KEONICS agrees to replace 17 computers supplied to Karnataka Information Commission

After the Karnataka Information Commission flagged issues in the supply of 17 all-in-one computers that did not meet its specification, the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (KEONICS) has agreed to replace them with those that meet specifications.

The commission had raised the issue of computers that had been supplied by KEONICS through a third party vendor not meeting its specifications, especially not having cameras. Commission sources said that with the cases being held online, the commission’s work would severely get affected if the computers did not adhere to specifications. Of the total 22 computers supplied, only five had met the specifications.

In response, the KEONICS has said that the 17 all-in-one computers would be replaced with those that would adhere to the specification at the earliest.

Show-cause notice

Meanwhile, it is learnt that KEONICS has issued show-cause notice to the vendor Intellic Systems, which had supplied desktops to the commission.

The notice said that a different/ non-empanelled model of all-in-one computers has been supplied to the Karnataka Information Commission instead of the empanelled and approved model. This constitutes a clear deviation from the contract and violation of the approved terms, tender conditions, and prescribed technical specification, it said.

Response from vendor

Promising to supply the stipulated model, the vendor said that since the empanelled model was not available in stock, a higher-end model was supplied that offered superior processing speed and enhanced overall performance.

Owing to prevailing global supply constraints and delay, the stock of specified model was not received within the stipulated timeframe, and hence had started the supply of high-end model keeping in mind the timeline of supply, the vendor said in the response. The vendor further said that after learning about the camera not being embedded, installation of 17 computers was not undertaken.