Mega IT tender for schools now only a step away

The Education Ministry has presented a project which envisages supplying schools with 360,000 computers, several tens of thousands of servers, peripherals and software, worth a total of zł.1.5 billion. The undertaking, which is to be finalized by 2006, was already accepted by the Economy Ministry and is one that will be co-financed by EU funds. The Ministry has yet to decide the prepayment method. "All the tenders are practically ready and we are currently waiting for the green light from the Economy Ministry. When we receive it, we can announce the tenders during the summer," said one Education Ministry official. Some 75% of costs will be covered by EU funds, while the remaining sum will be financed from the state budget. The tenders will be one of the most lucrative, as well as bestowing a very positive status on the winners. IT companies have been waiting for the tenders to be launched since the beginning of the year. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) A.K.