Education Ministry rushes to complete IT tenders

The order encompasses over 100,000 PCs with peripherals and software for a sum significantly exceeding zł.500 million. Moreover, the Ministry which is in a rush to take advantage of funds granted by the EU, plans to announce additional tenders. In order to hold these before the end of this year, which is a deadline for the funds to be utilized, the Ministry will take advantage of special procedures which will speed up the bureaucracy. This is because the Ministry has a guaranteed sum of zł.1.5 billion until 2006 to equip 20,000 schools and 15,000 libraries with IT equipment. The plan envisaged spending on this purpose a sum of zł.300 million in 2004 and zł.500 million in 2005. So far none of these stages were accomplished. "Due to numerous protests from the companies taking part in the tenders the procedures have been prolonged and there is a possibility of not using all the funds until 2005," said Education Ministry spokesman Mieczysław Grabianowski. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 8) A.K.