The City Hall of Sector 3, headed by Robert Negoits, received two bids at the auction, asking for 300 iPhones of the latest generation for free with the purchase of telephone subscriptions (voice, SMS and mobile data) for 4 years for sub-departmental institutions. The institution explained to HotNews.ro why it needs these high-end phones and what the average cost of a monthly subscription will be.

Orange and RCS&RDS want to provide Sector 3 with high quality iPhones for free

The City Hall, led by Robert Negoits, received two offers at the auction, which began on September 5, for the conclusion of 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.

We are talking about the leader of the mobile communications market Orange and the third in terms of subscribers of the mobile communications operator RCS&RDS.

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 competition will be renewed and the requested phones will be exchanged for new ones that are better than those originally supplied.

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HotNews.ro first reported that for 150 Type 1 subscriptions, carriers must provide 150 of the most advanced iPhones for free during the first subsequent 2-year contract. After this period, another 150 iPhones of the new generation should be provided.

The city hall of Negojce claims that it would not ask for an iPhone 15. The specifications in the specifications contradict this

Type 1 terminals must have at least the latest version of iOS (not iOS 17) or upgradable to the latest version, an A16 Bionic processor or equivalent with at least Hexa Core (six cores) or higher, according to the specifications.

These specifications correspond to the latest iPhone 15s, which are sold in Romania at a price between 4,700 and 9,700 lei.

Of the older versions, only the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have the hexa-core A16 Bionic process and may still qualify for this purchase. They are sold at a price from 5,500 to 9,800 lei.

The deadline for receiving offers in this auction is October 16, but after receiving clarifications from potential bidders, the deadline has been extended to October 23, 2023.

One aspect that escaped us in the original article was another requirement in the specifications related to the release date of the iPhone.

The condition required by the City Hall of Sector 3 is approx The iPhone must not have been manufactured more than 12 months prior to submission of applications.

The iPhone 14 series was released on September 7, 2022, and the iPhone 15 on September 12, 2023.

Given that the initial deadline for submission of proposals was October 16 and extended to October 23, 2023, the prospective bidder informed the Sector 3 City Hall that interested operators can only bid on the latest version of the iPhone produced by Apple, the iPhone 15.

This possible bidder also noted that the terminals alone cost more than 60% of the total subscription cost, and asked City Hall if they could ask for a “cheaper” model of the iPhone 15 than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

How the city hall of Negoitsa justifies why it should not be the iPhone 15

The City Hall of Sector 3 recently responded to HotNews.ro’s requests to explain why the most expensive iPhones are needed and which employees will benefit from these high-end phones.

The City Hall claims that it would have launched the tender before the launch of the iPhone 15, so the terminal did not exist at the time the specifications were developed.

• “The terminal you are referring to did not exist at the time the procedure began, namely on 07.07.2022, the documentation was subject to changes regarding the evaluation criteria based on applications submitted by the legal deadline by the business entity participating in the procedure.
• The date of the tender documentation is 09/04/2023 and the date of acceptance of the notice of participation in the Electronic Public Procurement System is 09/07/2023 19:00, and the latest iPhone model was presented on 09/09/20. 12/2023, 20:00 (Romania). This was reported to HotNews.ro by representatives of the City Hall of Sector 3.

The explanation does not stand since the minimum specifications are specified in the specifications. The new iPhone 15 released by Apple could not have lower specifications than the iPhone 14.

Why sector 3 workers need the latest iPhones

The City Hall, led by Robert Negoitz, offered an explanation related to the reason for purchasing the most modern iPhones and those who will use these phones.

• “The technical characteristics required in the specifications have been taken into account to be compatible with the continuously technologically improved infrastructure provided by the communication operators.
• At the same time, they were also taken into account to work with the latest generation technologies that are emerging, given that currently GSM terminals are technologically obsolete in a very short time, especially since they will be used daily for two contract years. (…)
• The number of subscriptions of 150 is the maximum number that can be purchased under the next contract, and T1 subscriptions with matching terminals were not provided for certain persons or functions.”, supports the mayor’s office of the 3rd sector.

The average cost of a subscription is 27.25 lei

The City Hall also answered the question of how much, according to its estimates, the subscriptions announced at this auction will cost on average.

• “Given that the award procedure is still ongoing (the deadline for submission of proposals is 23.10.2023, 15.00), disclosing the method of assessing the value separately for each type of subscription would cause losses to the customer, since possible participants would have access to information that they cannot obtain legally.
• Average cost of subscriptions: 27.25 lei without VAT/month/subscription.”, this is also shown in the responses of the City Hall of Sector 3.

VIEW THE FULL SPECIFICATION OF THE 3RD DISTRICT TOWN HALL

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