The City Hall of Sector 3, headed by Robert Negoits, confirms that it wants to insure 300 iPhones of the latest generation free of charge in a tender for the purchase of telephone services (voice, SMS and mobile data) for 4 years for subordinate institutions. The potential bidder claims that the terminals alone cost more than 60% of the total subscription cost, and asks City Hall if they could have asked for a “cheaper” iPhone 15 model than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The City Hall headed by Robert Negoits wants to conclude a framework agreement with 3 operators for a period of 48 months, with an estimated cost of more than 5.6 million lei without VAT.

During the validity of the framework agreement, 2 subsequent contracts will be concluded, each lasting 24 months, and for each subscription, the interested operators must provide certain terminals free of charge. In addition, after 24 months, the tender will be renewed and the requested phones will be replaced with new ones that are better than those originally supplied, according to data from the electronic public procurement system.

The procedure requests multiple subscription types, and a different terminal type is requested for each subscription type.

The City Hall of Negojci wants to receive 300 iPhones of the latest generation in 4 years

Based on the technical characteristics mentioned in the specifications, HotNews.ro reported that for the type 1 subscription, the city hall of Negojci requires the provision of 300 latest generation iPhones for free for 4 years.

• SEE DISTRICT 3 TOWN HALL SPECIFICATIONS

After a potential bidder warned that there might have been a series of errors in the specification for the maximum number of terminals requested, the Sector 3 City Hall corrected the figure of 7,200 terminals originally requested for the Type 1 subscription, showing that it was 150 terminals for every 2 – annual contract.

The bidder warns that the requested terminals are very expensive. It is about the iPhone 15 Pro Max

In another question addressed to the City Hall of Sector 3, a possible bidder analyzes the technical characteristics of the terminals required by the City Hall, noting that their price is very high in the overall subscription package (approximately 61%), even if the same operator provides a full framework agreement (4 years ).

Based on the minimum requirements in the specifications, the possible bidder claims that it will be the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the most expensive version of Apple’s terminal, released on September 12, 2023.

In addition, adding to the minimum price of terminals and other specified minimum costs, respectively:

• connection costs associated with voice subscriptions A-T1, B-T2, C-T3;
• loyalty program 3% of the monthly account value,
• traffic scanning solutions,
• web platform for sending multi-sms – an unlimited number of SMS per month to terminals in any network,
• exchange rate amortization costs for requested services throughout the term of the framework agreement

This will result in a minimum cost of 80.24% of the maximum estimated cost of the framework agreement, even if the same operator delivers the entire framework agreement (4 years), says the possible bidder.

It concludes that 1,118,457.37 lei will ultimately be available and the value will remain for all subscriptions requested in this procedure for the duration of the framework agreement, i.e. 48 months.

• “Taking into account the quantity specified in the specifications for 48 months and the quantity remaining available for the provision of these services, the result is an average monthly subscription price of approximately 5.39 lei/subscription, a ridiculous amount that cannot be provided by telephone operators” connection on the terms of fair competition. (..)
• Therefore, if the Contracting Authority does not correlate the allocated budget with the minimum technical specifications of the terminals, the operators will not be able to provide services on favorable terms for the operator, even if the same operator provides the full structure of the contract (4 years),” the potential participant emphasizes.

Wouldn’t it be possible to ask for the iPhone 15 Plus instead of the iPhone 15 Pro Max? No, says the mayor’s office of district 3

The calculation goes further and an analysis of all the minimum costs for the provision of services under the first subsequent contract for the first 24 months shows that they will be 99.02% of the maximum estimated cost of the first subsequent contract without taking into account the requested telephone services.

Finally, it proposes that the City Hall of Sector 3 correlate the budget allocated to the procedure with the requested technical specifications by means of one of the following options:

• 1. Refusal to supply terminals for the next contract No. 2 and increase the terminal warranty from 24 months to 48 months
• 2. Making changes to the technical characteristics of the terminals in order to fit into the budget of business entities interested in this procedure.

For subscription type 1, a possible participant offers a slightly cheaper terminal – iPhone 15 Plus instead of iPhone 15 Pro Max.

In response, the mayor’s office of the 3rd district sent that “technical conditions are preserved” and “renewal of the competition is not and cannot be considered a separate procurement procedure.”

It should also be noted that the City Hall has extended the deadline for accepting bids at this auction until October 23, 2023, compared to the original October 16.

Photo source: Ifeelstock / Dreamstime.com