The Philippine authorities doubled the price for the purchase of 70 thousand. MacBook with legacy processors

On August 16, 2022, it became known that the Philippine Department of Education was under scrutiny after the Audit Commission (COA) convicted it of buying "expensive" and "outdated" laptops for teachers worth 2.4 billion pesos ($42.9 million).

The department purchased almost 39,600 laptops with Intel Celeron processors - some of the cheapest on the market that are used in budget computers - at a price of 58,300 pesos ($1,042) each. Intel Celeron laptops purchased by the Department turned out to be more expensive than the MacBook Air with the advanced M1 chip, which starts at P57 990 ($999). The average price for laptops with Intel Celeron ranges from 15,000 pesos ($270) to 20,000 pesos ($360).

Philippine authorities double for buying MacBook with outdated processors

In its 2021 report, the COA demanded an explanation from the Department of Education as to why entry-level laptops purchased through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) were priced at $1,042 each. Since the approved contract budget (ABC) was only set at 35,046,50 pesos ($627) per unit.

Due to a price jump of 66% of the original cost, the Education Department purchased only 39,583 units - almost half of the 68,500 planned for teacher procurement.

The huge difference in unit price resulted in a significant reduction of 28,917 laptops intended for distribution to designated teacher recipients who could help them complete their tasks in the mixed learning system, the COA said.

The COA noted that laptops delivered to the National Capital Region were "too slow because the processor installed in them is Intel Celeron, outdated and unsuitable for many modern tasks, and the price is too high based on specifications."

State auditors demanded an explanation from the Education Department as to why it accepted a higher price from PS-DBM compared to the approved budget, and recommended that teachers' concerns about the condition and performance of laptops be promptly addressed.

Asked why the Education Department had agreed to the price of laptops set by PS-DBM, Department spokesman Michael Poa said they needed time to look into the matter.^[1]

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Шаблон:Remarks