On July 3, the Uzbek completed a call for bids for supply of 7,000 tablets for local police officers, patrol officers and other services, the public procurement portal said.
According to the Interior Ministry, tablets will be used by its units "to bring to a higher quality and operational upgrade" for activities for local policement, patrol service and other services (drawing up administrative protocols, promptly accessing the database of wanted citizens and transport stolen funds, identification of the person in the databases of wanted persons, providing access to the database of the Interior Ministry, sending text documents, photo and footages, sound files).
The grounds for purchase is the Oct 15, 2021 government resolution, the minutes of the meeting and the May 16, 2022 presidential decree.
It was originally planned to purchase 10 thousand tablets, then their number was reduced. The purchase will be financed from budget funds and extra-budgetary funds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (revenues from fines and other sources).
The starting price of the tender was set at 53.7 billion soums. 9 bidders sent bids, 2 of them were shortlisted.
Start Group was awarded the contract worth of 3.61 million euros, which at that time was equivalent to 44.66 billion soums, or under 4 million USD (the price of one tablet will be about 6.38 million soums, or 540 USD).
The Start Group company was registered in Lithuania and sells rugged impact-resistant tablets of various models, as well as satellite radios, industrial printers and other products.
From January 1, 2023, Uzbekistan should have begun to gradually introduce the E-patrol system and abandon the practice of taking individuals to police departments for identification. This must have been done via tablets.
