said sources at the Planning Division.

The BBS, a wing of the Statistics and Informatics Division of the planning ministry, which is responsible for conducting the census, floated a tender on 23 June last year, inviting bidders to supply 3.95 lakh Tabs for computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) for the main census.

Two companies, Fair Electronics Ltd and Walton, submitted the bid documents, though eight companies bought the schedules. 

In the technical evaluation, Fair Electronics Ltd's proposal to supply Samsung Tab proved qualified and responsive for the project, though each Tab's price was Tk3,500 higher than Walton's.

But Walton's proposal was found unresponsive over different technical glitches, though its proposed cost was less than Samsung's.