The tender for mobile phone pouches for secondary schools promised in the Budget has been published by the Department of Education. Its total estimated value is €9 million including VAT, over two years.
The plan was one of the most controversial in October’s budget, sparking criticism from teachers’ unions and Opposition party leaders – including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who described it as “a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money”.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns also raised concerns, saying while there was a need to prioritise children’s mental health, prioritising phone pouches didn’t “make a whole lot of sense”. She described it as “€9 million on a pet project that schools weren’t crying out for”.
Minister for Education Norma Foley argued the funding for the scheme was less than 0.01 per cent of the overall €11.8 billion education budget.
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Under the tender, successful applicants will supply their pouch for a one-year period with the option of that being extended by a further year.
As part of the competition, 40 per cent of the award criteria will go towards cost. A further 35 per cent will go towards quality, namely the technical merit of the proposed pouch and compliance with the specified requirements, including having wireless/signal-blocking capability and an associated unlocking device.
Applicants are required to send a physical example of their product, of which a physical evaluation will be carried out for durability, and for which successful applicants must provide a two-year guarantee.
Ten per cent of the award criteria will go towards the ability to meet the order, supply and delivery requirements. Successful applicants must supply the pouches within four weeks at the latest or in the timeline agreed with the school.
[ Phone pouches: What school principals, teachers and students are sayingOpens in new window ]
Other elements considered will be the environmental, sustainable and health and safety characteristics of the product (10 per cent) and customer and account management services of the applicant (5 per cent).
While it is anticipated that a minimum of two and a maximum of five tenderers will be appointed as contractors, the first-ranked will be the first port of call for schools looking to order pouches.
The closing date for submissions for the tender is February 26th.
Schools are not obliged to use the phone pouches if they feel the system they have for managing use of mobile phones in their school is satisfactory.
It is envisaged pouches could be delivered to schools by the end of April or May.
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